Geography
What is our curriculum and intention?
We aim to develop our students’ understanding of various people and their culture around the world, developing our students into global citizens who respect their local and global environment. We instil ideals on sustainability and develop students’ moral responsibility to support those in the world less fortunate than ourselves; especially those suffering from natural disasters, poverty, famine, disease, and war.
The study of Geography at DACA provides students with a gateway into the rest of the world, which they may not otherwise experience. The department seeks to invoke a sense of wonder for students: we want our young geographers to be inspired, ask questions and inquire about the planet in which they live. The geography curriculum at DACA is modern and reflective in approach, encompassing the global issues of today. This ranges from examining the rising impact of plastic pollution at a local and global scale, as well as the looming threats brought about by climate change. Importantly, our curriculum sequence in Geography frequently challenges students to consider and evaluate various strategies with regards to managing and protecting our planet in an effective and sustainable way. Geography is a multifaceted discipline and at DACA we endeavour to provide our students every opportunity to become thoughtful, well-rounded, and highly skilled Geographers through a curriculum that has human and physical geography at its core. In geography the journey through places is of paramount importance; good geographers can characterise places, recognising patterns and exceptions and link these processes and themes to a broader context.
What is our learning journey?
Our Curriculum is a five year ‘Learning Journey.’
Geography is a horizontal discipline with topics that overlap. Geographical concepts can act as unifying threads for these themes. In Geography Mastery at KS3 the four selected concepts are processes, interactions, connections, and perspectives. To pitch these concepts at a KS3 level, Geography Mastery uses annual questions that speak to each of these overarching concepts, which build in complexity through the key stage.
In Year 7 students consider the question of ‘What are the key physical and human processes on our planet?’ By the end of Year 7, a good geographer would be able to explain sequentially a range of Earth’s key processes, using specialist vocabulary, referring to place specific examples, and showing how these processes change the surface of the planet over time.
In Year 8 students consider the question of ‘Does humanity live sustainably with the environment?’ By the end of Year 8, a good geographer would be able to explain how people rely on the natural environment, and how human activity impacts the natural world, sometimes altering physical processes and often threatening the planet.
In Year 9 students consider the question of ‘How globally connected is the world?’ By the end Year 9, a good geographer would be able to identify the intricate ways in which the world is globally connected, drawing on a range of physical and human geography knowledge to explain what is happening on our planet, at a range of scales. A good geographer would be able to assess how global connection improves life for many but also increases disparity.
In Years 10 and 11, these aspects of foundational knowledge are built upon to enable our students to achieve in the following assessment objectives:
AO1 Demonstrate knowledge of locations, places, processes, environments, and different scales
AO2 Demonstrate geographical understanding of concepts and how they are used in relation to places, environments, and processes. The inter-relationships between places, environments, and processes
AO3 Apply knowledge and understanding to interpret, analyse and evaluate geographical information and issues to make judgements
AO4 Select, adapt, and use a variety of skills and techniques to investigate questions and issues and communicate findings
Each unit of work in KS3 and KS4 have key vocabulary (tier 2), and subject specific terminology (tier 3) attached to them. These are embedded in lessons and through student responses.
Why this? Why now? Why have we sequenced our curriculum this way?
In geography the journey through places is of paramount importance. Good geographers avoid the pitfalls of a single place-single story; rather, they can characterise places, recognising patterns and exceptions and linking these processes and themes to a broader context. For this reason, several places are revisited in the curriculum. All places required by the National Curriculum Programme of Study (PoS) have been included. Most countries and regions mentioned below are in Africa, Asia, and Europe than other continents. The rationale is that by returning to the same broad regions, more complex pictures can be built up, rather than attempting to cover all continents meaningfully at KS3.
Students also study topics such as food security, oceans, and global governance, which are concepts that relate to being a responsible global citizen. The geography curriculum inspires students to be curious and fascinated about the world in which we live in. We equip students with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources, and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. Through our broad and balanced curriculum, we enable our students to develop geographical knowledge and skills that are progressive and transferable during their time at school and beyond.
Year 7 Units 1 and 2 establish foundational geographical ideas and skills, for example continents and oceans, writing locations using compass directions, understanding maps at a range of scales, the distinctive physical and human characteristics of the UK, and identifying how there is an uneven distribution of wealth and quality of life across the world. Unit 1 includes a fieldwork project based on students' personal geographies and helps them to see how geography as a subject can enhance understanding of their own lives, as well as introducing them to fieldwork early on. Units 3 and 4 address specific human and physical components of the Earth’s surface and the processes that form it, including trade and resources, biomes, UK landscapes (power of tectonics, ice, and water) and coastal landscapes. Example processes include the water cycle, glacial erosion causing U-shaped valleys, and continental drift. Students explain the importance of trade and resources and understand how this influences settlement. It is important that by the end of Year 7 students have a strong understanding of physical processes, because this enables them to meaningfully understand human interaction with the environment in Year 8. Year 7 students also need to recognise key spatial patterns that can be plotted on a world map, for example names of continents and oceans, the distribution of wealth, the layout of tectonic plates.
Year 8 Unit 1 looks at the ways in which people depend on natural resources and how this can impact the environment and create political tensions. For example, in River Rivals students assess how building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will increase energy supply but decrease water supply for some nations. In Food and Famine students study the physical and human causes of food insecurity in Northeast Africa. By Climate Change students examine uneven impacts of climate change across the globe and can draw on their knowledge of the role of fossil fuels in causing this. A regional study on the Middle East draws together several geographical topics learned in Year 7, pointing towards the challenge of living sustainably in harsh physical environments. By the end of Year 8 students have understood the importance of natural resources to humanity, how these resources are both depleted and managed, and the threats that resource use can have at local, regional, and planetary scales. This theme of interaction in Year 8 sets students up well for making synoptic links in Year9.
By Year 9 students are expected to make meaningful synoptic links across a range of areas in the curriculum, this has guided the selection of themes that lend themselves well to this type of analysis. Year 9 starts with a unit on oceans. This opens the question of how the world is globally connected through the oceans, as the unifying feature that connect several regions of the planet. The unit starts by stripping back to the idea of the Earth as a rocky planet. Students appreciate that the ocean floors are also part of tectonic plates. Through this study of ocean tectonics, students see how tectonic plate movement both forms land and creates human hazards.
What will you typically see in our lessons?
Long-term learning: Students to be made aware of the significance of this unit of work and specific lessons in relation to prior and future learning. Students are prompted to make links between prior key knowledge and skills in this scheme and those they have already studied.
Checking for understanding and mark making (ACMO): Comprehension questions; think, pair, share; cold call; questioning; class discussion; mini whiteboards with a 3, 2, 1 reveal; weekly low-stakes quizzes. All pupils are subject to rigorous checking of their learning and supported to close any gaps they have in knowledge and skills by teachers’ effective formative assessment of their progress.
Live modelling and guided practice: I Do (a metacognitive approach), We Do (under the visualiser or on the board), You Do (independent work with scaffolding); exploration, assessment, and deconstruction of effective and ineffective model answers.
Explicit teaching of vocabulary: I say, you say; exploring the root and etymology of specific words; using key vocabulary within sentences; using key vocabulary in different formations and contexts; deliberate teaching of tier 2 and 3 vocabularies.
Teaching to the top: All lessons included in the Mastery schemes are designed to stretch and challenge students. However, staff will adapt these to ensure that the challenge in each lesson is appropriate for their class.
Retrieval practice and recall: Low-stakes quizzes; Do Now tasks; Link It tasks where students are prompted to recall prior knowledge and/or skill and make meaningful links to current learning.
How do we assess progress in our subject?
Literacy and numeracy elements are evident across KS3 and KS4 with the inclusion of opportunities to read and use specific geographical language in context. Students complete an extended writing task once per unit in KS3 and on at least three occasions per unit in KS4. Writing frames are provided to draw out the key knowledge and support with vocabulary terms and sentence starters. A dual coded unit glossary defines the six most important vocabulary terms for each lesson at KS3 and there are glossaries for each unit at KS4. We plan for questioning and talk tasks that enable the teacher to gather data about understanding before and during the independent practice. Lessons at KS3 and KS4 include scaffold resources such as sentence starters, and worksheets to ensure that all students can access and master the residual knowledge.
At Key Stage 3, formative assessment is an ongoing process and enabled through effective use of AMCO (mark making). Additionally, students complete quizzes that assess their understanding and retrieval of what they have been previously learning. The quizzes give staff an opportunity to reteach aspects of the curriculum that are not yet secure. Students are assessed regularly through mini-assessment tasks, exit tickets, and comprehension questions. At the conclusion of a unit of work, summative assessments encourage students to critically evaluate their understanding of texts and socio-cultural contexts:
At Key Stage 4 in Geography, formative assessment is vital is supporting students to make progress within the lesson. In addition, students are assessed at the end of each unit of work following the assessment criteria for GCSE; students are then encouraged to develop their knowledge and skills, responding to teacher feedback. As the Key Stage develops, students will work towards completion of past exam papers, which follow the AQA specification.
How do we extend and enrich our curriculum?
Homework is set through Seneca within both Key Stages to enhance and develop their knowledge and skills. Students are also actively encouraged to read for pleasure. Additionally, in Key Stage 4, students utilise a variety of sources for homework, which also include past exam papers and revision guides.
There are opportunities for extra-curricular activities across KS3 and KS4; visits to rivers, coasts, local area and fieldwork opportunities further afield, such as Berlin, Amsterdam, Northern France and Belgium.
How does our subject relate to further education and careers?
Geography helps people get jobs. Geography provides important applied and transferable skills, with many employers prizing the knowledge and skills that geography students acquire throughout their education. UK studies have found low levels of unemployment amongst geography graduates where leading universities and politicians recognise geography as one of the key “facilitating” subjects for entry to degree level study. Geography helps create the kind of global citizens that are required to navigate the challenges that lie ahead
Geographers are not created at university, the seeds are sown in primary school and cultivated at secondary level. Geography fosters critical thinkers who can navigate the complexity of our data rich world. Practical and relevant, it is a living, breathing discipline, a science of sciences; a site of synthesis and integration. It helps create the kind of global citizens that are required to navigate the challenges that lie ahead.
Geography can be studied at A level and degree level. A geography degree opens careers in a range of fields, including those in the education, environmental, commerce, industry, transport, energy, tourism and public sectors. There are many transferable skills, attracting employers from the business, law and finance sectors. Geography is a useful subject as the skills and knowledge you gain can be used in almost every job sector.
There are lots of geography related jobs available to deal with the consequences of climate change such as in flood risk management and environmental management. There are practical roles working outside as a countryside ranger for the National Trust or planning sustainable transport networks for new towns.
- Architectural technologist
- Business analyst
- Cartographer
- Data analyst
- Environmental consultant
- Geographical information systems officer
- Marketing executive
- Nature conservation officer
- Social researcher
- Sustainability consultant
- Town planner
- Construction manager
- Ecologist
- Hydrologist
- Landscape architect
- Logistics and distribution manager
- Market researcher
- Palaeontologist
- Political risk analyst
- Secondary school teacher
- Supply chain manager
- Transport planner
If you would like more information about the Geography curriculum, please contact the Head of Geography, Mrs A Neal via email: angela.neal@daca.uk.com.