David Rogers

Many Hampshire schools are compressing their Key Stage 3's at the moment. This shrt article was published in the Autumn Hampshire Secondary Newsletter.

It's been a while since I posted about the compressed curriculum experience. The school is now 2 terms into compression, with Year 7 being the only cohort. This should mean that these pupils sit their external SAT examinations in Year 8: next year! As I've mentioned before, this has serious implications for the recruitment of KS4 geographers. On Monday we were given the day (well most of it anyway...) to focus on what to do at Key Stage 4. This went some way to reassure me as I felt this was being ignored. As a department we have decided to investigate the following as possible 'pathways' within the geography department. Pathway 1: Year 9 and 10 : GCSE Geography, Year 11 Short course (if they exist?) in environmental science/management or geology. Pathway 2: Year 9 Foundation year focusing on geographical skills and containing a significant fieldwork element. Year 10 and 11 GCSE Geography. Pathway 3 : Year 9 and 10 VGCSE Leisure and Tourism, Year 11 some other short ...

A big hello to those of you who are reading this after this mornings Inset. I hope that you find what's here useful, and please follow some of the links to the right. These are the people where I have got the inspiration from. The copies of the PowerPoint used today and Handout can be found by following the links in yesterdays post below - just scroll down the page and look for 'KS3 Support Meeting'. Also, please feel free to add a comment - I appreciate any feedback whether it's positive or negative. I hope that my message of positive action was clear. Thank you to those who gave me some feedback at the end of the meeting - I really appreciate the positive comments and look forward to working with the new contacts created! Two issues were considered today: the 14-19 agenda and the future of Key Stage 3. I feel uneasy over the 14-19 curriculum plans. The wording 'all pupils will choose one of the pathways / diplomas' concerned me. The immediate questions to me a...

I've been invited to speak at a training event in January where I've been asked to give my personal perspective of Geography and a compressed Key Stage 3. Instead of taking a view where I look at the pro's and con's of compression, with the issues of providing an entitlement to geography, I'm thinking of being positive and tackling the issue from a ' how can Geography react (if that's the right word)'. I'm aware that many colleagues have little or no choice about compression, so maybe it's time for the debate to move onto how Geography can lead the way. At the moment I feel that Geography departments have to address the issue of recruitment into KS4 and decide on the type of geographers departments want to create. Then decide on how to deliver that vision. Coupled with the upcoming revisions to the National Curriculum, it is a very exciting time to be a Geographer! For example I welcome the way in which individual departments and teachers On a se...

Just got back from the Think Tank Meeting feeling very optimistic about Geography. A few issues were discussed including the current trend for schools to compress their KS3 curriculum. I won't share the meeting detail as a summary will be posted on the web. However, during the drive back I've had time to have a few thoughts. Combined with the New NC on the horizon, it is an exciting time to be a Geographer. I have a number of questions, but most importantly - do all Geography teachers in the same department have to be teaching the same Geography to the same Year groups? Is there room for geographers to explore their own specialisms and use their own experiences on the classroom? Of course there should be a broad and balanced Geography entitlement, but I think there's lots of room for radical action.