for what it's worth...
There are ways and means that academic geographers can find small spaces
to infiltrate into schools, and it doesn't have to be seen as something
extra to fit into their alreasy packed lives. How about Univeristies'
Widening Participation Units? Academics (particularly if they are their
department's school liason officer) can usefully tick off their Widening
Participation strand by enagaging with local schools in a collaborative
way.
Here at Birmingam Univeristy our unit was only to pleased to hear from us
and actively encouraged us to engage with local schools. A couple of hours
writing a funding proposal and we were given £5000 (not much in the wider
scheme of academic funding I know, but plenty to cover travel, equipment
etc.). Staff, postgrads and undergrads were engaged in a 5 week
collaborative project with staff and pupils from an under-achieving school
which was only a 15 minute train ride from our uni. It was bloody
fantatsic. And it was two-way. We learnt as much from the kids as they did
from us! So was this project teaching, admin or research? Well, if
acadmics are cleaver enough they can kill three birds with one stone. And
it's getting over what geography is to one of our most important publics-
school kids. Here's what's just two of the kids told us (I could go on):
"Geography’s a lot better now, yeah. I chose it because I didn’t like
history, but now I know a lot more to do with geography and I feel more
confident with it… I didn’t realise that geography was such a variety of
stuff."
"Before this project we would have definitely discarded Geography for our
A-Level subjects. But since doing the more practical project we will
definitely consider doing A-Level Geography."
Check out the pilot GCSE
(http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/pilotgcse/) - if there's a school
near you doing it, chances are that teachers will have the flexibility to
adapt the curriculum (modules on People as Consumers, Cultural Geography
etc. etc.) ... I think it is often these small spaces of opportunity
that can really change things... Just getting kids onto campus and seeing
what a univeristy actually looks like an achieve a lot.
Or, how about getting involved with your local branch of the GA
(http://www.geography.org.uk/aboutus/branches/)?
Helen
Helen Griffiths
Doctoral Researcher
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Tel: 0121 4143282
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.gees.bham.ac.uk/people/phd.asp?offset=20&ID=479
|