This session will provide practical guidance and reflection on how you can design lessons and schemes of work that include everyone. It will demonstrate how to create lessons that embed students’ personal development, protected characteristics, SMSC and British Values. We will also consider how to ensure geography makes a difference to all students - and includes rather than excludes - through understanding of diversity and inequalities and by tackling ‘wicked’ issues around colonialism, women’s rights, racism, sexuality and gender identity. We will show how good geography lessons can open eyes and minds to how geography has shaped our perspectives on who we are and what we think of others.
School Improvement Leader, Thomas Lord Audley School
Teaching is my third career and the one that has given me the most fulfilment. Currently work as a school improvement leader in a secondary school in Colchester, Essex. Over 14 years experience of teaching Geography, 12 years experience as a Head of Year and 2 years working within... Read More →
This session will explore how integrating personality inclusion into geography education can make a profound difference to students’ engagement, well-being and future prospects, especially for those who identify as introverts or experience disadvantage in education. As Founder and lead consultant of The Introvert Space™, I will share inclusive teaching strategies that honour quieter voices and foster psychological safety in geography classrooms. Drawing from real-world case studies and practical tools, the session will help educators recognise and nurture introverted learners’ strengths, from deep thinking to reflective curiosity. Aligned with the Conference theme, I will demonstrate how an inclusive geography curriculum enhances cultural capital, builds confidence and creates space for thoughtful dialogue around global challenges like the climate crisis. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to support personality diversity in fieldwork, classroom discussions and assessment.
An active session focusing on strategies used in ITE at the University of Worcester to normalise nature connection, from origami and storytelling to 'nature natter' cards. The session will explore the rationale for building nature literacy into our classroom spaces and processes, highlighting the five pathways to nature connectedness, as well as inviting participants to try a variety of activities, develop their own 'nature natter' questions and communities of practice, and engage their imaginations in ways to normalise nature for ourselves and our pupils.
Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education, University of Worcester
Elena is the PGCE Geography subject Lead at the University of Worcester. She has taught both geography and science education across the primary and secondary centres on undergraduate and postgraduate courses. She leads the Education for Sustainable Futures and Nature Connectedness... Read More →
In this session, the editorial team from the student journal Routes will share what they’ve learned about supporting high-quality geography through publishing sixth-form and undergraduate geography work, and what lessons we can share to ensure that geography is accessible and makes a difference for all.
Head of Geography Initial Teacher Education, Teach First
I'm the Head of the Geography initial teacher education team at Teach First, supporting hundreds of geography trainees across England in under-served school communities. This week, I'll also be representing the Editorial Board of Routes Journal, and the Learning to Teach Geography... Read More →
Co-planning is an approach to mentoring that encourages teachers to develop lessons collaboratively and benefits both mentors and mentees. This workshop will provide everyone who engages – mentors, ITE tutors, ECTs and trainees – with critical questions to support thinking about the use of AI to support co-planning conversations. Participants will take away strategies they can put into practice.
The purpose of the Teacher Education Phase Committee (TEPC) is to support GA members and others by reviewing the educational landscape as it affects teacher education, looking for patterns, connections, issues and implications and by initiating actions in response. This will invo... Read More →
This session will explore strategies to use models, hierarchies and categories in a way that challenges their power to marginalise and misrepresent countries, futures and, most importantly, the individuals in your classroom. By understanding the power held in typical geographical systems of classification, we can begin to see where these labels limit and misrepresent the potential for specific contexts and whole regions of the world, while also continuing to misrepresent and exclude the students who may identify with these regions and contexts. This session will share key resources and strategies for the classroom, giving time to consider their use, strengths and limitations. Participants will leave with deeper understanding, new strategies and more confidence to make their geography classrooms a more inclusive space.
Geography Teacher + Humanities Coach, WABE International School
Daryl Sinclair dedicates his work in education to creating inclusive learning environments and transformative education. His work encompasses consulting, mentoring, editing educational journal articles for the Geographical Association, hosting the DEIJ Hot Takes podcast, and collaborating... Read More →
In a teaching and learning landscape suffering from increasing prescription and instrumentalism, many teachers have found their professionalism and, ultimately, their agency stifled. Drawing on findings from doctoral research, this lecture will outline how geography teacher agency can be comprehended, discuss which components geography teachers identify as important for shaping their agency, and explore how geography teachers navigate their working environments to allow agency to manifest. It will then consider the implications for agentic teachers’ teaching practices, focusing on what achieving agency means for the geography that is taught to students. A powerful geography education can genuinely make a difference to how the next generation interact with our increasingly uncertain and risky world, and this lecture will advocate for the importance of agency as a transformative tool for both teachers and students and as a means to equip young people with the tools to navigate the challenges of the future.
Assistant Professor in Geography Education, University of Nottingham
Alex works on the Geography PGCE course at the University of Nottingham. Prior to this, Alex spent 9 and a half years working at a comprehensive secondary school firstly as a classroom teacher, then head of department and, latterly, with a whole school remit. Alongside his work, Alex... Read More →
The session will focus on understanding autism, including the potential opportunities and challenges that autistic people may experience in the geography classroom and in fieldwork. The participation section will provide an opportunity to share best practice, further attendees' knowledge and understanding of autism and outline strategies to apply both in the classroom and in leading a geography department.
Assistant SENDCO and Geography teacher, Kenwood Academy
I am currently Assistant SENDCO and Teacher of Geography in special education at Kenwood Academy. This is a secondary setting which has a primary focus of communication interaction, however students have a range of SEND in addition to this. Prior to this, I was Head of Geography in... Read More →
This session presents seven practical GIS ideas to enhance geography lessons and help students understand the world and their place within it. By using interactive maps, GIS offers different perspectives and deepens insight into pressing global issues, supporting meaningful learning and developing an awareness of both local and global challenges.
Associate Professor, Geography Education, St Mary's University, Twickenham
A passionate and experienced geography teacher, Sophie is an ITE educator who works closely with trainee teachers and mentors, regularly visiting a diverse range of primary and secondary schools. As Lead Link Tutor and Geography Course Lead, she draws on her own classroom practice... Read More →
This session bridges the Water/Carbon and Hazards units through an interdisciplinary lens. By contrasting multi-hazard exposure in Vietnam with community-led resilience in Wales, we examine how physical processes intersect with environmental justice. Discover how integrated, inclusive approaches to fieldwork empower students to navigate, and change, our complex, high-risk world, proving that geography remains the essential tool for global equity.
This session will identify and share strategies that enable students to undertake meaningful geographical studies, regardless of educational need and limitations. Attendees will come away with refreshed ideas for effective geographical teaching for SEND/EAL and other needs in the classroom.
Learning Leader, Geography, Sir John Thursby Community College
Teaching then leading Geography, and Humanities, since 2003, Nicola has taught in a variety of schools across East Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Over her career Nicola has lead year tea, and subject departments, and is currently completing the NPQSL. Her passion for ensuring... Read More →
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a common feature of many classrooms, but how can geography teachers harness it effectively to make a real difference? This session will explore practical, impactful ways AI can support teaching and learning while also addressing the challenges it presents. For teachers, AI can save time and enhance creativity in lesson planning, resource design and assessment, including marking and feedback. For students, AI can become a valuable study partner, helping with revision, practice questions and independent learning. We will discuss strategies for teaching young people to use AI responsibly and effectively, while also assessing how we can develop awareness of the technology’s limits, biases and ethical concerns. This session will offer a clear set of practical ideas to trial back in the classroom and when planning lessons, as well as to share with students.
This session will show colleagues how small adjustments to lessons can increase engagement and really emphasise how geography makes a difference. Areas included will be the use of PowerPoints animations, kinaesthetic coasts and maps, using games in the classroom and the use of role play. It will be based on academic principles around using fun and engagement in education, such as those proposed by Gabriella Tisza and Rex Walford.
A passionate teacher of Geography and head of department. I have spent the last 26 years in the classroom trying to engage students with the wonderful world of Geography. I author coolgeography.co.uk in my spare time
The new National Curriculum in England needs to be rooted in evidence. Does this evidence base include everyone - all ages and stages? What are the ‘reliable and meaningful insights’ and ‘effective disciplinary thinking’ for our subject (Interim report, DfE, 2024)? Join the GA's Teacher Education Phase Committee to reflect about this, the norms around ‘knowledge-rich’ approaches (now in their second decade), and debates around skills in geography.
