CURRICULUM STATEMENT AND SCHEMES OF WORK

Curriculum statement

The purpose of a Geographical Education

Geography contributes different elements of learning to a young person’s education, including:

Knowledge and understanding; skills;

Values and attitudes.

Knowledge and understanding

If Geography is about people and the environment then it must have a huge amount to offer young people who are trying to make sense of their world. HMI claims that:

Geography helps pupils to make sense of their surroundings and to gain a better appreciation and understanding of the variety of conditions on the earth’s surface.
DES, 1986, p.1

Values

The importance of values education arising from the study of Geography cannot be under emphasised. It is crucial to help pupils to develop and clarify their attitudes and values towards people, places, the environment and related issues. In doing so, pupils are prepared for life as responsible and tolerant citizens within a multicultural society. Further, it empowers them to take actions, which could make the world a better place. [See school Mission Statement p. 3 (2)]

Skills

Through the investigation of people-environment topics and issues in Geography lessons, young people are able to develop and practice a range of skills including practical, intellectual and social skills in addition to those associated with literacy, numeracy and graphicacy.

• Practical skills are often used when pupils are engaged in observation tasks, perhaps using equipment during fieldwork
• Intellectual skills are used when pupils are enquiring into issues, questions or problems by developing their own questions or hypotheses; considering data needed; describing and analysing data; evaluating findings; making decisions or drawing conclusions.
• Social skills are developed through ways of working together such as cooperative groups and interactions with people from the community.
• Literacy and numeracy skills are practised whenever pupils are communicating or processing information.
• Graphicacy skills are of particular value since they allow communication of spatial information that cannot be conveyed as well, verbally or numerically.

1. Aims

The Geography syllabus in St. Michael’s has been designed to meet the requirements of NC KS3 in Geography. It is presented as a teaching syllabus, which defines what should be taught to pupils at KS3. The syllabus is largely topic based with an emphasis on concept rather than content. It also assumes an enquiry learning approach whereby pupils are encouraged to involve themselves in investigative work and to ask questions and seek answers. The main learning objectives of the course are those defined in the revised National Curriculum document for Geography.

2. Content

The content of KS3 is defined in the NC document by the Programmes of Study. In St. Michael’s Geography syllabus these have been sorted into modules. The unit plan for each module defines the overall theme of that module. The unit plan also defines skills that are used in the module and lists extension activities that could take place. Information Technology suggestions are also listed were appropriate, e.g. Computer programmes, videos, projects, use of the internet, etc. Cross-curricular links are noted.

3. Method

In the unit plan there are suggestions on activities and methods that may be used to teach the unit. These are not prescriptive. The whole essence of the syllabus is to provide a sound and interesting base for learning, but to do that within a framework, which allows sufficient freedom and flexibility for the individual teacher to develop his/her individual expertise, to make use of available resources and to respond to pupil interests and local and current issues.

4. Structure

The structure of the course is modular with units designed to fit roughly into half-term teaching packages. In the syllabus the units have been arranged in a logical way that recognises progression. This, however, is not the only approach and it may be that because of a number of reasons, e.g. demand on resources, teachers may have to individualise the course and devise a sequence that is best suited to their own preferences.

5. Resources

The books and materials mentioned in the unit plans will be the main resources for the syllabus. In the light of experience these will have to be continually reviewed. The materials cannot represent all the learning strategies of a Geography course. Additional resources will need to be developed in order to supplement the present materials and provide a broad and balanced set of learning experiences for all pupils.

6. Differentiation

One of the aims of the NC is to ‘make Geography accessible to as wide a range of pupils as possible’. In order to do this and to get the best out of all pupils it is necessary to provide resources and learning experiences that are appropriate to the pupils’ needs, abilities and experience.

In the course the materials mentioned in the unit plans will be the main resource and as such will provide the basic information for the course. All pupils should undertake to complete as much of this core material as possible. More able pupils need to be stretched. This serves two functions. Firstly, it ensures that the more able are not becoming bored by doing repetitive work and are fulfilling their full potential. Secondly, if the more able are catered for, it allows the teacher to spend more time with those pupils who may be falling behind or are finding the work difficult.

This can be done in a number of ways. Activity sheets accompany most of the work stipulated in the units of work. These should not be seen as sheets which everyone needs to do, but are a set of materials, which can be used to stretch the skills and knowledge of those who have clearly understood the core work. In addition activities need to be developed by staff specifically for certain groups of children - both less able and more able. The department has an extensive range of lower ability support material, which can be used by staff to supplement the learning in the classroom as well as help to make difficult concepts easier to understand.

In collaboration with the Special Needs department and outside agencies the Geography department has started compiling a set of materials, which can be used by the less able pupils who are finding the core materials difficult. This is an on-going process and hopefully as the staff in the department become more experienced at producing materials then the amount of such materials will increase.