Training new geography teachers

Author(s): Andrea Tapsfield

Source: Teaching Geography, Vol. 33, No. 1 (SPRING 2008), pp. 32-33
Published by: Geographical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23755283
Accessed: 29-06-2017 22:01 UTC

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Forum training the next generation of geog
raphy teachers. But they are facing
pressures that make the high quality of
their training difficult to maintain
because the DfES predicts a reduced

Training new geography need for secondary teachers in England

teachers
Andrea Tapsfield examines the
state and status of geography
teacher training in England.
ondary teaching today are better
Geography
trained NQTs who
than ever enter
before. secis
That
official. It is what Ofsted have found
from their inspections of geography ITT
courses and it is also reflected in the
NQTs' views of their training (Figure 1).
Ofsted rated 80% of geography courses
to be good or very good at their last
inspection. The satisfactory courses
were mainly the smaller ones.
There are 41 courses training sec
ondary geography teachers in England.
Most are PGCE courses in universities
and colleges, but there are five school
centred courses run by consortia of
schools. Unlike some other subjects,
such as mathematics, there are few
part-time or 'flexible' courses - the
Open University runs the main one -
and only one undergraduate course.
and has cut back geography training
places'. By 2008 there will be around
400 fewer geographers being trained
(Figure 2), and since 2006 the training
places allocated for geography include
more than 60 for leisure and tourism.
Figure 3 shows the current location
of geography training courses in the UK.
It illustrates how the cuts in geography
training numbers are unevenly distrib
uted across the English regions. This
There are only a handful of geography does not always reflect the local
teachers trained through employment demand for teachers. The graphs show
based routes such as the Graduate the training places in each region and
Training Programme, compared tothe subreduction between 1999/2000 and
jects such as science or languages. 2007/08. Geography course tutors
Inspectors have recently reported that report that demand remains high for
the provision of structured subject PGCE geography places and their
training is a common area for improve trained NQTs. A survey undertaken by
ment in these schemes (Ofsted, 2007). the Geographical Association's Teacher
Geography is very fortunate to have Education Working Group found that
some very effective geography tutors schools were phoning local universities
All NQTs Geography
I very good good adequate poor
Figure
Figure 1: NQTs
1: NQTs
satisfied satisfied
with the quality
withof their
thetraining.
quality Source:
of Training
their and
training. Source: Train
Development
Development Agency.Agency.

Figure
Figure 2: Geography
2: Geography
secondary training
secondary
places 1993-2008.
training From
places
2006 this
1993-2008.
includes places From
for leisure
2006
and tourism
this includes
training. places for leisure a

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 in July 2006 to seek new geography
teachers to fill vacancies, but all those
available had been snapped up. The I Government regions (England)
geography educators' community is Geography training course
very concerned that a shortage of good X Closed courses
Leisure and tourism courses
qualified graduate teachers is around
the corner, and as Professor Ashley Kent 1999/2000 places
of the Institute of Education has said: 2007/2008 places

'Without energetic, enthusiastic, inspir

ing and efficient geography teachers the
future of our much-loved subject has to
be in doubt' (Kent et ah, 2004).
Although the Teaching and
Development Agency's remit is to allo
cate funding for courses in relation to
their quality, some large geography
courses of high quality have seen harsh
reductions. For example, one provider
graded 'excellent' in its last full Ofsted
geography inspection has seen its 20
places in 2005/6 fall to 13 for 2007/8,
while another has dropped from 40 to
25 places. Yet smaller geography courses
with an Ofsted grading of'satisfactory'
have had no cuts. This is having a seri
ous effect on some of the country's best
geography training providers.
Reductions in training places have
knock-on effects for tutor employment
and geography education research.
Geography has been very well served
in recent years by experienced geogra
phy tutors, not only in the high quality
NQTs they have trained, but also
through their contribution to curricu
lum development in schools. Recently
it has been difficult to recruit new
tutors to run geography ITT courses.
Uncompetitive rates of pay do not make
the posts attractive to good geography
heads of department. PGCE tutors have
limited time available for research, Figure3:
Figure 3:NQTs
NQTssatisfied with
satisfied the the
with quality of their
quality training.
of their Source: Source:
training. TrainingTraining
and Development
and Development
Agency,
Agency,2006.
2006.
which handicaps their career prospects
in the university environment. In the
past few years some very experienced mentors eager to train new teachers
Hopefully the trend can be halted
tutors have turned away from training before it is too late.
when they heard they could no longer
geography teachers to further their be engaged in training.
careers in management or to return to New standards for QTS are being Update
teach in schools. Since this article was written, the TDA
developed for implementation in
When student numbers reduce, the has announced the ITT geography
September 2007. These give a strong
financial pressures mean that appointemphasis to subject knowledge and training places from 2008. These are
ing a full-time tutor is not always planned to fall even further from 690
expect all trainees to 'have a secure
feasible. Part-time tutors have less (or places in 2007/08 to only 504 by
knowledge and understanding of their
no) time to engage in research, broaden 2010/11. This will take the number of
subjects and related pedagogy to enable
their own pedagogical expertise or work new geography teachers entering the
them to teach effectively'. It is ironic
closely with partner schools. Some uni profession to well below the 1993/94
versities have decided that their that the courses that do this very well level.
geography course is no longerare being threatened with closure.
viable
and five have closed in recent years,
with other closures on the cards. We
have already seen the knock-on effects Note

in the primary phase, where specialist1. There are similar reductions across the UK, but this article refers to geography training in
geography training has been decimated England funded by the Training and Development Agency (TDA).
in the last 15 years. Course closures not
References
only affect the supply of new teachers
Kent, W.A., Rawling, E.M. and Robinson, A. (eds) (2004) Geographical Education: Expanding
in an area, but also remove professional
horizons in a shrinking world. London: IGU Geography Education Commission with the
development opportunities for teachers Scottish Association of Geography Teachers.
in local schools to work with university
Ofsted (2007) An Employment-based Route into Teaching 2003-06. London: Ofsted.
1 tutors. One well-established geography
course reports there was huge disap
Andrea Tapsfield is a former HMI (e-mail: andrea.tapsfield@btinternet.com].
pointment from good geography

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