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Editorial II EnhancingTeaching QualityPublished online: 03 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: (1998) Editorial II Enhancing Teaching Quality, Journal ofGeography in Higher Education, 22:3, 283-284, DOI: 10.1080/03098269885697

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03098269885697

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Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 22, No. 3, 1998, pp. 283± 284

Editorial II

Enhancing Teaching Quality

The way that geography is taught has always been of vital importance, not least since

a witness to a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1879 declared:

Geography, sir, is ruinous in its effects on the lower classes. Reading, writing

and arithmetic are comparatively safe, but geography invariably leads to

revolution.

Geography has developed a strong reputation for the distinctiveness, effectiveness and

originality of its teaching. The teaching of geography in schools has often been

progressive, and the achievements of the Geographical Association are proverbial. In

higher education, geography also has a high reputation for providing imaginative training

in a subject that spans the arts and sciences, and also provides in substantial measure the

`transferable skills’ so valuable in graduate employment. Geographers led the way in

introducing and extending many ® eldwork practices; more recently, the subject has

introduced laboratory practices, and quantitative and qualitative analytical methods in

advance of other disciplines. And geographers have imaginatively pioneered the intro-

duction of remote sensing and GIS into the curriculum. These achievements are

substantial.

So where is geography in the current movement towards enhanced quality of teaching

and learning? What do geographers wish to contribute to the emerging agenda which

includes issues such as staff development and training, the UK’ s Institute for Learning

and Teaching (ILT), proposals to change the external assessment of teaching quality, the

dissemination of IT materials, the intention to reward excellence, and the idea of

subject-based networks and centres for quality enhancement?

One of the enduring memories I have taken with me from when I had a real job as

a desert geomorphologist is that all the issues of teaching and learning quality ultimately

focus more on individuals and disciplines than on institutions and government policies;

and quality of teaching performance is more a function of intellectual substance, and of

individual intelligence, vision, enthusiasm and knowledge, than it is of teaching compe-

tences, although of course all are important. These memories underlie my continuing

prejudice that the best teaching and learning is led by the best researchers, provided they

are appropriately trained to teach, a view that may well explain why there is such a high

correlation in the UK between Teaching Quality Audit (TQA) and Research Assessment

Exercise (RAE) scores. Put these memories together, and perhaps the way forward for

the teaching and learning becomes clearer.

For me, the national imperative should be to encourage and help individual teachers

to enable students to reach their highest potential. Certainly one of the most likely ways

of achieving this is through disciplines. For many academics, their personal ambitions

2830309±8265/98/030283±02 $7.00 Ó 1998 Carfax Publishing Ltd

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Editorial II

and allegiances are sharply focused on their department, their `base’ disciplines and

cognate disciplines. For many, their `discipline’ is embodied in their professional society

or institution. It follows that if the teacher’ s role is to be enhanced, even `profession-

alised’ Ð as Dearing proposed and the ILT intendsÐ then many changes could be

effectively moderated through the professional societies. This has been true for many

years in law, medicine and engineering. Geologists have had professional accreditation

(although not for teaching) for some time. Why not geographers? At the very least I

would expect the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers

(RGS-IBG) to take the lead in ensuring that the accreditation role of the ILT is not

divorced from the of academic disciplines. It seems likely that the accredited courses for

HE teachers will probably involve training on HE issues generally, institutional issues,

generic teaching and learning practices, and discipline-speci® c skills. Surely the RGS-

IBG should grasp the development potential in discipline speci® c skills?

Which skills? I will not try to argue the case for the desirable range of geographical

skills that a competent geography teacher in HE should acquire, as others can do it more

effectively. But I would put in a plea for ® eldwork, and the range of competences it

embraces. Fieldwork skills (broadly de® ned, of course) are distinctive, exceptionally

powerful, dif ® cult and, it seems to me, dangerously in decline. We ignore their

enlightening potential for good students at our peril. The other day I was seriously asked

if ® eldwork was really necessary now that computer simulation is so advanced (and so

cheap)!

I am con® dent that there will soon be good opportunities for discipline-led initiatives

to enhance teaching and learning, funded by the HEFCE and others, and perhaps

ultimately linked to the ILT. I hope geographers will lead the way, once again.

NOTE

[1] This was written in June 1998, before the Learning and Teaching strategies and some policies of the

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) were completed.

R.U. COOKE

Vice Chancellor, University of York, UKChair, HEFCE Teaching and Learning Committee

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