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An Investigation Into the Dynamics of the National Curriculum Geography Working Group (1989-1990)

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An Investigation Into the Dynamics of the National Curriculum Geography Working Group (1989-1990) AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DYNAMICS OF THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM GEOGRAPHY WORKING GROUP (1989-1990) by GRAHAM WILLIAM BUTT A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education and Continuing Studies of the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. School of Education Faculty of Education and Continuing Studies University of Birmingham January 1997. University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. 4 -u Abstract An investigation into the dynamics of the National Curriculum Geography Working Group from its establishment in May 1989 until June 1990 when it was disbanded. The thesis is primarily concerned with the ways in which the Geography Working Group approached its task of devising a National Curriculum for geography. As such it explores the terms of reference and supplementary guidance given to the Group, the working relationships established both within and beyond the immediate membership of the Group, and their visualisation of the task before them. Inevitably the focus is widened to set the context for the work of the Group. The place of geography as a school subject this century is examined, as well as events immediately following the creation of the Geography National Curriculum by the Group. Consideration is given to the composition and functioning of the Group, the production of an Interim Report (DES 1989) and Final Report (DES 1990) for geography, and the resultant implementation problems caused by the politically altered Statutory Orders (1991), over which the Group had no influence or control. The thesis ends with an analysis of the possible futures for geographical education within state schools in the context of recent developments within academic geography. Synopsis. This thesis investigates the creation of the Geography National Curriculum for England and Wales between May 1989, the time of the establishment of the Geography Working Group, and June 1990 when the Group disbanded after the publication of its Final Report (DES 1990). Its primary focus is to consider the dynamics of how the Geography Working Group functioned - how it visualised its task, the effects of its terms of reference and supplementary guidance, the internal and external working relationships of the Group, and the influence of the DES, Education Ministers and the Secretary of State for Education. However, this focus is widened to include an essential examination of the events immediately prior to the convening of the Group, which partly set an agenda for its work, and those after its disbandment such as the Dealing Review (1994). Consideration is initially given to the development of geography as a school subject since 1885, and the parallel creation of curriculum policy for approximately the same period. This provides a context to the Geography Working Group's approach to its task of devising the Geography National Curriculum. The establishment of a 'deficit model' of geography in schools is seen, as well as the de-coupling of school and university geography, and the influence on the curriculum of the centralising tendency of Conservative policy makers in the 1980s and 1990s. Full consideration is given to the composition and functioning of the Geography Working Group with much original research data gathered from interviews with Group members. These greatly enhance the individual accounts of the work of the Group already published by some members. The stages through which the Geography Working Group passed from the production of its Interim Report (DES 1989a), to the eventual publication of its Final Report (DES 1990a) are analysed, as are the resultant implementation problems created by the form and content of the politically altered Statutory Orders, over which the Group had no influence or control. The thesis ends with a review of how the Group worked in relation to established theories of group working and leadership, and a projection into the continuity and change that may in future occur within school geography. A full account of the research methodology applied is given in Chapter 3. References. Dearing.R (1994) The National Curriculum and Its Assessment. Final Report. London. SCAA. DES (1989a) Geography in the National Curriculum. Interim Report (England). London. HMSO. DES (1990a) Geography in the National Curriculum. Final Report (England). London. HMSO. Acknowledgements. The author owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Clyde Chitty, his supervisor, for the keen support, guidance and advice he provided during the research and writing of this thesis. His readiness to read and critically comment upon drafts of this work, often at short notice, was very greatly appreciated. A more sympathetic and supportive mentor would be difficult to find. Special mention should also be made of the Geography Working Group members, the majority of whom gave freely of their time in agreeing to be interviewed about their part in the creation of the Geography National Curriculum. Contents Page Chapter 1 The Development of Geography in Secondary Schools 1 1885-1989 Chapter 2 Curriculum Policy Making 1870-1993 3 8 Chapter 3 Research Methodology 76 Chapter 4 The Composition and Functioning of the Geography 103 Working Group Chapter 5 The Creation of the Geography National Curriculum 145 Chapter 6 Problems Surrounding the Implementation of the 20J Geography National Curriculum Chapter 7 The Dynamics of the National Curriculum Working 247 Groups Chapter 8 Continuity, Change and the Future 291 Appendices: 1 The American Fligh School Geography Project 321 2 Geography for the Young School Leaver 323 Geography 16-19 326 3 Letter to the GWG Members 328 4 Membership of the National Curriculum GWG 330 5 Interview with Kenneth Clarke(l 1.2.91) 332 References 334 List of Illustrations. Figure 3.1 Interview questions for Geography Working Group page 86-87 members Figure 5.1 Suggested approach to planning National Curriculum page 148 geography (DES 1989b). Figure 5.2 Geography 'cube' showing Places, Themes and page 157 Geographical Skills. Interim Report 1989 (DES 1989a). Figure 5.3 Geography 'cube' showing Areas, Themes and page 158 Geographical Skills. Final Report 1990 (DES 1990a). Figure 5.4 A view of developments in geography education 1970- page 198 2010 (Rawling 1993). Figure 7.1 A simplified model of the determinants of group page 276 effectiveness (Handy 1985) List of tables Table 1.1 Examination entries for CSE and O level (Geography, page 23-24 History, English Language and English Literature) for England and Wales (selected years 1960-1975) Chapter 1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF GEOGRAPHY IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1885-1989 'What is taught in the schools, in a sense, codifies our accepted knowledge and, in a large degree, the teacher is thus the custodian of the truth' D.R.Stoddart(1988p.58). The teaching of geography in schools, like the teaching of all other subjects, has traditionally been influenced by a wide variety of factors. The prevailing philosophies of education, the existing paradigm of geography in higher education, the economic climate, and the political complexion of the government of the day are arguably the major variables at any given time. This chapter will seek to introduce developments within geography in secondary schools in England and Wales since 1885 in the context of the above, as a precursor to an analysis of the creation of the Geography National Curriculum (GNC). An appreciation of the changes in geographical thought, curricula and teaching are essential to an understanding of the educational significance of the GNC devised by the Geography Working Group (GWG). In their commentaries on the development of geography as an academic subject both Gregory (1978) and Goodson (1983) highlight the primary concern of geographers as being their subject's survival, rather than its intellectual progression, during much of this century. Gregory (1978) cites both Smith (1973) and Harvey (1973) who go so far as to state that this desire for survival has often necessitated an abandonment of principle and 'a degree of pragmatism.... (which) was uncomfortably close to opportunity1 (Smith quoted in Harvey 1973 p. 325). This pragmatism clearly sits somewhat uneasily with the need for any subject to achieve intellectual respectability and to prove its academic merit. At the beginning of the 20th century geography was still a comparatively 'youthful' school subject, most elementary schools having introduced it into the curriculum around 1870. Grammar schools followed this trend at the turn of the century, although it is interesting to note that within higher education geography had not yet established a secure foothold. The first university School of Geography was created only in 1900 at Oxford, and the lowly status of geography in many schools was sometimes blamed upon the subject's absence from higher education at this time (Graves 1975). This continuing link between university and school geography is an important one which will be referred to subsequently within this thesis (see Chapters 5 and 8). There is much evidence that standards of geographical education in schools at this time were less than impressive. Such criticism prompted the Royal Geographical Society to commission Dr. John Scott Keltic to investigate the aims and rationale of geography teaching in schools in the early 1880s. His report (in 1886) stated that until a system for training geography teachers was introduced the future for the subject in schools was bleak, and that head teachers of'public schools' believed that their pupils would not improve their chances of gaining access to higher education through studying geography.
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