Teach Secondary Issue 14.8

A world of DIFFERENCE Steve Brace charts the evolution of geography teaching over the past several decades, and considers what those changes might tell us about the subject’s future… A s Ofsted rolls out its new inspection framework, it seems like a timely moment for geography teachers to reflect on the changes that have taken place within geography teaching over recent decades. A new report by the Geographical Association, ‘Standards in Schools Geography 1991-2023’ (see tinyurl.com/ts148-G1) , analyses this in depth, drawing on lessons from successive Ofsted inspection reports about the positive progress and ongoing challenges within the subject. Written by Dr John Hopkin, with contributions fromDr Paula Owen, the report spans the National Curriculum’s introduction in 1991, through to Ofsted’s latest geography inspection report in 2023, and asks a key question – ‘ Have standards in geography changed, and if so, how? ’ In this way, the report presents a valuable subject benchmark against which geography teachers can reflect on past changes, assess their current practice and plan for the future. 1990 to the early2010s As geography teachers, we can identify two main periods of change. The first – from 1990 up until the early 2010s – could be broadly described as encompassing some good practice, but also ongoing weakness at KS3. There were some initial difficulties with the introduction of a complex geography National Curriculum. This first version had five attainment targets and programmes of study that spanned some 20 pages of requirements. Inspections at the time did find examples of good practice in secondary geography, but the same period also saw achievement at KS3 geography being consistently weaker than at KS4, with pupils’ overall achievement in geography being lower than that inmost other subjects. Those lower KS3 standards were often linked to the merger of geography with other subjects. The integrated KS3 humanities courses that emerged from this process reduced time for geography, were characterised by weaker planning and, as the report points out, “ Tended to focus on teaching generic learning skills, rather than knowledge and understanding ... specific to geography. ” Another factor linked to lower pupil attainment was the ongoing use of teachers who didn’t possess a geography specialism– an unfortunate practice that continues to this day. Latter 2010s to the early2020s Looking back, this could be seen as a period of continually improving standards, particularly at KS3 (albeit fromwhat was often a weak starting position). See, for example, a 2015 Ofsted survey report titled ‘Key Stage 3: the Wasted Years?’, which found that standards in as many as a third of KS3 geography lessons simply weren’t good enough (see tinyurl.com/ ts148-G3). In recent years there’s been more positive progress. Ofsted’s 2023 geography subject report (see tinyurl. com/ts148-G5) identified improving standards, especially at KS3, and noted that the KS3 geography curriculumwas sometimes evenmore ambitious than the KS4 curriculum. This turnaround in standards across the secondary phase has been linked to the good work of subject leaders and teachers in their KS3 planning, as well as the way in which new GCSE specifications became the de facto KS4 curriculum. The period from 2010 onwards also saw significant increases in the number of pupils studying GCSE geography. In 2025 there was a record 303,000 GCSE geography candidates, compared to 180,000 in 2010, amounting to a rise in the proportion of pupils taking GCSE geography from 26% to 43%. Overall achievement at GCSE has also improved, up from 58% of pupils achieving a then Grade C or better in 2000, to 66% achieving a Grade 4 or higher in 2025. That said, until 2016, GCSE results in geography were broadly in line with those across all other subjects; since then, geography’s results have weakened, coinciding with two major changes. One was the introduction of new specifications that were designed to be more challenging. The other was a broadening of the ability range of pupils studying geography at GCSE, including greater uptake by pupils with lower prior attainment. “Despite beinga statutory requirement, some schools didn’t undertakeanyKS3 fieldworkat all” 76 teachwire.net/secondary