Teach Secondary Issue 13.6

equivalent data recorded at the same location the previous year. Do, however, remember that although it’s a repeat visit for you , the same won’t necessarily apply to your pupils. It’s not uncommon for pupils’ first visit to the UK’s coastline being due to their school’s fieldwork. If your fieldwork site is somewhere unfamiliar to your pupils, try to schedule in some time for them to ‘take it in’ and orientate themselves to it – perhaps commencing with a field sketch of the site and its features, before getting stuck into more detailed data collection. Scheduling and logistics Youmight now have your initial geographical enquiry, permissions and risk review in hand, but there are some other, crucially important areas to consider when devising a plan for your fieldwork. First off, howwill your pupils’ fieldwork enquiry build on their prior learnings and be contextualized in the fieldwork site itself? We shouldn’t forget (not that many geographers will) the valuable part that Ordnance Survey maps and Esri UK’s geographic information system can play in helping you ‘place’ the site. This becomes especially important if it will be any pupils’ first visit to what, for them, will be terra incognita. You’ll need to be well-stocked with all the necessary fieldwork equipment – which as some teachers will tell you, might include a class set of wellies. You’ll then need to think about the schedule you’ll be observing when carrying out the fieldwork, and how this will relate to the data you’ll be collecting and other wider practicalities. What contingencies will there be in the event of inclement weather?What facilities will there be for toilet breaks? Will the fieldwork you have planned be fully inclusive, given your pupils’ needs? (It’s worth reading Catherine Owen’s thoughts on this via bit.ly/ts136-FW2a. ) Nor can we discount the challenges posed by unexpected and unwelcome events. Pupils from Manchester Academy, for example, recently had to deal (admirably) with comments of ‘ Stop the boats ’ being directed at themwhen they disembarked at their fieldwork location (see bit.ly/ ts136-FW3). Subject advocacy Then there’s the question of how the fieldwork will be written up, built on and taken forward in your pupils’ subsequent work (and potentially even the wider life of your school). Looking beyond the requirements of GCSE and A Level specifications, we shouldn’t lose sight of the wider benefits of fieldwork, including its capacity to help young people better develop their skills. Asking older pupils to share their fieldwork experiences with their younger peers can turn out to be some of the best subject advocacy you could wish for, come options time. However, not all teachers will be sufficiently knowledgeable and confident in running their own fieldwork events. As previously noted, Ofsted has identified a clear lack of professional knowledge in this area, which effectively limits teachers’ options and potential opportunities in what should be an important part of the work they do. If you feel that you need to develop your fieldwork skills, then I would strongly encourage you to draw on the support provided by Geographical Association, the Field Studies Council, Discover theWorld, The National Education Nature Park and numerous other educational organisations. Out in the field Whatever you end up doing, any fieldwork you undertake is worth celebrating. This is why the Geographical Association runs an annual #NationalFestivalofFieldwork in the summer term, during which schools are encouraged to share their fieldwork experiences. This year’s festival saw thousands of pupils investigating their schools’ grounds, nearby beaches, rivers and high streets, local parks and forests, and receiving their fieldwork certificates upon completing the fieldwork in question. If there’s one place where a geography teacher should let their geographical enthusiasm for their subject run wild, it’s in the field. Your enthusiasm for investigating the geography that surrounds us can be infectious, and provide an important spark for your pupils’ interest in our subject. Even so, we can occasionally be guilty of overdoing things a little – as with the moment at the end of a long day in Snowdonia, when I was once met with a noticeably weary response of “Not another lovely U-Shaped Valley...” ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Brace is chief executive of the Geographical Association; for more information, visit geography. org.uk or follow @The_GA “Fieldworkhelps young people betterunderstand the interrelationships between peopleand their environment” 65 teachwire.net/secondary G E O G R A P H Y