Red Nose Day ? - there's an app for that...

I hope you're planning to teach about the issues surrounding Red Nose Day on March the 18th this year.

You might be interested to hear that there's a new Red Nose Day iPhone app....

Masters in Space Residential Weekend

You have a chance to book a place on a weekend with a difference... thanks to the Geography Collective.

Are you playful and creative, with a conceptual interest in space?

Develop new perspectives on the philosophy, production, exploration and representation of space by attending our Master In Space course and gaining a Master In Space qualification.

The Master in Space course is carefully (un)planned around a series of semi-structured units. All units are ‘unknown’ before the course begins, but are likely to include free, thinking, restricted, open, public, child-like, bound, exciting, eventful and other forms of space. While no specific skills are needed you can expect to immerse yourself ‘in space’ by working with paint, ink, typewriters, string, projection, sound and many other tools, mediums and approaches. You must successfully complete three units to become aMaster in Space.

Take this course to:

·               immerse yourself in space and spatial thinking

·               be awarded a unique qualification

·               earn the right to wear (MiS) after your name

·               meet like-minded people from different fields and backgrounds

·               be playful, creative and explorative.

The course takes place over a Master in Residence all-inclusive residential weekend, from 6pm on Friday 18 November to midday on Sunday 20 November 2011.

The course costs £150 and includes:

·               2 nights in shared accommodation

·               Fabulous meals

·               Beer, wine and soft drinks

·               All equipment and resources

·               Official certificate of award

·               Master in Residence Membership for one year.

Where is this course taking place?

Join us, at YHA Medway, a traditional Kentish Oast House in a country park setting, close to historic Rochester, Chatham Dockyard and the Kent Downs. Chatham railway station is two miles away. Trains from London take 40 minutes from St Pancras and one hour from Victoria.

www.geographycollective.co.uk

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Terms & Conditions

The course fee is non-refundable.

You must be aged 18 or more to take part.

We reserve the right to change or cancel this course. If the course is cancelled we will provide a full refund.

All participants will be asked to sign a damage waiver on arrival

Tickets are available from EVENTBRITE.

I am #OneOfOneThousandGeographers - are you ?

If you're a geographer, and are reading this, and also use Twitter, you need to send a tweet with the hashtag here: #OneOfOneThousandGeographers.
This will then be picked up by Dan from the Geography Collective, and we'll add you to the list... We're well over 100 now, and next stop, 1000 !

OFSTED Subject report

The new OFSTED Subject report for Geography will be released tomorrow morning.

Professor David Lambert has already had a letter / report published in the Daily Telegraph today, and it is well worth a read. As always, a well informed and passionate defence of geography....

David references the late Rex Walford and explains the importance of geography, which is...

"...the subject that contributes more than any other to young people's knowledge of the world, their understanding of the relationships between people and places, and their ability and propensity to think critically and creatively about the ways in which we affect the planet we live on.

Given the vast ambition of the topic, it is easy to see how it can be badly taught. But it would be a betrayal of young people to give up on what geography can contribute to their education, just because it is hard to teach well."

Don't forget to add your comments to the GA website tomorrow morning when you've had the chance to find out more about the report and its contents...

100 up...

The 100th post on the blog will mention the best way to support you if you are a geography teachers: membership of the Geographical Association...

There have been further additional changes to the GA website.... and not just the addition of a new FLOODING section responding to the floods in Brisbane, Rio de Janeiro, Sri Lanka and many other areas (and torrential rain falling in Scotland and the NW this weekend...)

This is what one of the new changes looks like. If you mouse over any of the headings on the top navigation bar, you will now see a large drop-down box appear, which will provide information about what that will connect you with, and links to all the main sections. This means that almost all the sections of the website are now just a mouse gesture and click away...

Don't forget that you can now comment on most of the pages on the website as well. If you scroll to the bottom of any page, you will see the form that you need to fill in. If you do not log in, these comments will be sent to the web admin for approval, and you will be labelled as a Guest. If you log in, you can change your profile and an image will then appear next to your comments....
The PROFILE option is part of the new members page which appears when you log in to the website. Here's mine, complete with profile image...

You can also comment on purchases that you have made from the GA shop.

'What if...there were no borders ?'

That is the title of an event being organised by Act Global.


It's taking place on January 25th at the Royal Commonwealth Society, London from 6-8.30pm.

Are national borders meaningful? In an increasingly globalised world, we rely on goods and information moving 'freely' across borders. However, due to global inequalities, freedom of movement is a luxury for most people. In the world that we live in today, is it right that a banana moves more freely than a person? Is it fair to restrict movement of people? And to what extent is it actually possible?

Act Global Talks offer a space for teachers and NGOs to think, talk and come up with solutions to global issues of migration. The talks are being filmed and will be available after the event, along with a series of lessons and accompanying resources, which examine the causes and effects of migration, alongside critical connections and solutions.

Speakers include Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Director, the Royal Commonwealth Society; Ian Gordon, Professor of Human Geography, LSE; James Hampshire, Lecturer of Politics, Sussex Centre for Migration Research and Nathalie Rothschild, Commissioning Editor, Spiked. There will also be the opportunity to hear from organisations who actively engage young people in global issues, including iceandfire theatre company and education charity WORLDwrite. 

The panel discussion will be chaired by Sarah Spencer CBE, Deputy Director, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford (COMPAS).

Act Global connects teachers and students in taking action on global poverty-related issues. The project is run jointly by the Citizenship Foundation and Relief International UK. The Citizenship Foundation is an independent education and participation charity that aims to encourage and enable citizens to engage in democratic society. Relief International is a humanitarian non-profit agency that provides emergency relief, rehabilitation, development assistance, and programme services to vulnerable communities worldwide. 

Get your FREE TICKET here.

Commercial break

You deserve to get one of these for yourself, or your wife or husband or partner, or a friend, or as a prize....just buy one...

Now available from the GA's online merchandise store...

iPhone 3G / 3GS case, which has been given a GA makeover...
Show your support for Geography and the GA wherever you go, and protect your iPhone at the same time..

Can't wait for mine to arrive :)