Some school Geographers (and yes, some of us are qualified geographers)
are currently spending a lot of time and effort addressing the current problems
of Geography at secondary and primary level (‘Give Geography its Place’
Campaign). People on this forum are right to recognise that unless school
Geography is re-branded and revitalised, there will be less and less Geographers
coming through to university. One of the common issues, therefore on which we
can all fight is the current lack of recognition that is given to Geography by
tv, radio and newspapers - the media are full of Geography on a daily basis but
the word is simply never (OK only rarely) ever used. Children are unaware from
the media that the energy crisis, global warming, transport issues, urban
redevelopment, immigration and so on are issues that professional Geographers
are actively working on. We try very hard in schools to demonstrate that
Geography is relevant and a vitally important subject to study but the media
does nothing to support our work. Indeed when the Geography Action Plan was
announced by the government and the subject associations many of the newspaper
articles were derisory rather than supportive of this important step
forward.
We are currently extending our campaign by asking geographers in
higher education to sign (via e-mail) a letter to go to Tessa Jowell alongside a
press release and an appeal to parents to sign our latest campaign petition.
[Over 1000 school geographers have already signed the first stage petition and
this number is growing daily.]
So, please spare a moment and support the
work currently being done by teachers to promote Geography and raise its profile
in the media. We will all ultimately benefit...
For details of our
campaign:
www.passion4geography.co.uk
If you are willing to sign our campaign letter,
please e-mail Dan (urgently) for further details at:
[log in to unmask]
David and Dan (co-founders of the 'Give Geography
its Place' Campaign)