Geography & English: Why Argue?

A project between the Geographical Association (GA) and the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE). The 'Geography & English: Why argue?' Project explored teaching and learning strategies to support young people in developing a sense of identity.

The Project involved six schools. In each school Geography and English colleagues worked together to develop Key Stage 3 teaching and learning opportunities that:

• Develop teachers' understanding of active citizenship.
• Broaden teachers' pedagogic repertoire to challenge young people when considering issues connected with identity.
• Appreciate a curriculum that acknowledges the social responsibility of education.
• Consider pedagogies that are appropriate to the creation of democratically active citizens and the nature and ramifications of a multi-cultural society.

Key findings of the evaluation carried out by the University of Nottingham were:

• The opportunity to plan co-operatively with a colleague and to think more carefully about the 'What?' and the 'Why?' of their teaching seems to have raised teachers' expectations of pupils. The collaboration between English and Geography teachers generated challenging and thoughtful lessons that might not have been developed had these teachers been working on their own.
• In turn, pupils responded very positively to this shift in expectations: teachers commented on the discernable improvement in pupils' behaviour during project lessons.
• Involvement in the project seems to have encouraged teachers to take risks in their teaching and to use resources and strategies that they would otherwise not have considered. The evaluation day reflected the range of teaching strategies the teachers developed and used with pupils.
• The open-ended nature of the project gave teachers 'permission' to be creative in their teaching and to consider more carefully how to support pupils' understanding of some complex geographical issues. Teachers seemed more confident to plan lessons that challenged the 'answer culture' in classrooms.

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