The State of Geography in English Primary Schools

ABSTRACT

Evidence from the annual evaluative reports of the inspections of primary schools and from the findings of two monitoring studies of primary subject leaders' perspectives are used in this article to examine the state of geography in primary education. The findings are that while geography is certainly part of the primary curriculum, there have been some very real limitations arising from the implementation of the national strategies for primary education since the late 1990s. Primary geography provision and teaching has been improving slowly: there is evidence of good use of the local area, for example, and of the use of imaginative approaches to and contexts for good and excellent geography teaching and learning in a minority of primary schools. This can be a catalyst for the wider development of good practice. New initiatives to support the development of primary geography have been identified and are underway with government support.