Subject leadership in primary schools is essential for an effective curriculum that helps children learn and teachers teach. Moreover, the role of the subject leader is becoming increasingly important for a positive Ofsted outcome.
In this blog, curriculum expert and Cornerstones Director Melanie Moore looks at the importance of geography as a subject and the role of a primary school geography subject leader.
The importance of geography in primary school
Geography is an important subject in the primary curriculum, helping children to learn about the world, its physical and human features, natural resources and how people interact with its environment.
Important aspects of the subject include:
Locational knowledge: learning about the world’s continents, oceans and countries and how to locate places on a map. This area of study also includes children learning about their local area and the wider world and developing an awareness of the different cultures, traditions and environments of different places.
Physical geography: learning about the natural features of the Earth, including mountains, rivers, volcanoes, oceans and coastlines. This area of study also includes children learning about climate and weather patterns and how these impact the natural world and human activity.
Human geography: learning about human activity and how people interact with the environment. This area of study includes children learning about topics such as population, settlement and land use while developing an understanding of how humans impact the natural world.
Geographical skills: learning the skills needed to carry out practical tasks such as map reading, data analysis and fieldwork techniques. This area of study includes children learning to use different types of maps, atlases and digital resources.
Interdisciplinary links: geography links well to other areas of the curriculum, such as science, art and mathematics. For example, children might investigate the impact of climate change on the seasons in science or explore landscapes through drawing and painting in art. However, while interdisciplinary links can enhance geographical understanding and appreciation, they should not replace discrete geography teaching and learning.
Overall, geography helps primary children develop their understanding of the world, encouraging them to become responsible and informed global citizens and appreciate the importance of sustainability and protecting the environment.
For further reading on what your curriculum should teach children, take a look at the Ofsted Research review series: geography, published on 17th June 2021, which is incredibly useful for geography subject leaders.
Geography subject leadership
A good leader for any curriculum subject has a crucial responsibility for planning, creating, monitoring and evaluating the school’s curriculum. Of equal importance is that they and the senior leadership team are responsible for creating a supportive and inclusive learning environment that promotes well-being and success for both teachers and children.
As a geography subject leader, you will provide direction, support and guidance in the effective planning, teaching and assessment of your school’s geography curriculum. This will also involve monitoring and evaluating the teaching and learning of geography across the school and ensuring that your curriculum enables all children to progress.
In a nutshell, as a geography subject leader, you should:
- Ensure your subject knowledge is of a high standard and keep abreast of current national and global subject issues, government directives and subject reports.
- Know your school’s geography curriculum well and make sure you can answer questions about what is taught, when and why.
- Ensure that your geography curriculum is well-planned, challenging and engaging with clear progression and links to other areas of the curriculum.
- Ensure that effective assessment strategies are in place and that progress in geography is monitored and tracked over time and use this data to identify areas for improvement.
- Support and develop teachers’ subject knowledge and provide opportunities for professional development, which may include leading training sessions, arranging visits to other schools or accessing external training and resources.
- Ensure that appropriate resources and equipment are available to support the effective delivery of your geography curriculum.
- Seek to establish links with the local community and provide opportunities for children to engage with the wider world, which may include arranging visits from local experts or organising trips and visits to places of geographical interest.
Geography deep-dive questions
Ofsted inspections in primary geography are designed to assess the quality of teaching and learning in the subject, the curriculum, leadership and management and the overall impact of geography education on children.
Here are some deep-dive questions that Ofsted inspectors might ask during a primary geography inspection:
- How does the school ensure the geography curriculum is coherent, sequenced and builds on prior knowledge and skills?
- How does the school ensure the curriculum is inclusive and accessible to all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils?
- How does the school assess children’s knowledge, skills and understanding of geography?
- How do teachers use assessment information to plan and adapt their teaching?
- How does the school ensure that the assessment of geography is accurate and reliable?
- How does the school ensure that teaching is of a high quality and meets the needs of all pupils?
- How does the school promote fieldwork and other practical activities?
- Can you tell me the story of physical geography across the curriculum?
- How do you ensure children make progress in map reading across school?
- Where is the aspect of fieldwork taught, and how are the essential skills of fieldwork developed throughout the curriculum?
- Where do children have opportunities for revisiting key geography skills such as reading coordinates?
- What are the gaps in your geography curriculum?
- How do teachers address geographical misconceptions?
- Can you show me evidence in children’s books of how the concept of geographical processes is taught over time?
- How is geographical vocabulary taught across school?
- Which children should I speak to in order to hear about the topic of volcanoes?
- How is your geography curriculum organised?
- How is your geography curriculum assessed?
- How do you monitor the quality of geography across the curriculum?
- What would you like to improve in the geography curriculum?
Overall, Ofsted inspectors will be looking for evidence that your school’s geography curriculum is well-planned, well-delivered and positively impacts children’s learning and development. They will also seek evidence that leaders and teachers are committed to continuous improvement and willing to learn from best practices and feedback.
Managing your primary geography curriculum
The demands on a geography subject leader are becoming increasingly challenging. Getting the support you need with the right tools, materials and resources to do the job well is crucial for a high-quality curriculum, making the job manageable and maintaining your well-being!
At Cornerstones, we help subject leaders to plan, lead, assess, teach and manage a high-quality, ambitious geography curriculum. Everything you need is housed on the Curriculum Maestro platform, including a fully sequenced primary geography curriculum, a subject-specific knowledge and skills curriculum framework and thousands of quality teaching resources. The platform gives you all the tools and functionality you and your staff need to monitor, assess and review teaching and learning in geography across your whole school from Nursery to Year 6. Plus, there is a subject leader training pack for additional support.
Maestro is proving to be the perfect resource for geography subject leaders. In just 15 minutes, we can show you how you can save hours of time and ensure you are a fully-fledged geography Maestro.