The London Geography Alliance: Re-connecting the school subject with the university discipline

The London GeographyAlliance was established to provide a network of subject-based support to primary and secondary schools, by linking teachers and university lecturers. Workshops and fieldwork were conducted over a 17-month period to address different aspectsofthegeographycurriculum.Theeffectsoftheprojectwereevaluatedusingqualitativeandquantitativemethods.Primaryschoolteachersimprovedtheirknowledgeofgeographyandtheirconfidencetoidentifyandfacilitategeographicallearning.Secondaryschoolteachersenhancedtheirsubjectknowledge,developednewideas,schemesofworkandresourcesforteaching,andimprovedtheiruseoffieldworktechniques.Theprojectshowedhowteachinginschoolscanbeimprovedthroughmakinglinkstouniversitydisciplines.

Itwasagainstthispolicybackdropthatthe2010CoalitionGovernmentplannedtoreview thenationalcurriculum,asoutlinedintheWhitePaperThe Importance of Teaching (DfE,2010). Intermsofthecurriculumreview,theemphasiswason'thecoreknowledgeandunderstanding thatallchildrenshouldbeexpectedtoacquireinthecourseoftheirschooling '(ibid.:41).During the national curriculum review, subject-expert working groups were set up to recommend waysinwhichteacherscouldbesupportedinthetransitiontothenewcurriculum.Therewas recognition that the new curriculum would challenge some teachers in terms of its subject knowledge demands. With this aim in mind, the GLA and the Department for Education established the LSEF, tendering bids for groups offering to support the subject knowledge of teachers.Insodoing,theycreatedthemeansandopportunityforcurriculuminnovationthathas perhapsnotbeenseensincethecurriculumprojectsofthe1970s.
Although teachers enter the profession with a basis of disciplinary knowledge, we take the view that knowledge is dynamic, and that intellectual enquiry is something that teachers themselvesneedtobecontinuallyengagedwith.Theschoolcurriculumshouldthereforealso bedynamic,reflectingshiftingdisciplinaryparadigmsandnewknowledge.Withoutlinkstothe disciplinesfromwhichsubjectsderivethereisadangerthatthecurriculumbecomessterileand teachingrepetitiveanddull.
However,thematterofknowledgeandthecurriculumisnotnecessarilystraightforward, asknowledgeisproducedinasocio-politicalcontext.Here,weadoptthesocial realistposition that disciplinary knowledge is both socially constructed and objectively related to the real world (Young, 2008).This is a departure from both the overly socialized social constructivist theory as well as the under-socialized view presented by the Coalition Government (Young and Muller, 2016). The former fails to adequately differentiate subjective experience from theoreticalknowledge.Thelatterdoesnotofferasufficientaccountofhowknowledgeissocially contextualized, meaning the content of the curriculum tends towards stasis and is assumed ratherthanrationalized.
Inschools,teachersre-contextualizedisciplinaryknowledgeintoschoolsubjectsthatmake up the curriculum (Bernstein, 2000). So, while university lecturers can teach teachers about thelatestideas,theories,anddata,itisteacherswhohavetomakedecisionsabouthowtorepackagethisknowledgeforpupils.Itisherewheretheexpertiseofeducationalistsmakesan important contribution, mediating between university geography and teachers, and suggesting ways to re-contextualize knowledge into schemes of work that will take children through a progressionofknowledgeandunderstanding.

Project activity
The IOE launched the LGA in January 2014 by forging partnerships with twelve schools (six primary and six secondary), three university geography departments (University College of London,King'sCollege,QueenMaryUniversity),andtheGeographicalAssociation.Theinitial schools and universities called to join the project were invited through existing connections. Wewantedtobeginwithschoolsthathadagoodfoundationand/orcommitmenttogeography, so as to establish a strong model upon which to build.At the start of the summer term, a largerpoolofschoolswasinvitedtojointheproject,andnumbersgrewto13primaryand20 secondaryschools.TheschoolsthatjoinedtheLGAwerevariedintype,geographicallocation (bothinnerandouterLondonboroughs),geographicalexpertise,andteacherexperience.While the majority were state-funded primary schools, academies, or comprehensive schools, there weretwoindependentschoolsandonefreeschool.
Forsecondaryteachers,mostworkshopsandfieldworkwereledbyageographylecturer fromoneofthethreeuniversitydepartments.Topicsincluded:rivers(uplandandinLondon), coasts, climate change, glaciation, geomorphology, geology, hazards, environmental monitoring, London, the developing world, geopolitics in Africa, geographical information systems, and fieldwork in the Lake District.The supporting role of the three university departments was critical to the establishment and success of the LGA.The LGA for secondary teachers is coordinatedbyAlexStandish.
On balance, it is reasonable to be confident that the data collected using these three differentmethodsenableasoundassessmentthatreflectsthegeneralimpactoftheLGAcourse on beneficiaries. One further limitation of the methodology is that it was designed with an expressedpurposeinmind:toexplorethepedagogicaleffectsofimprovingteachers'subject knowledge.Therefore,althoughresearchinstrumentsdirectedteacherstofocustheiranswers onthisaspectoftheirteaching,somegaveanswerspertainingtootherareasinthemoreopenresponsequestions.

Project impact: Primary schools
With a project focus of improving teachers' subject knowledge and subject pedagogy, the principalfocusofourevaluationwasonteachersthemselves,howtheymadeuseoftheproject, anditsimpactontheirpreparednesstoteachthenewcurriculum.
Perhaps,expectedly,primaryteachersweremixedintheirrankingofperceivedpriorities for support.The post-project survey of support provided by the LGA project indicates that, in general, it was a good match or gave better support for the perceived needs than at the outset.Thereweresomekeyaspectsthatdidnotmatchtheoriginalranking-mostmarkedly, supportfor'pedagogicalapproaches'fellshortoftheoriginallyperceivedneed.However,there weresomegains,particularlyintheuseandintegrationofGISandinsupportingnon-specialist colleagues.
ThesurveyandanalysisindicatethattheLGAprojectprovidedmuchmorebalancedsupport acrossallaspectsofgeographyteachingthanthoseareasoriginallyprioritized by teachers.It seemslikelythatteacherstransferredtheirneedforpedagogicalapproachestoabroaderrange of priorities, including knowledge of new areas of the curriculum. Other evidence gathered indicatesthattheprimaryteachersdidvaluethepedagogicalapproachesexploredduringthe project.Theyappeartohaveunderstoodhowtheirparticipationontheprojecthadvaluein developingthegeographyteachingoflessconfidentcolleaguesinschool.
Theoverallmeanself-efficacyscoreinthebaselinesurveywas6.0andinthepost-project self-efficacy survey this had increased to an overall mean self-efficacy score of 8.0, thereby indicating a perceived higher level of effectiveness in pedagogy and relationships with pupils, post-project.
Participants were asked to self-evaluate their confidence levels in contemporary subject knowledge and understanding for areas of geography across the curriculum at the beginning andtheendoftheprojectevaluationperiod.Respondentsscored1forhighconfidenceand5 forlowconfidence.Calculationofthedifferenceinscorebetweenthebaselinescoreandpostproject surveyscoreforeachtopicgaveanindicationoftheimpactofthecourseonteachers' confidence in their levels of subject knowledge, with a score of 1.0 representing one whole confidenceshift(e.g.from'unconfident'or'quiteunconfident'to'confident').Theresultsofthe baselinesurveyareshowninFigure3, andtheresultsoftheshifteffectmeasuredpost-project areshowninFigure4.
ThedeputyheadoftheschoolhighlightedfourkeyeffectsoftheLGAprojectontheschool: the coordinator has become a strong advocate for geography, enthusing and inspiring other teachers; the coordinator is now able to lead in-service training, expressing a clear vision of geographyteaching;teachersaremuchmoreconfidentaboutwhatmakesagoodgeographical learning experience, and they are planning geography more confidently into topic work; and all teachers and most pupils are now incorporating more geographical language, skills, and understandingintheirtopics.
Evidencewasobtainedfromadiscussionwith afocusgroup comprisingfouryear7pupils and two pupils from both years 9 and 10.The pupils commented that they had noticed an increaseinactiveteachingapproachesandindependentlearning.Theteachersseemedto'know theirstuff'andaftersometeachingatthestartofatopic,theywouldallowstudentstowork through activities and tasks, and find information and answers to questions.They also had morefieldworkopportunitiesincorporatedintotheirworkandlearningthisyear,whichthey consideredvaluableforlearning.Allthepupilsenjoyedgeographyandtheyear10pupilswere consideringstudyingthesubjectatAlevel. TheinterviewwithanHoDindicatedadirectimpactonpupiloutcomes: TheLGAinputhasbeenmostbeneficialforextendedessaysthatstudentshavedone,inboth key stages, incorporating independent research.This the students have found very interesting and significant, as it shows geography in action, very topical, right up to the very present: the immediacy.
During visits to two schools, the HoDs took part in a semi-structured interview. One HoDcommentedthatthedepartmentwasinneedofimprovementinsubjectknowledgeand confidence to teach to a higher level.The LGA had provided this level of subject knowledge forthewholedepartment.Inbothschools,informationandideasfromsessionswerefedback duringweeklydepartmentalmeetings,whichincludedadiscussiononwherethe'new'subject knowledge and approaches might best be applied in the curriculum. Using this departmental 'cascade'approachensuredthewholedepartmentbenefitedfromtheLGAcourse.TheLGA workhadstronglyinfluencedtheintroductionoftwonewfieldtrips-onetoalocalurbanarea andtheothertoacoastallocation.AnumberofteachingapproachesdiscussedatLGAsessions had been incorporated into the departmental work, particularly highlighting geographical vocabulary and more independent learning activities.The one department was introducingA levelgeographyinthenextacademicyear,andfelttheLGAcoursehadprovidedconsiderable inputintotheplanningandconfidenceoftheteacherstoteachAlevelgeography.Overall,the HoDfelttheLGAhadhelpedthewholedepartmenttobecomebettergeographers,andhad 're-generatedaninterestinthesubjectwithfocusanddirection'.
Finally, there were clear benefits to universities who participated in the LGA. Opening a dialoguewithteachersgivestheminsightintoeducationinschools.Onlythroughteacher-lecturer dialogue can common aims and objectives for the curriculum possibly be achieved.This way, lecturerscancontributetoimprovingthepreparednessofthestudentstheyreceive,something theyareclearlyconcernedabout.Inthelongrun,wesuggestthatincreasedcollaborationwould smooththetransitionfromschooltouniversityforstudentsasthegapwouldnotbesolarge.