ABSTRACT
The current 'state of play' concerning the health of geography education in English state schools and universities is intriguing. In these schools, standards of teaching on examination courses remain high, with pleasing numbers of students progressing onto geography courses as undergraduates—where their experiences are generally positive. The launch of an English Baccalaureate, in which students are expected to achieve 'good' GCSE grades in a number of subjects, has also provided a substantial fillip to the numbers opting for geography. All school subjects have a 'curriculum story', and probably all subjects experience periods of uncertainty about their status and appeal. The comprehensivisation of state secondary schools from the mid-1960s meant that many secondary school teachers in England found themselves teaching a different student clientele. For Naish, the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s was one of 'laissez faire' in geography curriculum development, when considerations of the broader aims, objectives and purposes of education came to the fore.
