Are you a geographer? Get involved to engage school students with your work

What did you want to be when you grew up? Whatever your ambition as a young child, it’s likely it was related to a job you’d seen someone doing. We know that exposing school students to real people and their jobs can make a real difference in the decisions they make about the subjects they choose to study and the careers they decide to follow.

The Society showcases the range of jobs that geographers do and the difference that they make in a variety of ways and, importantly, all our activities in this area are linked to the Gatsby Benchmarks for good careers guidance. This helps to ensure that young people are able to make well-informed choices about their futures.

Alongside resources that support teachers to embed information about geographical jobs and careers into the curriculum and webinars and events that feature the wide range of jobs open to people who have studied geography, we have a database of geographical work experience opportunities.

Connecting school students directly to professional geographers

To complement our existing activities, we’re pleased to announce that we’re working in partnership with Mangorolla on a new student enrichment project that puts school students in direct contact with professional geographers.

I’m a geographer, get me out of here uses online, text-based chats to connect school students with real people who use geography in their work. It helps students see the relevance of their studies and understand the range of further study and careers geography can lead to. In addition, the text-based platform gives every student an equal voice, no matter how confident they are.

Get involved in outreach

It’s not just the students who stand to benefit from taking part – the project is an ideal way for geographers to get involved in outreach and gain skills that contribute to their own professional development.

Not only that, since I’m a geographer is entirely online and text-only (no audio or video), geographers can take part from anywhere with an internet connection and at any time that fits with their busy schedules. The added bonus is there’s no pre-planning of activities or travelling to schools involved.

For geographers

If you’re a geographer and you’d like to inspire school students from across the UK, aged 10 to 18, helping them see the relevance of geography beyond the classroom, sign up now.

For teachers

If you’re a teacher and you’d like your students to take part and be inspired by the range of what geographers actually do, sign up now.