Introduction

In 2008, the government announced that teaching was to become an allMasters Profession (DCSF 2008). This was part of their ‘Being the best for our children’ initiative and was aimed at recognising the importance of a highly skilled workforce leading education. This same document also announced the MTL, a new Masters in Teaching and Learning, for teachers. Masters level education for teachers is not a new thing. Many institutions offer Masters courses in education, teaching and related fields. Since the changes in QAA guidelines, most PGCE courses now offer at least 30 Masters level credits (UCET 2006), many offer more. There are also specialist Masters courses in education, not least the MA in Geography Education offered at the Institute in Education, University of London. The MA in Geography Education, offered at the Institute of Education, was established in 1968. When the course was developed its intention was to support geography educators in understanding the emerging field of geography education. Since then the course has developed and grown with many alumni from around the world. A distance-learning version of the course was established in 2001. Graduates of the course have made a huge impact in geography education; the alumni list stretches into government ministers, headteachers, teacher advisors, PGCE tutors, academics, as well as a long list of highly skilled, dedicated geography teachers. I graduated from the MA in 1993. It had a significant impact on my practice, and on my subsequent career. Now, as a tutor on the course (and more recently as the Course Leader), my challenge has been to ensure that students on the course receive the same quality experience I did. The process of curriculum development has led me to question and think about what being a Master of Geography Education means, and the difficulties teachers experience whilst working towards achieving this. The fruits of that thinking have guided the preparation of this book. Many new geography teachers will be studying at least some of their PGCE at Masters level. The challenge for those courses has been to determine what constitutes Masters level on a course which is also professional and practical. A teacher’s progress on a PGCE is judged against the Standards for Qualified Teacher Status, Ofsted criteria and other benchmarks of professional

judgement alongside Masters level criteria. A PGCE student has to develop their professional practice alongside their knowledge and understanding of geography education. And this is a good thing. In my experience, the more informed a teacher is, and the deeper they understand education, the more capacity they have to be ‘good’ at what they do. I have treated the word ‘good’ with caution here, because I don’t want to imply that they will become the kind of teacher that I think is ‘good’ – but will be able to define quality in their own terms. Developing a professional position on debates such as this is a key theme running throughout this book. And so, the purpose of this book is to offer support and challenge to geography teachers who are working at Masters level. As the title suggests, our imagined reader is someone undertaking their PGCE, or working post-PGCE to gain Masters credits in Geography Education. However, experienced geography teachers, and those not undertaking further study but wishing to broaden their understanding of geography education, will also find its contents thought-provoking and challenging. Although primarily written by authors with experience in secondary geography education in England and Wales, the contents are applicable to other sectors and contexts. With this readership in mind, the book is divided into three parts, each reflecting one aspect of working at Masters level on a geography PGCE. The first part emphasises professional practice, exploring what we understand about professionalism and quality in geography education, and how teachers can improve their practice. The second part recognises that a geography teacher needs to engage with a range of pertinent themes and key ideas, some of which are assessed through coursework on a PGCE or Masters level course. The chapters in this part explore a range of these themes providing an introduction to the different perspectives and debates. The third part focuses on the process of undertaking Masters level work. This part emphasises academic ‘skills’ such as engaging with theory, undertaking research (and particularly the dissertation) and writing academic texts. The contents of the book have been brought together to emphasise three key areas. The first of which is the link between theory and practice. As highlighted in Chapters 2, 3 and 11, teachers can have an adverse reaction to theory, somehow thinking it is difficult or irrelevant. As John Morgan suggests in Chapter 2, some teachers express concern that there is a significant difference between theory and what they do in the classroom. However, one of the intentions of this book is to demonstrate how understanding theory and research in education can enhance practice. For instance, in the first chapter, David Lambert explores how changing notions of what it means to be a professional can have a significant impact on what teachers do. Similarly, Hakhee Kim in Chapter 9 examines how the geographical content of our lessons can reflect different understandings of multiculturalism and inclusion. In each chapter, we explore relevant theory, and highlight the key readings and texts in each field, but with an emphasis on how this theory works with practice. The two go hand-in-hand.