GA 2024 - Teaching 21st century competencies and geography

I had just returned from Manchester having attended the Geographical Association Annual Conference and Exhibition (GAACE). There were many insights shared by respected geographers and geography educators at the conference and I would like to share some here, which are helpful in shaping my thoughts on what and how might I move ahead with professional learning for self and others. 

Develop a set of beliefs, principles and provocations as a geography educator

While there were separate keynotes by Professors James Esson and Margaret Roberts and the presidential address by Denise Freeman, they finally appeared to coalesce into a meaningful whole for me. Esson and Roberts contextalised the future of our living world by emphasising the necessity to “decolonise geography”, to promote a geography with a “diversity of voices” while Freeman invited us to think about our “lived experiences” and how our personal context shaped the way we teach. 

To illustrate this further, Roberts’ titled her sharing as “Geographical questions for all? From all?” invoked us to think about questions about equity and access. Questions of ,“Who gets what, where and how?”, “What ought to be done” and “Why should we care?”are deeply philosophical yet, are the kind that our students are made to answer in their “O” and “A” level examinations. Instead of simply relegating them to answering frames or model essays to be memorised, these are fundamental questions of geographical conscience that we should be asking ourselves, as we go about in our daily lives. 

Similarly, Esson was asked by a participant what was a “growth moment” for him as a geographer. He candidly shared about his realisation that one of his uncle was gay and the difficulty he faced in accepting that in Ghana. When he realised the "situatedness" of himself as an individual in a societal and geographical context, it was particularly pertinent and liberating.As geography teachers, our craft and very being is constantly being shaped and reshaped by space and time in our society. How do we even make sense of this, he questioned.

I then recall reading a module on “Development of Geographic Thought” taught by professor Brenda Yeoh about two-and-a-half decades ago. We learnt about the paradigm shifts of geography that happened through the centuries from Humboldt to Haggett. The advantage of these vantage points are that they provide us with a good grounding to understand the motivations of thought, which I believe geography educators should develop in order to be a better teacher. Thus, I was challenged to think more deeply about my subject once again. How has geography shaped the way I think and behave as a person? 

This question may sound a little obvious, until we realise that among geography teachers and geographers, there appears to be a psychic connection between us. Whether it be methods of practice (like our undying love for the outdoors and fieldwork), the way we see the world (through the various social, environmental and economic lenses or theories, pun) or our bias towards environmental action and sustainability. How do we tap on these as a unifying identity to push ahead in this new post-covid world?

It came as no surprise therefore, we geography educators have a strong sense of beliefs, principles and provocations that can be leveraged to come together to inspire the next generation of geographers. The question of how to do it should never rest solely on the shoulders of the prescribed national curriculum. It is unfair that experiencing geography is limited to assigned curricular time only. How can we consider provisions beyond the prescribed curriculum to move ahead?   

Teaching about and for the future

In MOE lingo, we often use the term “teaching and learning” to describe the curricular, pedagogical and assessment processes that a teacher conducts in and outside the classroom. There is also a tendency to use “learn”, as we emphasise pedagogical procedures that cater to diverse learners through understanding their motivations and needs. The focus on “teach” in GAACE underscores the critical role of the teacher in shaping the enacted curriculum through his/her thoughts about the subject, deliberately influencing his/her students for a desired future. 

While as a fraternity, we are persuaded and are convinced of the need to teach 21^st century competencies in our geography curriculum, how we might do it will vary from teacher to teacher. Here are some questions to consider:

• What are the core beliefs that shape me as a person?
• How do these beliefs play out in my daily life and interactions with people and the environment?
• How might I convey these geographically to my students, so that they too, use the subject lens to navigate the world? 

These are questions I seldom ask myself as I go about dutifully delivering the prescribed curriculum, yet they sit squarely within my purview if I were to claim to “mould the future of Singapore”. With our renewed emphasis on 21cc, it is even more pertinent now. Therefore, I would challenge myself to find touch points in the curriculum that resonate strongly with me, think of examples which I can use as “teachable moments” for my students and pedagogies that are suitable for them in their contexts. 

In a gist, teaching for the future is more than just layering technological tools or using AI. We need to examine how geography (or any other subject for that matter) has shaped our identity, values and beliefs, think about how our thoughts and geography might help students navigate the world and their future, and how we could do it in a pedagogically sound manner. In failing to do this, we might just lose focus of teaching about the future and for the future. Instead, we end up merely teaching and using seemingly futuristic tools (which would be superseded by a newer release in a fortnight). We all could see this already happening. We need to dig deep into fundamentals and not end up chasing the latest release in GenAI, in an attempt to fulfil what we is deemed as “teaching about and for the future”.

Conversations, reflections and audit

In professional development, we value teachers’ voices and their reflection. We believe that these two ingredients, coupled with healthy support from a community would be key to growth. I gained an insight as I attended a concurrent session by Dr Rebecca Kitchen who shared about personal content audit. Because I went into the room late, I was stumped by the question she posted on the board “When was the last time you did a (subject) content audit?”. While this term “audit” sounded foreign to me, I recall that I had completed a portfolio for submission to become a master teacher (does that count as an audit?). 

Interestingly, an audit is not a requirement in Singapore. Annual lesson observations (conducted by reporting officers for the purposes of development and to a lesser extent, appraisal for some) is the norm. But is this serving the purpose of an audit? 

Instead, curriculum and pedagogical leaders in the department may encourage teachers to do an audit when a teacher is switching between different levels of teaching, or switching between teaching new groups of students, e.g. G2 to G3 or from G2 to G1. We can also consider an audit when we are teaching new topics in the curriculum as a team of teachers so that we are aware of existing fund of internal knowledge “within us” as teachers. We might be less fixated on physical resources “out there”. While I am not dismissing the importance of quality resources, I am suggesting that we look within first – what are our beliefs, values and identity that can be used to teach a particular unit? What about the funds of networks we can tap upon?

In the figure below, Kitchen shares the different aspects of an audit.

It helps too, if we are aware of the pitfalls before doing an audit. We should also be truly convinced of its effectiveness. If it were to be a mere paper exercise, we might be better off doing one. So, some questions that we might ask are:

• Do we have a strong culture of trust in the department?
• Do we agree that the audit is done is good faith, without the fear of being judged or appraised?
• Are we aware of resources to help us plug the gaps? Are we willing to use them? 

Conclusion

The geography chapter at AST has identified teacher identity and values to be the core of what we teach. We have evolved from the “tiered birthday cake” framework, to the internal structure of the earth framework this year, highlighting that the driving forces of pedagogies originate from the subject identity we have as teachers. In essence, it presents a tighter integration between "what and how we do" to the "why we do what we do".

To uncover identity, values and beliefs we have as geography educators, we need to:

• think and talk about them in the context of our changing and future worlds,
• understand our interactions with society and the environment,
• develop convincing pedagogies and examples to teach them to our students, and
• keep a handle on our content knowledge within a community of practitioners. 

The catch phrase “Teach It, Live It” sums it up neatly for us as we move ahead with new imperatives and new hope for a better tomorrow.

Reference:

GAACE 2024 Delegates Handbook, GA, pg 38