Geographers at the Sustainability Chalk Face – Strategies for Teaching in a Changed World

This is an important time to be a geography teacher. Climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse are the biggest issues of our time, and ones that today’s young people are going to face throughout their lives. Education, wide and fast, is necessary if humans are going to turn the situation around in the coming decade, to enable human survival into the 22nd century. Today’s teenagers are going to be entering the workplace and taking the reins through the biggest changes human civilisation has seen. Will they be ready? And what can today’s geography teachers, with powerful opportunities with the existing curriculum, do to prepare them? Join Oxford University academics, and school geography teachers, in a vital discussion about our role in safeguarding our young people, and the world they depend on.

Watch a recording of the event:

Contributors

Steve Brace, Chief Executive of the Geographical Association

Steve started his career as a geography teacher at a London comprehensive, worked for Action Aid and the Commonwealth Institute, and prior to his current role was Head of Education and Outdoor Learning at the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers).

Jane Blane, Geography teacher and DPhil student at the Department of Education

Jane is a secondary school geography teacher and a part-time doctoral student at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the pedagogy of climate change education and the importance of equipping young learners to develop their own sense of agency.

Paul Turner, Geography teacher and climate communicator

Paul is a “radical geographer” and teacher as well as social and environmental activist. Paul is Education Lead for the Ministry of Eco Education, a charity supporting teachers in more than 11,500 schools to weave the climate and nature crisis into their existing curriculum. Paul will soon be publishing “How to teach the climate crisis” with Sage.

Dr Aoife Bennett, Geography academic and sustainability educator

Aoife is Departmental Research Lecturer in the Environmental Social Sciences at the Environmental Change Institute at the Oxford University School of Geography and the Environment. She is an interdisciplinary environmental research scientist with expertise in the social sciences, and a strong interest in teaching.

Professor David Mitchell, Associate Professor at the Institute of Education, UCL

David’s background is in secondary geography school teaching. He moved into teacher education where he tutors student teachers and leads on initial teacher education programmes and projects. He is interested in innovative, teacher-led curriculum development particularly in relation to education for sustainability. 

Dr Bill Finnegan, Sustainability Curriculum Project Lead, University of Oxford

Bill has a background in participatory video and environmental education, and for his DPhil looked at climate and energy literacies in schools. He is responsible for the education and curriculum priority within Oxford University’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy.

Shelley Monk is the Geography Subject Advisor for OCR, a former Geography teacher, and passionate about fieldwork opportunities for students.

Kerry Sage is a Subject Advisor at Cambridge University Press & Assessment