RGS support through Curriculum change

The latest news update from the RGS sets out some of the support that the RGS will be providing once we reach the next stage of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR). 

From the RGS Schools team:

We’ve been actively involved in the Curriculum and Assessment Review and welcome many of the recommendations, but now they need to be put into practice.

We will be reviewing the new curriculum carefully and plan to respond to the consultation, drawing on the expertise of the geography teaching community and our members and Fellowship.

We need your input, insights and expertise. Your contributions so far in this process have been invaluable.

For the September consultation, you can:Join our focus groups – discuss the proposed curriculum changes by joining one of our online focus groups (exact dates will be published once the consultation is live). You can register your interest in attending now and we will contact you once the groups have been arranged.

Complete our survey – we will share the key questions for geography on our website so you can provide your input to us directly. We’ll draw on these to inform our response. More details will follow when the consultation is live.

Do you have any other comments to make? Please send us an email to responses@rgs.org. These will be picked up by the Education Team.

Getting curriculum ready

Look out for resources and webinars from the Society this autumn onwards to help you and your departments review your current provision, identify what needs to change and then develop new programmes of work.

We’ll have a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) framework for you and your departments to assess what you already have covered well, identify gaps, and prioritise areas for development.

We will also be creating new resources mapped out against the new requirements, as well as offering CPD (Continuing Professional Development) to support you in new areas or where changes are greatest.

If there is other support you think teachers or students will require, please let us know.

International Geography Training - iGCSE Geography - with Matt Podbury and me

Last year, I was the Series Editor of a new book published by Collins for the Cambridge iGCSE Geography syllabus (0460). 

This was for the newly updated version of the syllabus, which put the content back into Human and Physical Geography examinations and changed the nature of the skills element of the assessment. 

I ensured that there were new contexts and case studies which were not the 'usual' ones. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

The book is accompanied by a Workbook and a Teacher Guide to help explain how to teach the course.

My own school offers the iGCSE Geography, and my colleague Matt Norbury was very useful when scoping out the book's structure, and my colleague Claire Kyndt was one of the authoring team.

Please take a look at the book if you are teaching this specification - there are a lot of people who do in countries across the world, and this is worth adopting for your classroom. Why not buy a copy to see whether it's a good fit for your school?

The iGCSE Geography course is very popular globally as I said, but there are relatively few CPD opportunities for teachers who teach the course.

Richard Allaway and Matt Podbury both work in international schools which offer the specification are organising a series of courses for iGCSE Geography. They have over 35 years of teaching experience between them.

Richard runs the website GeographyalltheWay.

Matt runs the website GeographyPods.

They have teamed up to create International Geography Training. This offers webinars and other sessions.

The full range of courses that they are offering can be seen here.

They have brought in various experts to co-run some of the courses for the 2026-2027 academic year, including Jonathan Butcher from the British School of Milan.

In December, Matt Podbury and I are running a course together designed for teachers who are about to teach the course for the first time, but which would also be useful for anyone who is relatively new to the new syllabus - which is most teachers.

It's a way off yet, but worth getting in your diaries.

Details here:

Booking details are here.

The first of two 90-minute sessions is led by Matt and focuses on adapting your delivery for the new Cambridge 0460/0976 syllabus. He works through what has changed and what has stayed the same between 2026 and 2027, sequencing decisions and pace of delivery, doorstep geography opportunities and case studies, free online IGCSE Geography resources, and planning fieldwork visits with effective fieldwork questions.

The second session brings views and key advice from textbook author Alan Parkinson. Discover the print and online resources that work hardest for the new course, the case studies that bring it to life, and practical ways to embed the ‘and sustainable’ requirement across your curriculum rather than treating it as a bolt-on.

Leave with a clear opening-months roadmap, vetted resources, and practical answers to the questions every first-time IGCSE Geography teacher meets.

It's organised so that it is accessible to people in different key locations around the world.

See you there?

The welcome return of ERASMUS

Regular readers will know that I have been involved with ERASMUS projects for many years. These have included the DigitalEarth project - a huge undertaking involving meetings across Europe, the GeoCapabilities project, I-USE, D3, GI Learner and GI Pedagogy. Search the blog using the name of the project to find out more about them.

Two of these projects involved my current school, and my MFL and ICT colleagues were also involved in gaining funding for their projects as well.

I am currently involved with the EMO-GI project, as recent posts have shown - keep an eye on the project as it develops over the coming two years. I've been blogging about the progress so far. This is an interesting project with some ambitious outputs.

The British Council will be administering the ERASMUS+ funding on behalf of the UK as they did before we made the decision to leave the EU.

I recommend that you sign up to a newsletter to receive updates as we begin to find out more about what sort of funding will be possible for your school.

If you do sign up, you'll receive this message:

As the UK’s National Agency, the British Council will work with partners across education, youth and sport to deliver inclusive, high-quality opportunities for learners and professionals from all backgrounds.

We’ll keep you updated with:

• Key dates and timelines
• Information on eligibility
• Guidance on how to apply
• Stories and examples to help you prepare

International experience builds confidence. It builds skills. It builds futures.

I'm hoping to be involved with ERASMUS projects for some years to come, and am always available to add my expertise to projects.

Teachmeet @20

I've previously posted about the 20th anniversary of Teachmeet this year.

Danny Nicholson is organising a special online Teachmeet on the 3rd of July.

Sign up to present - for a 2 or 7 minute slot. The names will be chosen at random for this.

Sign up to watch the Teachmeet here.

This is actually the first day of my summer break, so will be a nice way to end the term by picking up lots of ideas from those who are chosen to present.

IAPS National Geography Conference 2026

 IAPS National Geography Conference

Peter King, who co-ordinates geography activity for the IAPS, has moved the date of the annual geography conference to Thursday 21 May 2026. This gives more time for people to book onto the event.

It will still be held at the lovely location of Beeston Hall on the north Norfolk coast, so we can take advantage of our location in the afternoon with a session on fieldwork led by Jon Cannell (Geographical Association).

The morning session will include a talk from Alan Parkinson (that’s me)…. (author, head of geography at King’s Ely Prep and Vice President: Education of the Royal Geographical Society) who will talk about curriculum development and Peter King will plan to share some ideas that have accelerated and improved learning in the classroom.

Here’s the title slide of my slide deck for my workshop. It will be modelled on my GeoLincs session from today.

We plan to kick off the day at 9.30am and finish around 4pm.

The cost of the day is £199 for IAPS members and £250 for non-member schools.

You can contact Peter King at the school, or click the link on the IAPS website.

GeoLincs - 18th March 2026

Via LinkedIn from Aidan Hesslewood, who is a fellow moderator on the GA's Secondary Geography Quality Mark moderation team.

The second Geolincs session of this academic year is approaching, and we have Richard Bustin and Alan Parkinson coming along to share lots of important ideas: Wednesday 18th March, from 1400-1700 (light refreshments included) at Spalding Grammar School.

I’m really excited to welcome Alan back to the branch (he last spoke in 2015) and to Richard for the first time, and I hope you can join us for a stimulating afternoon of geography curriculum discussion, particularly in light of upcoming reforms. This session will be suitable for all: student teachers, teachers, subject leads, and senior leaders.

Feel free to message me here if you'd like to come along.

Geolincs (the GA branch for South Lincs and surrounding counties) aims to sustain excellence in geography education in Lincolnshire and the surrounding counties. It is a non-profit network that provides opportunities for professional growth and events are completely free to attend. 

It endeavours to:
· Explore and develop teaching expertise and subject knowledge
· Share ideas through participation and networking
· Provide a forum for debate and discussion

Here's the title slide from my presentation. Hope to see some of you there.

Disaster by Choice

A new forthcoming unit written by Kit Marie Rackley is part of a new project by Mary Myatt. 

Mary is a consultant and speaker and wrote the book 'The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to coherence'. Details here in a video - subscription is required to view some of the resources, but some are free to access.

Login to see these resources, although not all of the download links seems to work. 

They can be read online at the moment...

Provide a school email address and you will have access to the booklets as they go live.

At the moment, there's also one based on the Tim Marshall book 'Prisoners of Geography' and also one from Daryl Sinclair - who I worked with on the forthcoming 'Discover Geography' series - on 'Geographies of Hope'.