Geography and all that Jazz

Well, one perhaps as I doubt you'd come to both... These are the first of the GA CPD events that I shall be doing in the new academic year that have so far been scheduled, and thanks to Lucy for sending me the flyer... The events are NQT Conferences. Look out for a mailing coming into schools shortly , and also inserts in GA journals.... If you'd like to secure your place, or find out more information about the events, there are several different prices depending on the status of your GA membership. Call Lucy Oxley at the GA on 01142960088 for more information. I look forward to seeing some of you in November ! And I'll be mentioning this event once or twice between now and then....

The GA is carrying out a CPD survey with regard to its CPD offerings for next year. Please go along and spare a couple of minutes of your time to let us shape our courses and other materials for the year ahead. What are your priorities ? What do you want from us ? Be careful what you wish for, you could end up spending the day with me... I look forward to a whole range of new venues and events for 2010-11 !

It was over to Nottingham today for a meeting of representatives from many of the Subject Associations at the new headquarters of NAACE . For those who don't know, NAACE is the ICT Association, and is the professional association for those concerned with advancing education through the appropriate use of ICT. It also has a key role in the ICT Mark for schools. Quite a few familiar faces from work that I did last year to produce a booklet for the teaching of Functional Skills - you can download if from HERE by the way - it's great ! NAACE have also produced a range of FREE CPD courses which although they might sound like they are just for ICT teachers, would probably be of value to geography teachers too. They can be found by following this link: ICT CPD 4 FREE Met Peter Twining from VITAL , who offer a range of CPD options too. Their website describes Vital as: a professional development programme that aims to revitalise the teaching of IT and the use of ICT across the br...

Work included in portfolio for Quality Mark submission... There are two events planned for March. For more details see the GA WEBSITE. Booking now available... Leszek Iwaskow, Ofsted's National Adviser for Geography, will open these conferences with his view on quality geography that challenges and supports student learning. Quality geography aims for both excellence and enjoyment. These conferences provide the opportunity to discuss and develop what we mean by 'quality geography' in both the primary and secondary phases. Central London - Tuesday 2 March 2010 Sheffield - Tuesday 9 March 2010 About the Conferences The overarching strength of the Quality Mark is its capacity to act as an effective 'lever of change' for the development of geography in schools and these conferences for KS1, 2 and 3 will explore the nature, effects and impact of the Geography Quality Marks.The conferences will identify elements of quality geography exemplified through work from Quality ...

Image by Alan Parkinson - as seen in "Look at it this Way"... Details of the Geographical Association's first Post 16 National Conference are now on the GA website . This will take place in London on the 22nd of June 2010 This conference will discuss ways to enhance A-level teaching and learning through two major themes: rivers, floods and management and the impact of urban change. The workshops will include ideas for fieldwork and the use of ICT, and how to prepare students for the fieldwork examination questions. Online booking already available... There are large discounts for student GA members.

After the success of the "Living Geography" events in London, York and Wrexham, a new set of dates have been released for next year. Raising the Profile of Geography in your school offers a series of workshops for Secondary teachers. This time, I will be joined by Ruth Totterdell and John Lyon as co-presenters. Full details available on the GA website by following the link above.

Geography training has a new face: well, two "new faces" actually... From 1st June 2009, a new geography CPD provider is available. Launching today is a new CPD training opportunity for colleagues in the UK, and beyond... GEOGRAPHY TRAINING joins together the Geographical Association's own Alan Parkinson , with International Baccalaureate specialist, and creator of Geography all the Way : Richard Allaway . In addition to the existing face-to-face and online CPD opportunities available from the Geographical Association, we offer a tailored service, with training to match your needs, at a venue to suit you. Areas of speciality: Creative approaches for the teaching of Geography The use of Information and Communication Technology in Geography teaching Recent changes to the Key Stage 3 and GCSE programmes International Baccalaureate Geography - including the 2009 syllabus change IGCSE Geography Training focused upon application such as Google Earth, GIS applications, web2 too...

The annual Frontiers of Geography event for secondary geography teachers is coming up again at Leeds University on the 20th of June. The Leeds GA Branch has been reborn, with an exciting range of workshops and events. They also have a new website area , which contains some downloads from previous events - always a bonus. I attended the 2008 event , and only the summer flooding prevented me attending the 2007 one. Topics for this year will include: Antarctica's climate history 21st century Citizenship Wilderness environments Geography, GIS and healthcare Tropical rainforests and global change Credit crunch, regeneration and sustainability... Visit the website and register your interest to claim a place.

There were a series of events last year relating to the new Key Stage 3 , which helped teachers plan and then implement the new programme of study. National Subject leads David Rayner and Ruth Totterdell led a series of conferences, which ended up reaching around 900 geography teachers from Kent to Cumbria. Some additional funding has now been made available to put on a further 6 events, which are targeting 6 areas of the UK where the take-up of the original events was not as high. These one day events, which will be FREE, will take place as follows, all in 2009 of course.. . 30th of January at The Russell Hotel, Maidstone, Kent 9th of February at The Derbyshire Hotel, South Normanton, Derbyshire 12th of February at Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln 23rd of February at The Wessex Royale Hotel, Dorchester, Dorset 3rd of March at The Quality Hotel, St Albans, Hertfordshire 26th of March at The Radisson SAS Hotel, Durham The largest of these events has space for 35 teachers,...

GIS (ArcView) training Wednesday, November 19, 2008   November 19, 2008 is ESRI’s international GIS day. To mark this, three innovative geography departments are offering training in their school, suitable for teachers at any level of experience with GIS. You will have a chance to see how they use ArcGIS software with pupils and to receive hands on training with GIS.   The day will run from 10am – 3.30pm and is free. To register for the event, please email the appropriate teacher. Hertfordshire Dr Peter O’Connor, Bishop’s Stortford College peter.o'connor@bishopsstortfordcollege.org Yorkshire Steve Dunn , The Grammar School at Leeds, sd@gsal.org.uk Herefordshire Jenny Barlow, Lady Hawkins School, Herefordshire jbarlow@lhs.hereford.sch.uk