Geography

Course Overview

The Geography ITT programme seeks to develop your skills as a Geography teacher. These skills will include how to deliver lessons to ensure students understand how to analyse literature as well as analysing writer’s intent and shaping their written work for effect.

Geography teachers need to able to impart a wide range of topical knowledge in an engaging and creative way that enables students to analyse the world around them. Trainees need to be able to know their curriculum inside out, especially GCSE specifications and how best to prepare students for their examinations. Trainees need to be able to understand how to structure exam answers and essays and be able to share that with their students. Trainees need to be able to understand and deliver a Geography curriculum which examines a wide range of Geographical content, structure lessons in an appropriate and engaging manner, using subject specific language and identify and explain key command words.

As a result, it is intended that Geography trainee teachers will be able to:

Develop their subject knowledge to a depth and breadth that enables them to teach their subject at KS3-KS4 with confidence and competence.

Understand the pedagogy of their subject and be both deliberate and judicious in their choice of methods and approaches.

Be able of the curriculum requirements for the age range they teach and have awareness of how content is chosen to be broad, balanced and deliberately sequenced.

Understand how learning happens in their subject and be able to use a range of approaches to ensure that knowledge is more likely to be retained.

Learn about the statutory assessment arrangements for Geography and be able to guide and prepare students for both internal and external assessment.

Anticipate and address common misconceptions within planning and lesson delivery.

Develop students’ hinterland knowledge and intellectual curiosity.

Use a wide range of subject terminology and be aware of strategies to help students use these terms for themselves.

Provide learners with actionable, motivational and manageable subject specific feedback in order for them to make progress in their learning.

Create classroom climates that are inclusive for all learners regardless of ability or background through an awareness of potential barriers to learning and how to overcome these.
Learn how to activate hard thinking in their subject as a result of a deliberate approach to structuring, explaining, questioning, interacting and embedding knowledge.

Useful Websites

The Geographical Association and Royal Geographical Society with IBG are jointly billed as subject

The Staffordshire Learning Net

Teacher Produced sites:

There are a range of excellent teacher-produced sites which are leading the development of interesting resources.

http://www.geographypages.co.uk – Alan Parkinson (various links to his more recent work)

http://www.geointeractive.co.uk – David Rayner

http://www.juicygeography.co.uk – Noel Jenkins (some archive material)

http://www.radicalgeography.co.uk – Tony Cassidy

http://www.digitalgeography.co.uk – Noel Jenkins

http://www.georesources.co.uk – David Rayner

http://www.geography-site.co.uk – David Robinson

http://www.gatm.org.uk/

Entry Requirements

Mandatory

A degree in Geography or a related subject, at class 2:2 or above

Maths and English GCSE at grade 4/C or above

ISBN Number (for printed material)	Author	Date	Title	Publisher
978-1843771659	Balderstone D	2006	Secondary Geography Handbook	GA
978-1785833397	Enser, M	2019	Making Every Geography Lesson Count	Crown House
978-0826452672	Butt, G	2002	Reflective teaching of Geography 11-18	Continuum
978-0415230773	Fisher, C and Binns, T	2000	Issues in Geography Teaching	Routledge
978-0761969822	Kent, A (ed)	2000	Reflective Practice in Geography teaching	Paul Chapman Publishing
978-0415437868	Lambert, D & Balderstone D	2009	Learning to teach Geography in the secondary school (2nd edition)	Routledge
978-0335234486	Lambert, D & Morgan J	2010	Teaching Geography 11-18, A Conceptual Approach	Open University Press
978-1899857999	Leat, D	2001	Thinking through Geography (2nd edition)	Chris Kington Publishing
978-1899857203	Mitchell, D (ed)	2009	Living Geography: Exciting Futures for Teachers and Students	Chris Kington Publishing
978-1899857432	Nichols, A	2001	More Thinking through Geography	Chris Kington Publishing
978-1-84377-095-4	Roberts, M	2003	Learning Through Enquiry: Making sense of geography in the key stage 3 classroom	GA
978-1899857616	Taylor, L	2004	Re-presenting Geography	Chris Kington Publishing

Course Funding

if eligible, trainee teachers in 2025-2026 will receive a bursary of £26,000 to train in Geography.

To find out more about financing your teacher training, click here

Course Codes

QTS with PGCE, full time or part time, 2B2X

QTS full time - P824

Geography Lead Subject Tutor

Ben Agombar

Ben is the Head of Geography at The Ongar Academy, where he has been part of the team since 2023.

Prior to this, he worked in several schools across East London and Essex, holding a range of roles including Careers Lead.

With over three years of experience mentoring Early Career Teachers in both Geography and History, Ben is passionate about supporting the professional growth of new teachers. Ben’s approach to mentoring is grounded in collaboration, trust, and honest dialogue. He believes that the most effective development happens through supportive coaching and practical advice that builds confidence and encourages reflective practice.

Ben’s goal is to create a positive and open environment where trainees feel empowered to grow, take risks, and flourish in the classroom to become exceptional practitioners.

Many of Ben’s mentees are thriving in the classroom, with one ECT who won an award of Highly Commended New Teacher of the Year from The Pearson Teaching Awards.

Mid Essex Initial Teacher Training