ABSTRACT
At the time of writing, it is still possible to find serving teachers in England and Wales able to look back, often with some nostalgia, to teaching geography before the advent of the National Curriculum. However, in the quarter-century since its inception in the 1988 Education Act, it is the National Curriculum which has dominated discussion about what should be taught, how and by whom in primary and the early years of secondary schools. In the years between the 1944 and 1988 Education Acts, teachers in all phases had considerable autonomy in planning the curriculum, largely free of any oversight from (or a sense of accountability to) local or central government. The Geography National Curriculum established a framework for pupils' geographical education for the primary and early secondary years. After a quarter of a century, it is likely that significantly more pupils at Key Stages 1 to 3 now experience a high quality geography education.
