Recognising and exploring children’s geographies in school geography

Abstract

This article draws on the author's doctoral research to examine the relationships between children's geographies in different spaces of geographical thought in Englandgeography in and of everyday life, geography as an academic discipline and geography as a school subject. It begins by setting out how children's geographies have largely been omitted from school geography due to complex reasons including the impact of governmental policy on teaching and teacher education, and the public accountability of schools. Drawing on a case study of five young people's narratives about London, the article then examines their perspectives on educationhighlighting that the young people view both London, and the education system, as a space of opportunity and hope, but also of inequality and injustice. The article concludes by arguing that through drawing on the ideas and methodologies of children's geographies as a subdiscipline, and recognising and exploring the geographies of those who are taught, school geography can be enhanced by making teachers more informed about the children they teach and providing children with opportunities to examine (their own) geographies through engaging with disciplinary thought.

Who are the children we teach? Considering identities, place and time-space in education

“…The research found that the young people in the study navigated multiple, sometime contradictory, social spaces when constructing and representing themselves and their identities in London; that the young people imagined London as a jigsaw of territories with distinct social rules existing in different spaces and places within the city; and that London was perceived by the young people who participated in the research as a place of opportunity and hope, but also as a place of inequality and injustice (Hammond, 2021(Hammond, , 2022. Analysis showed that with regards to identity, the young people particularly focused on the themes of religion; sex, sexuality and gender; voice; and their experiences of feeling or being British, or not (Hammond, 2021(Hammond, , 2022. The extracts discussed below focus specifically on the young people's narratives analysed as relating to religion and identity.…”

“…This is because the model suggests that teachers should consider the children they teach before anything else. In doing so, the model represents children as children, and not students (their given identity in school), thus appearing to celebrate the child as a social actor who exists beyond the school gate, and who has their own experiences, imaginations and 'everyday' knowledge of the world (Hammond, 2022). Following this, the model expresses that the teacher should critically consider the purposes of (a geographical) education in the place and time-space they exist within and contribute to, before making decisions about curriculum (what to teach) and pedagogy (how to teach it).…”

“…Educators can do this through active consideration of the relationships between schooling and educational institutions, and the communities they serve. Educators can also do this through respecting and valuing the everyday geographies and identities of the children and young people they teach through both what they teach, and how they teach it (Catling & Martin, 2011;Hammond, 2021Hammond, , 2022Roberts, 2014Roberts, , 2017. For example, as this article has shown through the illustrative example of religion and identities in London, there are reciprocal relationships between people, place and time-space.…”

“…The storytelling and geography group was constructed using the philosophy that narratives can be 'read' in different ways by different people and discussion can support meaning-making (Yap, 2011). Through the use of oral narratives, the research aimed to enable young people to participate in a way that was familiar to them, concurrent with everyday life and to be active participants in the research, with control over what they shared, when and how (Hammond, 2022). The young people who took part in the research were encouraged to reflect on their geographies and imaginations of London -the city in which they lived, studied and played -this is significant to note as the young people were part of the city, shaping and being shaped by its spaces and places (Freeman & Tranter, 2011;Skelton, 2013;Tuan, 1976).…”

Geographical education I: fields, interactions and relationships

“…These interventions are partly curricular, giving young people access to recent developments in the discipline. They also echo Yarwood and Tyrrell’s (2012) calls for informing teaching and research, and Hammond (2021a) arguments about the importance of relationships between children’s everyday lives and geographical education to encourage ‘dialogic conversation’ (Hammond, 2021b: 13) across pedagogy, curriculum and research. In sharp contrast to previous characterisations of the field of geography education research as unfunded, there has been an increase in funded research in the field across RCUK (Research Councils United Kingdom), GCRF (Global Challenges Research Fund), EU (European Union) and beyond, for example, fostering collaborations between geography education researchers and artists (Walshe et al, 2020) and geography teacher educators internationally (Uhlenwinkel et al, 2016).…”