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for children learning through sharing their geographical understanding and delving more deeply into it while connecting it with their own experiences. That the teachers, in the main, lacked this appreciation of children’s devel-oping personal geographies through their life experiences (Butt, 2009; Catling, 2005, 2011b; Freeman & Tranter, 2011; Scourfield, Dicks, Drake-ford, & Davies, 2006; Spencer & Blades, 2006) indicates that they need, alongside their personal geographical understanding, to recognise, value and draw in children’s geographical experience and learning beyond school. This last point challenges Bobbitt’s (1918) sense that school learning should essentially only focus children’s learning beyond the everyday. Rather, it supports the GA’s approach to curriculum making which argues that cur-riculum experience must make effective connections with children’s every-day lives so that they see value in their classroom learning (Biddulph, 2011; GA, 2012). The approach used in curriculummaking and the perspectives expressed by the teachers illustrate aspects of Ofsted’s findings about innovation in English schools (Ofsted, 2008a) and in relation to high quality practices in geography teaching in primary schools (Ofsted, 2008b, 2011). Findings about the impact of innovative practices include increased motivation amongst children, raised achievement and more open approaches by teach-ers to curriculummaking. It has been reported that greater curriculumflexi-bility is vital to support improvements through innovation, an opportunity which teachers often considered was not available to them but from which they may well have benefited. Ofsted notes that innovation supports per-sonal development, and that it helps children see themselves as more involved and as improving their learning. Indirectly, this supports the view of the primary teachers that children in their classes felt they were learning from their geographical studies and valued the subject more. In their recent evaluations of the state of geography in primary schools, Ofsted (2008b, 2011) have identified the importance of teachers’ subject knowledge and reinforced the view that this is vital for increasing the effectiveness of geog-raphy teaching – a point also noted by teachers in this study. Equally these reports illustrate the importance of a repertoire of teaching approaches and techniques, in particular drawing out the value and relevance of fieldwork experience and engagement for children, offsite as well as in the school’s grounds. Findings reinforce the importance of a ‘local solutions’ approach where schools are innovative and involve the children in the development of geographical studies. They offer informative examples of investigations in the local area and of ways to develop children’s understanding of sustain-able development which illustrate curriculum making findings summarised here. Where a number of key features of innovative teaching and co-operative planning with children are brought together effectively, curricu-lum making is an exciting process and informs and enables deeper learning by children in geography.
DOI link for for children learning through sharing their geographical understanding and delving more deeply into it while connecting it with their own experiences. That the teachers, in the main, lacked this appreciation of children’s devel-oping personal geographies through their life experiences (Butt, 2009; Catling, 2005, 2011b; Freeman & Tranter, 2011; Scourfield, Dicks, Drake-ford, & Davies, 2006; Spencer & Blades, 2006) indicates that they need, alongside their personal geographical understanding, to recognise, value and draw in children’s geographical experience and learning beyond school. This last point challenges Bobbitt’s (1918) sense that school learning should essentially only focus children’s learning beyond the everyday. Rather, it supports the GA’s approach to curriculum making which argues that cur-riculum experience must make effective connections with children’s every-day lives so that they see value in their classroom learning (Biddulph, 2011; GA, 2012). The approach used in curriculummaking and the perspectives expressed by the teachers illustrate aspects of Ofsted’s findings about innovation in English schools (Ofsted, 2008a) and in relation to high quality practices in geography teaching in primary schools (Ofsted, 2008b, 2011). Findings about the impact of innovative practices include increased motivation amongst children, raised achievement and more open approaches by teach-ers to curriculummaking. It has been reported that greater curriculumflexi-bility is vital to support improvements through innovation, an opportunity which teachers often considered was not available to them but from which they may well have benefited. Ofsted notes that innovation supports per-sonal development, and that it helps children see themselves as more involved and as improving their learning. Indirectly, this supports the view of the primary teachers that children in their classes felt they were learning from their geographical studies and valued the subject more. In their recent evaluations of the state of geography in primary schools, Ofsted (2008b, 2011) have identified the importance of teachers’ subject knowledge and reinforced the view that this is vital for increasing the effectiveness of geog-raphy teaching – a point also noted by teachers in this study. Equally these reports illustrate the importance of a repertoire of teaching approaches and techniques, in particular drawing out the value and relevance of fieldwork experience and engagement for children, offsite as well as in the school’s grounds. Findings reinforce the importance of a ‘local solutions’ approach where schools are innovative and involve the children in the development of geographical studies. They offer informative examples of investigations in the local area and of ways to develop children’s understanding of sustain-able development which illustrate curriculum making findings summarised here. Where a number of key features of innovative teaching and co-operative planning with children are brought together effectively, curricu-lum making is an exciting process and informs and enables deeper learning by children in geography.
for children learning through sharing their geographical understanding and delving more deeply into it while connecting it with their own experiences. That the teachers, in the main, lacked this appreciation of children’s devel-oping personal geographies through their life experiences (Butt, 2009; Catling, 2005, 2011b; Freeman & Tranter, 2011; Scourfield, Dicks, Drake-ford, & Davies, 2006; Spencer & Blades, 2006) indicates that they need, alongside their personal geographical understanding, to recognise, value and draw in children’s geographical experience and learning beyond school. This last point challenges Bobbitt’s (1918) sense that school learning should essentially only focus children’s learning beyond the everyday. Rather, it supports the GA’s approach to curriculum making which argues that cur-riculum experience must make effective connections with children’s every-day lives so that they see value in their classroom learning (Biddulph, 2011; GA, 2012). The approach used in curriculummaking and the perspectives expressed by the teachers illustrate aspects of Ofsted’s findings about innovation in English schools (Ofsted, 2008a) and in relation to high quality practices in geography teaching in primary schools (Ofsted, 2008b, 2011). Findings about the impact of innovative practices include increased motivation amongst children, raised achievement and more open approaches by teach-ers to curriculummaking. It has been reported that greater curriculumflexi-bility is vital to support improvements through innovation, an opportunity which teachers often considered was not available to them but from which they may well have benefited. Ofsted notes that innovation supports per-sonal development, and that it helps children see themselves as more involved and as improving their learning. Indirectly, this supports the view of the primary teachers that children in their classes felt they were learning from their geographical studies and valued the subject more. In their recent evaluations of the state of geography in primary schools, Ofsted (2008b, 2011) have identified the importance of teachers’ subject knowledge and reinforced the view that this is vital for increasing the effectiveness of geog-raphy teaching – a point also noted by teachers in this study. Equally these reports illustrate the importance of a repertoire of teaching approaches and techniques, in particular drawing out the value and relevance of fieldwork experience and engagement for children, offsite as well as in the school’s grounds. Findings reinforce the importance of a ‘local solutions’ approach where schools are innovative and involve the children in the development of geographical studies. They offer informative examples of investigations in the local area and of ways to develop children’s understanding of sustain-able development which illustrate curriculum making findings summarised here. Where a number of key features of innovative teaching and co-operative planning with children are brought together effectively, curricu-lum making is an exciting process and informs and enables deeper learning by children in geography.
ABSTRACT