On 12th March 2026, my book The Power of Geographical Enquiry will be published. It’s been a journey — and one I’m genuinely passionate about. I’ve tried to blend the pragmatic with the theoretical, rooted in two decades of classroom practice. The book is available for pre-order (with a saving).
One of the key arguments running through it is this: much of the geographical knowledge we teach in schools will be out of date by the time a young person moves from their first Year 7 lesson to their GCSE or A level. The world changes. New data emerges. Examples that once worked become obsolete. But what doesn’t go out of date is how we do geography. That is not to say that substansive knowledge isn't important, indeed all teaching should be rooted in contextualised geography(local or linked to the local wherever possible).
So yes, we have the ‘what’ of geography — the substantive content organised around concepts. But we also have the procedural aspect: how we question, analyse, test, and interpret information. That is where enquiry provides a set of powerful lenses that help us look beyond the white, eurocentric interests of school geography in the UK.
Factfulness as an enquiry habit
A core part of any enquiry process is the critical evaluation of information, in whatever form it arrives. We rightly expect students to question data, media claims, press releases, maps, and statistics — but we also have to model that same criticality ourselves when we choose curriculum artefacts.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. It can simply be a habit.
One useful structure comes from the principles behind Factfulness (Rosling et al.). Even though the original examples date quickly, the approach doesn’t. Here’s an activity I use with PGCE geography students in a recent enquiry workshop.
Step 1: The claim
South Downs National Park’s nature initiative reaches big milestone.
A total of 6,082 hectares – an area bigger than Worthing or Portsmouth – has now been created or improved to help nature thrive.
Pause. What is your first instinctive reaction? Before you analyse it, what do you feel about the claim?
Step 2: Factfulness in action
Did you assume this was good news? Did you read it as a success story? Did the comparison with Portsmouth (useful, but selective) influence your response?
Now add one more piece of data:
South Downs National Park is 162,700 hectares in total.
6,082 hectares = 3.7% of the National Park
Does that change anything? Does it shift the scale? Does it reframe what is meant by “big milestone”?
This is a simple but powerful move: get more context, then re-evaluate. When modelled in the classroom, it also quietly introduces proportional thinking, basic maths, and a healthier sense of scepticism.
Enquiry is not an add-on
Activities like this remind us that enquiry isn’t something we tack onto a scheme of work — it is geography. The discipline is built on questioning, analysing, comparing, contextualising, and asking, “Is this really what it seems?”
And while there is currently talk of curriculum review and reform, none of that stops us — right now — from inspiring a sense of academic curiosity and geographical wonder in the students in front of us. The ability to notice, to question, to feel compelled to find out is not dependent on a new national curriculum. It is dependent on how we teach, how we frame the world, and how we invite young people into the discipline.
If we teach students only to remember geographical facts, rather than to work with them, we’re preparing them for a world that will outgrow everything we’ve taught. But if we teach them how to be geographers — to approach information critically, curiously, and contextually — then they have something that endures.
What it actually means to “think like a geographer” is something I explore in detail in the book, along with practical strategies for building enquiry into everyday teaching rather than treating it as an optional extra.
The Power of Geographical Enquiry brings together the theory and the classroom strategies, with examples, reflections and teacher-ready routines. It’s about more than teaching geography — it’s about enabling young people to do geography.
Photo by Jack Millard on Unsplash
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