New Director of the Royal Geographical Society

A few months ago, Rita Gardner announced that she was stepping down as Director of the RGS-IBG after 22 years, and a search for her replacement began.

The new Director has now been announced, and it is somebody who I have met a few times, and who has a strong education background, which is always good to see.


Joe Smith is currently Head of Geography at the Open University.

Joe Smith was ‘thrilled’ with his appointment. ‘The breadth and scale of the Society’s reach is extraordinary and makes this a rare and compelling role’ he says.

‘The Society is well positioned with an ambitious and comprehensive strategy in place, a loyal membership base and secure finances. I look forward to building on these foundations and taking the Society on to the next phase of its illustrious history.’

The very first meeting I had after being appointed as Secondary Curriculum Development Leader of the GA back in 2008 was over at the Open University, and alongside Clive Barnett and Doreen Massey from the OU, and David Lambert from the GA, Joe Smith was also involved in the meeting. We were discussing potential collaborative work, and about four years later I started working with the OU, managing their VITAL Geography portal for teachers as part of a very successful multi-million pound project.  (Sadly, when the funding ended all the material was mothballed...)

This is a terrific appointment for the RGS-IBG, and I look forward to continuing to support the Society as much as I can

Image credit: Royal Geographical Society

Young Geographer of the Year 2014

The theme for this year's competition, run by the Royal Geographical Society, in association with 'Geographical' magazine is now available:

How can Geography help you ?

Details of how to enter are HERE

Pupils are asked to relate the value of geography to a number of different settings. The significance of both human and physical geography could be considered at a variety of different levels.  Pupils should demonstrate how geography can support their everyday lives, improve their understanding of the world’s people, places and environments and help to prepare them for life beyond school.

We want to hear how geography, be it the knowledge young people learn, the understanding they gain, or skills they develop, helps them in different aspects of their lives. This help might be at many different levels:

• At school
• At home with your family
• When you travel and go on holidays
• When you think about current events at home or abroad
• Whether it will help you with further study, perhaps at university
• Or lead to a particular career you would like to do

We are interested in answers which might look at both the serious and the fun sides of geography and particularly want to see how entrants can relate the value of geography to a number of different settings.  We welcome applications which, as appropriate for the age range, recognise the value of both human and physical geography. 

For the all categories appropriate and accurate geographical vocabulary should be used and we will provide additional credit for entries which use primary data collected by the student, alongside
secondary data.

The competition has four categories: 9-11(Key Stage Two), 11-14 (Key Stage Three), 14-16 (GCSE) and 16-18 (A Level students).

If you're a new teacher, you can also submit some resources on the same theme for the Rex Walford Award.
Download guidelines here (PDF)

New From the Field resource

Last year, I contributed two sets of resources to the RGS-IBG's FROM THE FIELD resource. The aim of the resource is to connect researchers in the field with teachers and teacher educators who translate their work into the classroom at an appropriate level.
I contributed a KS4 and a KS5 example.
The website won a GA Silver Award at the GA Conference in 2012.

The newest addition was added by Bob Lang, who worked to translate Jane Labous' work on the sand diggers of Mali into a unit on rapid urbanisation in the city of Bamako.
Splendid work.