Geography (Hansard, 5 May 1989)

§ Mr. Kenneth Baker

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I are today establishing a working group for geography. The group will advise on attainment targets and programmes of study for geography within the national curriculum in England and Wales.

I have sent supplementary guidance to the group's chairman, a copy of which I have placed in the Library. We are grateful to Sir Leslie Fielding, the vice-chancellor 257W of Sussex university, for agreeing to take the chair of the group. The vice-chairman will be Professor David Thomas, pro-vice chancellor and professor of geography at the university of Birmingham. Other members of the group are:

Mrs. Kay Edwards—Head of Geography, Penglais Comprehensive School, Aberystwyth
Mr. Richard Lethbridge—Former chairman, Tower Steel (Holdings) plc, now a branch secretary of the Country Landowners' Association
Mrs. Wendy Morgan—Recently retired headmistress of Elmsett Primary School, Suffolk
Dr. Keith Paterson—Senior Lecturer in Geography, Liverpool Institute of Higher Education
Mrs. Eleanor Rawling—National Co-ordinator, Geography Schools and Industry Project
Mr. Michael Storm—Staff Inspector for Geography and Environmental Studies, Inner London Education Authority
Mrs. Rachel Thomas—Member of the Countryside Commission and Exmoor National Park Committee
Mr. Rex Walford—Lecturer in Geography and Education, University of Cambridge

Further appointments may be announced in due course.

The group will begin work at once. I have asked for interim advice by 31 October 1989 and final advice by 30 April 1990. This will enable attainment targets and programmes of study for geography to begin to he introduced in schools from the autumn of 1991.

The terms of reference are as follows:

NATIONAL CURRICULUM GEOGRAPHY WORKING GROUP TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background 1. The Education Reform Act 1988 provides for the establishment of a National Curriculum of core and other foundation subjects for pupils of compulsory school age in England and Wales. The Act empowers the Secretary of State to specify, as he considers appropriate for each foundation subject, including geography, that there should be clear objectives—attainment targets—for the knowledge, skills and understanding which pupils of different abilities and maturities should be expected to have acquired by the end of the academic year in which they reach the ages of 7, 11, 14 and 16; and to promote them, programmes of study describing the content, skills and processes which need to be covered during each key stage of compulsory education. Taken together, the attainment targets and programmes of study will provide the basis for assessing a pupil's performance, in relation both to expected attainment and to the next steps needed for the pupil's development. 2. Both the objectives (attainment targets divided into up to 10 levels of attainment) and the means of achieving them (programmes of study) should leave scope for teachers to use their professional talents and skills to develop their own schemes of work, within a statutory framework which is known to all. It is the task of the Geography Working Group to advise on that framework for geography.

The Task 3. The Working Group is asked to submit an interim report to the Secretaries of State by 31 October 1989 outlining and, as far as possible, exemplifying:0

(i) the contribution which geography should make to the overall school curriculum and how that will inform the Group's thinking about attainment targets and programmes of study;
(ii) its provisional thinking about the knowledge, skills and understanding which pupils of different abilities and maturities should be expected to have attained and be able to demonstrate by reference to defined levels of attainment, at key ages; and the profile components into which attainment targets should be grouped; and
(iii) its thinking about the programmes of study which would be consistent with the attainment targets provisionally identified.

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4. By 30 April 1990 the Working Group is to submit a final report to the Secretaries of State setting out and justifying its final recommendations on attainment targets and the programmes of study for geography.

Approach 5. In carrying out its task the Group should consult informally and selectively with relevant interests and have regard to the statutory Orders on mathematics, science and English and to the work of the other subject groups—design and technology and history. Additionally, the Group should take account of:

(i) the broad framework for assessment and testing announced by the Government on 7 June 1988 and subsequent development of it in the light of advice from the School Examinations and Assessment Council;
(ii) the contributions which geography can make to learning about other subjects and cross-curricular themes including, in particular, environmental education, and which they in turn can make to learning in geography;
(iii) best practice and the results of any relevant research and development; and
(iv) the issues covered in the supplementary guidance to the Group's Chairman.