Enhancing students' employability and self‐expression: how to teach oral and groupwork skills in geography

Abstract

‘Non‐traditional’ teaching methods emphasizing groupwork and speaking skills‐‐such as those detailed in appendices to this article‐‐should be widely adopted by HE geography teachers. Not only do they enhance students' intellectual development; they also enhance general employability. We discuss seven principles which our experience suggests are important in teaching these skills. Fulfilling them demands forethought and planning by the teacher, who becomes a facilitator of student‐centred learning in a non‐authoritarian context. Our evaluations suggest that these methods effectively improve both skills and mastery of subject matter, but more systematic evaluation is needed.

The education system (should). ..be more responsive to the needs of employment and . . . ensure that the way subjects are taught at every level reflects the needs of students in their subsequent careers rather than the preferences of their teachers.

(Sir David Hancock, The Future of (Geography) in Higher Education, Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference, Reading, 1986)