PGQM

A1: KnowledgePupils have good knowledge, appropriate

for their age, of where places are and what they are like. E.g. places and contrasting

localities at relevant scales of enquiry, UK - global.

A1: KnowledgeWhat do your pupils know and what have they learnt in geography? What impact has your teaching had and how do you know this?

The best examples do more than describe the activities: explain the context and analyse the impact. There is a template downloadable with the full framework to help you annotate work or you can create your own.

Section 1: Supporting Achievement : how

effective is geography in your school?

Year 1Unit of work:

Environment: Our World.The pupil demonstrates age-

appropriate knowledge of the names and features of a range of local landmarks, of where places are and what they are

like, as evidenced in her drawings (A1). The pupil was able to use the internet and

observations from local walks to retrieve information (A2).

23/4/2014PGQM 2014 - Cathedral Primary

School3

Geography Day

Children on geography day using maps and globes to

locate and describe.

“My grandma lives here in Africa”

A1

Pros and Cons of tourism in Thailand

Children use photographs as a stimulus for discussion.

Children create posters to give visual impact to pros and cons

of tourism

PGQM A1

PGQM A1Year 2 ‘An Island Home’

Pupils use maps to locate the Isle of Coll. They copy locations on the Island onto their own map. They compare and contrast these with their own city of Liverpool.

Pupils develop their understanding of natural and manmade features.

PGQM A1Year 3 pupils develop geographical language and a knowledge of the world around them.Pupils use an atlas to locate countries on their maps.

Pupils know the importance of a key when drawing maps.

Images collected as a result of our partnership with St Peters school in Ghana are used to challenge stereotypes. These images show that yes, Ghana is a poor country, but the central business district of Accra is not as different as children might otherwise imagine. Misconceptions can therefore be discussed.

8PGQM Bronze Award - Burlington Junior School

PGQM A1

Learning through School Partnerships

At the beginning of a new topic, children fill in a KWL grid. Before the topic begins, they list anything they already know about the topic and things they would like to learn. At the end of the topic, they go back to the grid and fill in the final column showing what they have learned.

Children can enquire about places and ask what they are like.

PGQM A1

A link school has also been formed with a school in Italy. The children in Reception class have made a book about their daily life in school which has been sent to their Italian friends. This includes photographs and sentences about the playground games the children play, what is included for school lunches and what the classroom is like. They are waiting for their response to compare similarities and differences.

PGQM A1

We carried out a collaborative Weather Watch with our link school in Scotland.

The children in each school recorded the weather at

12noon each day for a week then we created a chart and we mailed it to each other. We learned how to record temperature and general

weather conditions.

The children were surprised to find that it was not much colder in Scotland that it was in the SE of England. This linked

a few months later with our Spring Watch on Climate Day when we found that there were the same ‘signs of spring’ in both locations at the same time. It made the children more aware that children who lived several hundred miles away

could be experiencing similar weather.

PGQM A1

What do we mean by 'core knowledge'

Geographical information is a vast well of facts and figures, as well as place names and the earth's features. In itself, this information may not be thought of as knowledge – even if it is 'learned' by rote – but selections of these facts may become enabling knowledge when they become meaningful or relevant.

To be fluent with selections of meaningful geographical information is to have geographical 'core knowledge'.

What is the place of such 'core knowledge' in geography teaching and learning?

Core knowledge is .. foundational in the sense that it is the knowledge that is required in order to develop understanding.

(Martin & Owens 2011)

http://www.geography.org.uk/Journals/Journals.asp?articleID=840

A1 Pupils have good knowledge, appropriate for their age, of where places are and what they are like. Most pupils have a very good understanding of places in the world; where they are, what they are like, similarities and differences and how they are connected. This underpins their understanding of global issues and challenges. Gold criteria PGQM

What role does ‘core knowledge’ play in establishing geographical understanding?

Core knowledge developed separately from the context of understanding will be of little worth. Likewise, developing understanding without the bedrock of core knowledge will also be meaningless.

The Ofsted Geography Subject Report (2011) provides an example of this where a group of pupils had done a unit of work on Kenya and developed some in-depth knowledge about certain aspects of Kenyan life, but could not locate Kenya on a map or name other countries that shared its borders.

Is geography more than 'core knowledge’?

Yes it is! Much more! But geography without 'core knowledge' is missing something crucial.

When gathering evidence and thinking about different kinds of knowledge and age appropriate statements you might find it useful to look at the Geographical Association Assessment Resources.

http://www.geography.org.uk/news/2014nationalcurriculum/assessment/