GA Conference - 2026 programme now published

The price will rise in the New Year, so secure yours now. 

And you'll have a chance to see a double-act with me and Matt Podbury - worth the price alone! See you in Sheffield!

You can now browse the programme here... this session looks awesome.

Sign up to Sched to schedule in your events... 

Time to nominate someone for an OS award

Back in 2008 I was proud to receive one of two OS Awards for Excellence in Secondary Geography Teaching awarded each year by the Royal Geographical Society. The other award that year went to Louise Ellis.

Image: the RGS HQ - Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license

It's time for nominations for all the RGS's awards for 2026, and that includes the OS Award as well. 

Do you have colleague who is particularly amazing and deserves some recognition for all they do for the geography subject community?
Perhaps they are your Head of Department, a member of your department or faculty, a fellow committee member, or someone you look to online for support, inspiration and resources.

Why not nominate them for a Royal Geographical Society teaching award?

Each year, the RGS acknowledges two teachers or educators through our Ordnance Survey Award for excellence in geography education at secondary level.

Nominations for 2026 close on 16 February, so be sure to get your nominations in before then!

The process is described here.

And there's a list of previous recipients on the RGS website so that you can check that they haven't already been given one... although I suppose there's no reason they couldn't be the first person to receive more than one.... 

There's some illustrious names on that list, and I know almost everyone there, and have worked with many of them in some way.

Geography SE Conference

Geography SouthWest has had a free teacher conference for some years...and now here's Geography SouthEast.

The first Geography Southeast teacher conference on Monday 29th June 2026 at Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey in conjunction with Geography Southwest.

Free entry to teachers.

This event will tap into key themes and skills in the geography curriculum, through keynote lectures, a selection of exciting and informative workshops and a room full of exhibitors, including publishers, exam boards and travel companies.

Watch this space for booking details and further updates.

RGS Eastern Region Christmas Social

The major event for RGS members and others in the East of England is also coming up in a few weeks’ time. I serve on the committee for this RGS local group and we organise lectures and talks through the course of the year.

On Wednesday December 10th, we are very pleased to say that the current Royal Geographical Society President: Professor Dame Jane Francis will be addressing our RGS East annual event on the topic of ‘On Thin Ice, a Life in the Antarctic’. 

The event will be held at Norwich School at the Refectory - a more spacious venue just round the corner from the Blake Studio where the sessions are normally held, with the same free parking. 

Doors will open at 7.00 with mulled wine awaiting you. Dame Jane’s talk will start at 7.30 and there will be more wine / soft drinks and plenty of delicious ‘finger food’ after her talk.

Dame Jane Francis will be talking about her own life in polar research while also covering the cutting-edge research now being done in Cambridge, including the threat to the Antarctic ice shelf, a major potential climate change tipping point. This work is both fascinating and vitally important. Jane Francis is Director of British Antarctic Survey. In 2017 she was appointed Dame (DCMG) in recognition of services to UK polar science and diplomacy. She became Chancellor of the University of Leeds in 2018, and was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society in 2024. She also serves on the European Polar Board and co-chairs the Atlantic Treaty’s Working Group on Science and Operations. Her own research focuses on understanding past climate change during both greenhouse and icehouse periods, particularly in the polar regions, the areas on Earth most sensitive to climate change.

There is a charge of £12 for non-RGS members, and £8 for members. 

If you haven’t already registered and wish to join us, please register in good time at www.rgs.org/events. 

Please also encourage young people to come - and be inspired by Jane Francis’s remarkable life in the coldest areas of the planet.

I shall see you there - probably serving mulled wine and taking some photos...

Geography Teacher Educators' Conference 2026

The venue and more details have now been announced for the Geography Teacher Educators' (GTE) Conference for 2026.

It will be hosted at Manchester Metropolitan University.

To sign up and for more details, follow the link.

RGS Secondary Geography Teachmeet - February 2026

Claire Brown is organising another RGS Teachmeet for geography teachers in February 2026.

There are 6 slots available for an 8 minute talk on a topic of your choice.

Claire says:

"I'd really like to open this speaker opportunity up to teachers of geography who are perhaps new to the profession, or have been teaching a while but have never shared with others via CPD like this. Why not give it a go?"

Please sign up or I'll have to, and nobody needs to listen to me again...

Curriculum and Assessment Review

We finally have the outcome of the Curriculum and Assessment Review with the publication of the final report today. Many thousands of educators have been waiting for months.

In July 2024, the government commissioned Professor Becky Francis CBE to convene and chair a panel of experts to conduct the Curriculum and Assessment Review.

The report has taken on board the many consultation responses from individuals and organisations.

These are available in a summary document which is separate to the main final report - this is also worth looking at.

The RGS's original response to the call for consultation is here. It was referenced in the final report, along with the GA's, and reports from UCL's Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education.

The report has been almost a year in the making, and runs to 197 pages.

The recommendations for Geography are as follows:

We recommend that the Government: 

Makes minor refinements to the Geography Programmes of Study and GCSE subject content to respond to the issues identified, including by: 

• Refining content to support progression better to further study, deepen children and young people’s understanding of key geographical concepts, make content more relevant and inclusive, and remove unnecessary repetition across topics. 

• Embedding disciplinary knowledge more explicitly at Key Stage 3, such as geographical enquiry, spatial reasoning, use of digital tools, human  geography and use of evidence, to ensure all children and young people have access to high-quality geographical education. 

• Clarifying and reinforcing requirements for fieldwork to demonstrate its role more effectively in supporting content and the developing of disciplinary knowledge, ensuring changes remain proportionate and inclusive. 

Embeds climate change and sustainability more explicitly across different key stages, including across the physical geography, geographical applications and human geography sections of the curriculum, ensuring early, coherent, and more detailed engagement with climate education. This should be done without risking curriculum overload. 

There is also an element of media literacy here for climate change education in particular, where there is a lot of misinformation and disinformation. There is a need for pupils to be aware of AI and its value and issues.

There is also mention of the need for diversity and for all students to "see themselves in the curriculum" - something which I was particularly keen to see.

And these will ultimately form part of changes to the national curriculum (will this be compulsory for all schools?) and GCSE subject criteria. These will be consulted on again and no changes will happen before 2028 in any case.

On the purpose of the review itself:

National curriculum content must be kept up to date, fit for purpose and reflective of the needs of wider society. Periodic holistic reviews of the national curriculum are therefore essential for ensuring these aims are achieved, as well as for maintaining overall curriculum coherence. Reviews are also a valuable mechanism for addressing curriculum shape in the round. Reviews can evaluate whether the breadth and depth of different subjects and their content remains appropriate, as well as determining the overarching aims of schooling and the time needed for the different activities required to meet these aims. Reviews can also address the build-up of content in particular areas to ensure that the curriculum remains deliverable for teachers and ambitious for students.

The Oak National Academy is also mentioned as being further involved in the development of curriculum materials which are up to date.

The DfE has responded to the Curriculum review and that is published here. This is just over 60 pages long and has a little more useful detail on the implications.

We agree with the Review that the national curriculum and the resources that support it, should reflect our modern society and diverse communities. Our aim is for the curriculum to be both a mirror, in which every child can see themselves and their communities reflected, and a window through which every child is connected to the world beyond their existing horizons and perspectives

On the topic of GCSE Natural History

Equipping children and young people to thrive in a rapidly changing world therefore means enabling them to understand and meet the global challenge that climate change presents. We will take the opportunity to enhance the climate education content which is already present in the national curriculum, in the subjects of geography, science and citizenship. We will also include sustainability within the design and technology (D&T) programme of study and sustainable practices within the citizenship primary curriculum. We agree with the Review that key concepts on climate education should be introduced earlier in the curriculum and will ensure that the relevant programmes of study contain this at primary level. We also want to go further on this and ensure that more people can engage with and develop respect for the natural world.

 
We will therefore consult on the subject content for the natural history GCSE, as confirmed earlier this year.

The Review noted that changes to curriculum content are only part of the picture and that teaching also has an important part to play through the use of climate-related examples and resources to teach existing curriculum content. The National Education Nature Park, funded by DfE, has a website which hosts free resources and activities for all education phases across a wide range of subjects. These are aligned to the curriculum and quality assured by experts, giving educators trusted information that allows them to teach about sustainability and climate change with confidence, in subjects where climate education is a core part of the curriculum content and in other subjects.

On the topic of Geography

We agree with the Review that the subject does not need significant change, and we will update and refine the programme of study and GCSE subject content with modest changes, to support pupils and teachers. As recommended, changes will support a better understanding of the disciplinary requirements in the national curriculum and in the GCSE, ensure the content is updated where needed, including in relation to climate education, and clarify and integrate the fieldwork requirements. We will also improve the GCSE subject content to support better progression, deepen understanding and remove unnecessary repetition across topics.

Some videos have also been produced on LinkedIn featuring Becky Francis.

"We will follow the curriculum principles of coherence, subject mastery and depth – making sure that programmes of study and subject content are grounded in relevant and important knowledge and disciplinary skills."

A document with some notes I put together today has been shared on Scribd. See the bottom of the post.

Others have shared their thoughts on LinkedIn, or Substack (such as Mark Enser).

There will also be a fully digital and easily navigable version of the national curriculum - we will create a rich, connected online version of the curriculum which visually represents the links within and between subject areas and gives connections to prior learning, helping teachers to contextualise learning across traditional subject boundaries in the classroom. 

Some final initial thoughts:

When a long-awaited Government document such as this appears there will be lots of different perspectives on it: from teachers to senior leaders, to those working in Trusts (who will need to adapt what they teach). 

As the Review recommends, we intend to retain a single national curriculum which serves as a core entitlement which every pupil can access. We are legislating through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill so that academies will be required to teach the refreshed national curriculum alongside maintained schools. This will ensure that parents and carers have certainty over the core concepts in their child’s education and that there is a floor beneath which this cannot slip. The national curriculum is not the entire curriculum but an underpinning of what every child is entitled to know, which schools build on locally. Schools will continue to remain responsible for deciding how their school curriculum brings those core concepts to life in their choices of historical events, physical and human geography, and novels, for example. This will allow them to create dynamic learning environments where pupils can flourish. 

From those who feel too much has changed to those who don't think the changes have gone long enough.

Some involved in climate change education will be pleased to see it referenced several times, others will feel it doesn't go far enough.

Some commentators e.g. the Daily Mail will see it's mentions of diversity, social justice and students 'seeing themselves in the curriculum' as lacking the 'rigour' that was promised in the previous iteration. 

Some will say that achieving the aims for some will be possible, but not perhaps 'for all'?

Some will ask where the money is coming from.

Some will focus on the assessment element of the review and question

Some will delve into the data that was included in the review and question some of the findings.

Some will be interested in the wording of "nature and adventure".

Some will ask about the continuing lack of take-up for GIS despite the availability of free tools such as ArcGIS and its related apps.

Some will be thinking about the place of AI in this...

Some will be considering the powerful pedagogies (echoing the work of Margaret Roberts) that are required to turn the words on the page of new documentation into the enacted curriculum. I've written about that before.

"Music excites when it is performed" - Benjamin Britten

Some will say nothing today as there is much to emerge over the next two years ahead of any impact in schools.

Some will wonder about the impact on option numbers and job security, or the state of the teaching workforce.

Some will not know any of this is happening because they're getting on with the day job... and that's fine...

What are you thinking?

Here's an implementation timeline...

Pearson are one of the Awarding bodies, and they have responded already.

Others will respond over the coming months.

The RGS and the GA will swing into action once things become clearer to support geography teachers through the changes ahead.

Thanks in advance to everyone who is going to be involved in that work.

Curriculum and Assessment Review Report by Alan Parkinson

New risk resource from Martin Parham

Via Martin's page on LinkedIn.

Martin is a Disaster Risk Lecturer at the University of Manchester. He works at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI)

I have been preparing and developing case study resources for secondary school teachers and students on the subject of hazards / disaster management to bridge the gap between secondary and higher education.

The first is on the Turkey/Syria Earthquake of 2023 and the Powerpoint slides are included.

Along with the slides:

• HCRI slides with audio (designed for students to listen to)
• A resource sheet with facts and tasks 
• A podcast recording (from the "RiskIt" podcast series) which may be helpful

Check out Martin's LinkedIn page for all the details of how you can connect and get more involved.

LivingGeography - another milestone passed

Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog over the years and/or subscribed to the Substack.

Lava Show Podcast

A cross-posting from my Fieldnotes from Iceland blog.

If you haven't checked this out, there are over 600 Iceland related posts, which are particularly added when I visit Iceland with Rayburn Tours as a field tutor.

The popular Lava Show now has a podcast, called Lava Academy.

Júlíus and Ragnhildur founded the Lava Show.

Hosted by Ian McKinnon and Heiðar Ragnheiðarson. 

Each monthly episode dives into the explosive world of volcanoes. 

From Iceland’s fiery fissures to famous eruptions around the globe, we explore how volcanoes form, why they erupt, and what they mean for the people who live near them. 

With expert guests like geologists and volcanologists, Lava Academy blends science, storytelling, and first-hand experience. Whether you’re a curious traveler, a student of earth science, or just fascinated by molten rock, this show brings the power and mystery of volcanic activity straight to your ears. 

Get ready for lava facts, eruption myths, behind-the-scenes stories from Lava Show, and much more. Subscribe and join us each month as we journey into Earth’s most dynamic forces.

This sounds like being particularly useful.

 

The first guest is Madison MacKenzie who talks about her experiences and talks about volcanoes.

Madison MacKenzie shares her personal journey from growing up near volcanoes in the U.S. and Japan to studying and working in Iceland’s fiery landscape. She walks listeners through volcanic fundamentals — what volcanoes are, how they form and erupt, and what makes Iceland one of the world’s most geologically active regions. Madison explains how different types of lava and eruption styles shape volcanoes, and why Iceland's location on a tectonic boundary and above a hotspot creates such unique volcanic activity.

The episode dives into lava types, eruption styles, and how scientists monitor volcanic behavior through seismic activity and satellite data. Madison also breaks down myths about eruptions, noting that many are mild and even beneficial.

International Geography Training

The latest batch of sessions organised by Richard Allaway and Matt Podbury have now been made available on their website.

There will be six online workshops between the end of August 2025 and May 2026, which can be booked individually or as an ‘any three’, ‘any four’ or ‘all six’ bundle.

Each workshop consists of two 90-minute sessions and then the opportunity to have a 30-minute one-on-one meeting with either Richard or Matt to focus on your specific topic of interest and questions.

The workshops will happen on Saturdays, so most of you will not need to find cover for your classes. They will run from 10h00 CET to 13h30 CET, so you have enough time for a lie-in and a lazy breakfast, and everything is finished in time for a late lunch.

Saturday 30th August 2025 – Surviving the first months as a DP Geography Teacher

Saturday 27th September 2025 – Adapting to the new CIE IGCSE Geography 0460 Syllabus

Saturday 1st November 2025 – Making it matter for your students

Saturday 29th November 2025 – Using generative AI as a Geography Teacher

Saturday 7th March 2026 – Getting your students exam-ready

Saturday 9th May 2026 – Big things that your students need to write

The duo have a new Tom Morgan Jones logo inking too, which is always a mark of quality.

If you have a Whole School subscription to both geographyalltheway.com and ibgeographypods.org, you can get a 10% discount.

All the details can be found on the link here.

Cloud Point app

Thanks to Emma Espley for pointing me towards Cloud Point.

From the website:

What is the point of clouds? 

We at Cloud Point see them as the most amazing by-products of nature - they don't need to be there! A mere gathering of water droplets formed from atmospheric processes can give rise to some of the most amazing shapes, forms and colours. But what we love about them most is they are ever changing. You will never see the same cloud twice and they are always different from one moment to the next. But thats what makes them special; impermanence.

Cloud Point gives you the opportunity to capture these moments, learn what clouds they are, and share this with others. 

Our mission is to create a platform where you can turn to appreciate nature in its ever-changing form, whilst contributing to science and hopefully learning something along the way.

Think also; what connects us to the world gone before our time? 

These days there are so few things that link us now. But when you consider it, you're looking at exactly the same forms and shapes your ancestors would have seen.

Clouds give us the calming, visual opportunity to pause and reflect. So next time you see a cloud, pause for a second and give thanks for all that has been, and is, and will be, under this incredible sky.

The site offers an app which connects you to a like-minded community.

This would be of particular interest to members of the Cloud Appreciation Society. I am member #719, so a relatively early joiner.

GA EDI Report newly published

 

When I was serving on the GA's Governing Body, work started on a report exploring the diversity and inclusion of all aspects of the GA's activity. This was going to be produced by a Working Group called the DIWG.

It has taken a while to carry out the research that underpins the report. Thanks to all those who were involved in producing this.

Thanks to Steve Brace for sending me a copy of the report.

You can download your own copy from here.

Thanks also to the report's co-authors:

Elaine Anderson, Nona Anderson, Peter Jackson, Alastair Owens, Hina Robinson, Iram Sammar and Christine Winter.

The report is published today. It can be downloaded from the GA website.

GA press release says:

Despite growing diversity of the geography GCSE cohort, at A level and at university geography is one of the least diverse of all subjects.

The subject, and its institutions, are not serving all geography teachers nor all young people who could benefit from studying geography. Change is needed.

The Geographical Association (GA) recognises the need for change and invited feedback from a wide range of participants on its work and governance.

The Geography for Everyone? report, and the research on which it is based, was commissioned by the GA’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, established in response to the GA’s 'listening exercise'. This spoke of the need to ‘drive forward initiatives for greater diversity in the Association and support for anti-racist teaching in geography’.

While the research sets out to explore diversity and inclusion from a range of perspectives, the themes of ‘race’ and ethnicity were strongly emphasised in interviews with participants and are central to the report, perhaps reflecting wider societal concerns and movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’. The report’s co-authors Elaine Anderson, Nona Anderson, Peter Jackson, Alastair Owens, Hina Robinson, Iram Sammar and Christine Winter commented:

'Working together on this report has opened our eyes to some of the challenges that the Geographical Association faces in becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation.

But we are also optimistic that the GA can use the insights and recommendations in our report to drive change so that it supports the needs of all geography educators and helps to build a discipline that values the experiences and perspectives of everyone.'

The GA welcomes this report and its recommendations. These will help bring positive change to the Association and the subject.

The GA is currently preparing its new 2025 -30 strategic plan and ‘Geography for Everyone’ will be one of its guiding principles.

Cooper Education

James Peverill got in touch to let me know about some upcoming events organised by Cooper Education.

This is a newish CPD offering - catering for those who want help with specific GCSE and ‘A’ level exam specifications - and includes some very well known speakers including Cameron Dunn, Paul Logue, Kate Stockings and Catherine Owen. 

If you go to the website and scroll down you will see that they offer a range of CPD sessions - held as webinars - supporting different qualifications. The next session, for example, features Kate Stockings talking about Regenerating Places for EQ3 and EQ4. It takes place later today. She is also leading another session next week. 

Check the website if you are interested in finding out more.

Please note: I have not attended any of these sessions so this is not a personal endorsement, but all the speakers are very highly regarded.

ONS Population Projection explorer

Another useful interactive from ONS to unpick the Census 2021 data.

This comes after yesterday's news stories about projections of how fast migration is going to be changing the UK's population over the next decade.

The UK Population projection explorer is a new tool launched yesterday.

Small changes in factors like migration and life expectancy can have a big influence on population projections. This interactive tool enables you to adjust different factors and see the effect they have on what the population may look like in the future and make comparisons with our official projections.

There is a caveat:

The statistics generated by this tool are projections, not predictions. National population projections are not forecasts and do not attempt to predict changes in international migration, births or deaths.

Knowledge Symposium at UCL

 A UCL Symposium on knowledge looks like it might be a useful CPD opportunity. It is on the 26th of March 2025

This symposium aims to investigate: 

a) how knowledge in education in different countries is shaped by contemporary ideas about the relationship between the past, present and future, and 

b) epistemic growth in university disciplines and school subjects. 

We will discuss whether schools can and should do without ideas of epistemic growth and progress in education and how we should think about and revise the relation between knowledge, education and progress in different socio-political and educational contexts.

This symposium will bring together scholars and teachers interested in exploring the relationships between knowledge, education and progress. 

As John Hopkin (a former President of the GA) succinctly explains:

‘The idea of education is an idea of progress, an investment in the future of our young people and community’ (2011, 116). 

The suggestion that humanity is lifted through studying a planned curriculum of learning different disciplines dates to Peter Rasmus (1515-1567). 

Rasmus built a case for learning from a designated series of books (a curriculum), not just individual scholars, thus opening the potential for the democratisation of education. In 21^st century Europe, societies struggle to articulate a positive vision of the future and a vision for education. Ideas of social, economic, moral and political progress are problematised and contested. 

The idea of progress has been tainted with its past association with colonialism, exploitation and domination and is thus criticized as a genuinely `Western ideal´, a secularized `hollow replica of a Christian conception of history´ or even as a kind of `Prozac for intellectuals´ (Gray, 2004). 

Some academics now envisage Education After Progress, while others think schools must engage with the meaning of social progress. 

Find out more here.

The cost is £40 (£10 for unwaged/students)