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Trevor Bennetts examines critically the new key stage 3 Programme of Study (PoS) changes, which are directed at students' geographical understanding, and considers some of their implications for curriculum planning and teaching.
The changes to the key stage 3 PoS for geography, specified by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA, 2007), to be implemented in schools from September 2008, present both opportunities and challenges for teachers.
Among the concerns about geography at key stage 3, expressed by HMI (Bell, 2005), QCA (Gardner, 2007) and others, are:
1. the pre-occupation of many secondary school geography departments with GCSE and A level examination courses, and the consequent low priority given to the key stage 3 curriculum
2. the unimaginative and inflexible interpretation of the current geography Programme of Study (PoS) - in particular, the strong influence on curriculum design of the thematic structure used to define the 'breadth of study' required at key stage 3
3. an over-reliance on published schemes of work, including the QCA scheme, and a failure to respond adequately to current interests and local opportunities which have a geographical dimension, and which could inform students about issues which are relevant to them and to society
4. a narrow focus on content, which means inadequate attention is given to the development of pupils' understanding and cognitive skills.
A new framework for the key stage 3 PoS has been applied to all National Curriculum foundation subjects, with the existing sections on 'knowledge, skills and understanding' and 'breadth of study' being replaced by sections labelled: 'curriculum aims', 'the importance of [geography]', 'key concepts', 'key processes', 'range and content' and 'curriculum opportunities'. As far as geographical understanding is concerned, the main changes are a reduction in the content specified, and an emphasis on key concepts.
In the existing PoS (DfEE, 1999), there are broad requirements relating to the knowledge and understanding of 'places', 'patterns and processes' and 'environmental change and sustainable development'; and, within the section covering 'breadth of study', further requirements are specified for the study of two countries (in significantly different states of economic development) and ten themes (tectonic processes, geomorphological processes, weather and climate, ecosystems, population, settlements, economic activity, development, environmental issues, and resource issues). While the content description for each theme...