Powerful Geography
Overall Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★
Why this book?
As a huge fan of Enser’s previous books, how could I not read this one? Having read this when it first came out, I am writing this blog as I revisit the book to embed extracts into the geography training sessions that I deliver to SCITT trainees as part of my current role. In this role I have gained a renewed appreciation for all the writing that Mark has published for the geography teacher community to benefit and learn from- so thank you Mark!
If ‘Making Every Geography Lesson Count’ is seen as essential reading for trainee and early-career teachers, then this should be seen as essential reading for HODs and anyone interested in curriculum thinking. It references and weaves together the work of numerous different authors- guiding you through the research and literature to see the ‘big picture’ of geography curriculum thinking, design and making.
The first three chapters (in Part 1) begin by considering geography at the broadest scale. Some may consider thinking that this is irrelevant for the HOD battling the myriad day-to-day demands of the job but as Enser explains, ‘only by exposing (the underlying history of geography curriculum) to the light can we hope to examine our own assumptions about the purpose of school, and therefore our subject, and move forward’ (p.18). At a time where terms such as propositional knowledge, procedural knowledge, powerful knowledge and metacognition are commonplace in all CPD sessions, the initial chapters develop your understanding by discussing each in turn and importantly, each in the context of geography.
The later chapters (Part 2) go on to contextualise the ‘big picture’ into the everyday reality of our classrooms and the everyday implementation of the curriculum. My three key takeaways all come from Part 2 and are things I plan to discuss in forthcoming SCITT training sessions.
Three key takeaways:
Using Maude’s work which names five types of powerful geographical knowledge, Enser suggests that we could apply this as a set of criteria to evaluate the curriculum we offer our pupils. I think these 5 questions would serve as a fantastic starting point for a departmental review of topics or lesson series:
Does it provide new ways of thinking?
Does it help our pupils to explain and understand the world?
Does it give them power over what they know?
Does it mean that young people can join in conversations and debates?
Does it give them knowledge of the world?Following this discussion, Mark Enser goes on to give an example of how using these questions exposed a lesson where it was non-powerful content being taught. ‘Identifying powerful content is the easy part of the process/ Far harder can be realised what is not powerful content and them removing this from our curriculum.’ (p.78) Do we go through this process enough as a department? Are we ruthless enough with the content that is not powerful and perhaps doesn’t take students beyond their everyday?
‘If we are going to create a powerful geography curriculum then we need to ensure that we are not distracted by the surface details (the pedagogical tools) until we have the underpinning curriculum purpose in place.’ (p.164)