Young Peoples’ Geographies Project

Action Plan for Geography

Development Strand Project

AAG Conference 2006 Chicago

The start of a conversation about young peoples’ geographies and the

geography curriculum…

Dave Balderstone, Mary Biddulph, Roger Firth

Di Swift (GA)

…“creating a positive future begins with human conversation - talking with other people as though the answers mattered.“

(The World Café Community.

2002)

A context • Beginning of a new era???economic new times – the knowledge economychanging ideas of childhoodstudent voice and participationpersonalised learning recent changes to school geography – APG etcthe identity of geography at largedigital cultures

• Renewed debate about the purposes and content of the curriculum - how do we create education practice to meet the needs of students faced with a rapidly changing, globalised future?

• ‘Curriculum making’

• Last 25 years - key role of central government in defining, monitoring and evaluating the curriculum – where were the students and teachers?

QCA Futures: meeting the challengeIn our experience pupils do not have much to say about the curriculum… We could do more to help pupils develop a language for talking about learning and about themselves as learners so that they feel that it is legitimate for them actively to contribute to discussions About schoolwork with teachers and with each other.

Rudduck, J & Flutter, J (2000) Pupil Participation and Pupil Perspective:‘carving a new order of experience’, Cambridge Journal of Education 30(1): 75-89

Recent years have seen a wealth of statements supporting the idea of young people in school finding and using their voices:

The fact is that pupils themselves have a huge potential contribution to make, not as passive objects but as active players in the education system.Rudduck, J. (2005) Pupil voice is here to stay, QCA website

Young Peoples’ Geographies project

• is engaging with these debates/conversations• is supporting both student participation and

teacher development in terms of curriculum making

Aims of the project• Establish conversations

about young people’s geographies between students, geography teachers, academic geographers and teacher educators that will inform a dynamic process of curriculum making

• Explore the ways in which students and teachers collaboratively can use the lived experiences of young people to inform the process of curriculum making in school geography

• Develop pedagogies through which young people can use their lived experiences to develop their geographical understanding

Project details• 2 year project: September 2006-July

2008 funded by DfES/ASC

• Project team: David Balderstone, Mary Biddulph, Roger Firth & Di Swift

• Year 1 working with 8 geography teachers from 7 schools (Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Norfolk and London)

• 4 students from each school

• Geography academics: Ian Cook & Helen Griffiths (Birmingham), Tracey Skelton (Loughborough)

• Consultant: John Morgan: Future lab/Enquiring Minds Project

• Project evaluator: Nick Hopwood

The process Project days

Day 1 15 November 2006• become familiar with the project

goals and aims• teachers meet with teacher-

educators and academic geographers

• explore curriculum making opportunities for geography education

• consider why accessing young peoples’ geographies might be significant and worthwhile

Day 2 January 18 2007• Connecting conversations

between students, teachers, academic geographers and teacher educators about YPGs

• Taking this forward into school

Day 3 ??

Day 4 ??

1. 4 project days at New Walk Museum

2. School based activities and development

Young peoples’ Geographies

The project features students and teachers using young people’s geographies as a starting point. On a day-to-day basis young people are part of different social groups, they interact simultaneously with others at both a local level (friends, family) and at a global level (via the internet). They navigate very complex networks of participation from informal groups (friends, school groups, shared social activities) to organised activities (such as clubs, sport and music). In addition their access to spaces and places is enabled and/or hindered by a range of factors and influences such as parents, financial considerations, age group, feelings of safety, identification with different groups, personal interests etc.

RGS/IBG Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Working Group

Geography teachers are learners too. The geography curriculum should be seen as a creative act of interpretation and interaction – curriculum making rather than transmission.

‘Curriculum making’

Curriculum making is the creative process by which classroom teachers use the subject to excite, stimulate and lead the learning. They literally make the curriculum.

Young Peoples’Geographies??

‘Curriculum making’• Is challenging• Barriers along the way –

timetables, league tables, PM• Teachers taking a risk with their

own practice• Others??

Curriculum: making the world better

Some early impressions/ issues1. Teacher perceptions of the curriculum and

‘curriculum making’2. Teacher knowledge and understanding of

‘young people’s geographies’3. Student perceptions of ‘curriculum making’ and

their role within it4. Student perceptions of YPGs5. How to develop a language for students about

the curriculum and how to empower them to participate

6. How to initiate a curriculum that starts with the students rather than the teachers or subject and why this matters

7. Ethical issues

Teachers, learners, geography

YPGs project

• This project is very much under development

• ‘Curriculum making’, ‘young peoples’ geographies’??

• Look forward to giving a much richer and more detailed account of the project next year