Consultations
We respond regularly to consultations and calls for evidence from government departments, Parliamentary Select Committees and other bodies.
Education Outside the Classroom Manifesto
Our response to the DfE notes that geography is not mentioned in the consultation document, despite at the time being the only subject with statutory reference to the provision of fieldwork in school. It also advocates for substantive commitments to fieldwork.
Draft GCSE Subject Criteria for Geography
Our response expresses concerns about overlap between the KS3 programme and A Level/GCSE criteria, especially where KS3 requirements are more demanding. It also advocates for a broader approach to fieldwork assessment.
Health and Safety of Learning Outside the Classroom (HASLOC)
Our response to this DfE consultation on HASLOC suggests clarifications and changes, and notes the Society's relevant experiences with BS 8848.
Learning Outside the Classroom
Our written evidence advocates that fieldwork, as LOTC, should be part of every pupil’s education. We also convey feedback from teachers on changes to fieldwork provision.
Consultation on Cultural Education
Our response to this DCMS consultation argues for a broad understanding of cultural education, and encourages schools to use Learning Outside the Classroom to support this.
Practical experiments in school science lessons and science field trips
We argue that that fieldwork should remain a compulsory part of a statutory geography curriculum and highlight the Society's activities in support of fieldwork.
New A Level regulatory requirements
Our response welcomes the emphasis on fieldwork, and the potential for non-exam assessment to develop students' skills with longer-form research projects.
Student number controls and teaching funding: Consultation on arrangements for 2012-2014 and beyond
We argue the proposals penalise geography' success; that teaching costs, particularly from fieldwork, have been underestimated; and that HEFCE's approach rewards higher-fee institutions.
Developing new GCSE, A level and AS qualifications for first teaching in 2016
In our response to Ofqual, we agree with exam assessment at AS level, providing fieldwork must also be undertaken, and welcomes the 20% non-exam requirement for A level assessment.
Implementing the English Baccalaureate
A consultation on increasing uptake of EBacc subjects to 90%. Our response requests more frequent information on subject uptake, raises concerns around shortages of specialist staff at KS3, and highlights the need to sustain fieldwork as a GCSE course component.
Ofqual consultation on proposed changes to the assessment of GCSEs, AS and A Levels in 2021
The Society supports Ofqual’s proposals for the inclusion of fieldwork and the completion of students’ NEAs for A Level geography in 2021. However, the Society fundamentally disagrees with Ofqual’s proposal to remove fieldwork from the assessment of GCSE geography in 2021.