Children 'failed in geography'

Inspectors say geography is badly taught in primary schools

Geography is the worst-taught subject in primary school and fewer teenagers are choosing to study it, England's school inspectors say.

A report from Ofsted warns that children are failing to learn about key global issues like drought, famine and conflict because of poor teaching.

The number of teenagers choosing the subject for GCSE has fallen by a third in the last eight years, it says.

Chief inspector David Bell says pupils should be shown how relevant it is.

'Relative decline'

"Geography enables us to understand change, conflict and the key issues which impact on our lives today and will affect our futures tomorrow," he said.

"Our inspectors have found that there has been a relative decline in geography in recent years, with the picture particularly stark in primary schools.

"We need to engage pupils more purposefully in geography and make them realise the relevance and value of the subject and, most important of all, ensure that they enjoy it."

Geography and history are now compulsory only until children reach the age of 14. They were made optional for older children in 1995.

Both subjects are on the national curriculum for primary schools but inspectors have reported that they, and some other subjects, are being squeezed out, with more time being devoted to English and maths.

Pilot course

From this year, secondary schools have to offer pupils at Key Stage 4 (14-16) "the chance" to study history, geography, modern languages, the arts and design and technology, but the subjects remain non-compulsory for this age-group.

The Ofsted report blamed the recent decline in the number of children taking GCSE geography on a tendency for teachers to focus on drilling facts into pupils, "rather than stimulating their interest in the world".

It says: "Inspection evidence suggests that in many secondary schools the curriculum in Year 7-9 (Key Stage 3) is not sufficiently relevant or stimulating to capture pupils' interest and persuade them to continue learning at examination level."

But a new pilot GCSE, from the exam board OCR, was proving more successful, Ofsted said.

Students were not "overloaded" with content on this course and had more room to express their own views, the report said.

Potential

David Lambert of the Geographical Association, representing subject teachers, said in a statement that the decline, though worrying, had been from "an astonishingly high level" of popularity.

But David Bell had been right to sound a warning - there was no more relevant subject for pupils to learn.

"Such has been the obsession with basic skills, the educational potential of geography has been ignored and the subject pushed to the margins," he said.

New teachers could complete their training with not a single hour of geography and schools were rarely in a position to make up this deficit.