England: Making Progress in School Geography: Issues, Challenges and Enduring Questions

Abstract

In this chapter we provide a case study of the slow and uncertain progress that has been achieved in England towards mapping learning progression (LP) in school geography. For much of geography’s history as a school subject the nature of making progress was largely taken for granted and considered to be little more sophisticated than the accumulation of information. Since the advent of curriculum studies (in England, since the 1970s) the question of progress has become accepted as a profoundly important, but very difficult, idea in geography. The chapter discusses the policy context that has emerged since then, and the rise and fall of detailed system-wide prescription of ‘levels.’ We also discuss in some detail the role of assessment in relation to the measurement of LP, and the relationship between this and the need for teachers to plan for progression. We finish with reference to recent curriculum reforms which have re-asserted knowledge contents of school geography.