At Ermine Street Church Academy, children start on their geography education journey in the early years foundation stage (EYFS). The EYFS framework contains references to geographical learning. For example, the ‘people, culture and communities’ and ‘natural world’ strands set out much clearer, identifiable geographical knowledge that children are to learn. Crucially, in the early years, children begin to acquire some of the geographical vocabulary that they will build on through the rest of their schooling.
The national curriculum and other geography education literature presents the substantive knowledge of this discipline through 4 interrelated forms:
•locational knowledge - In building students’ locational knowledge, this not only helps students to identify specific features but also helps to build their own identity and develop their sense of place.
•place knowledge - Place is a physical area that can be located (found on a map) and that has a personal meaning, attachment or distinct identity. Knowledge of place allows students to locate or orientate themselves with respect to the larger global space and to other places.
•human and physical processes - Students gain knowledge of environmental, human and physical processes which help them to describe their own and others’ environments and to develop an understanding of important processes and changes in the world around them.
•geographical skills – include map reading and fieldwork. Geographical skills allow students to collect, represent and interpret spatial information and their acquisition is an important dimension of the geography curriculum.
Disciplinary knowledge considers how geographical knowledge originates and is revised. It is through disciplinary knowledge that pupils learn the practices of geographers. This is the knowledge of how research is conducted, sources are interpreted and data presented. This knowledge provides students with an understanding of how geographers produce their responses and write geographical work.
Our aim is for students to ‘think like a geographer’. Students will build and expand on their personal experiences of geography, developing their ability to use what they know from one context in another. They will gain knowledge about the world beyond their own experience, for example to appreciate how people live in other parts of the world. Students will learn the range of relevant geographical knowledge and skills whilst gaining an understanding of what it means to ‘think like a geographer’.
