What might a more hopeful Geography look like

What might a more hopeful Geography look like? David Alcock – Geography Teacher, Bradford Grammar School @David. Alcock 1 dga@bradfordgrammar. com www. alcock. blog Photo: @Luke. Ellis. Craven

Worried or hopeful? www. menti. com Code: 24 12 13 3

93 Year 10 students at Bradford Grammar School, 1 Dec 2020 Conducted using MS Forms

Despair Doomscrolling Fear Dread Weltschmerz

Hope

Empty? But hope is “a verb with its sleeves rolled up” (David Orr, 2008)…

Empty? But hope is “a verb with its sleeves rolled up” (David Orr, 2008)…. . . “I don’t know any reason to be optimistic now, or to predict great success for the human species” (ibid)

Complacent and unfeeling? Real problems Real improvements Role of geography? Worldviews

Evaluate progress Believe in humanity Create a better world

Evaluate progress - A hopeful education encourages learners to engage with and interrogate the notion of progress, understand explain positive trends, put these gains in the context of regress in other areas, and use this understanding to inform debates about future progress

Believe in humanity - A hopeful education seeks to reaffirm the potential of human nature to work collectively for the common good, whether that be in the classroom, intergenerationally, locally, nationally, or in the context of global governance and co-operation

Create a better world – A hopeful education champions and facilitates futures thinking and education for sustainable development

Sources: https: //ourworldindata. org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/Twocenturies-World-as-100 -people. png Full references in Factfulness

Trends?

Trends

The magic washing machine What has been the greatest achievement of humanity? Gather ideas, then show this video: www. youtube. com/watch? v=BZo. Kfap 4 g 4 w Concept map How are these linked? INDUSTRIALISATION LITERACY HUMAN RIGHTS CLIMATE CHANGE ENERGY POLLUTION. . . etc Source: inspired by Rosling (2011)

Standing on the shoulders of giants Giant Breakthrough Lives Saved Borlaug Green Revolution >1 billion Landsteiner Blood Groups >1 billion Wolman and Enslow Chlorination of Water >177 million Jenner / Foege / Smallpox WHO N/A (It killed 300 m in 20 th. C) NB All of us have a chance to play our part – to stand on the shoulders of giants Source: Various, including Pinker (2018)

Future Histories The end of (most) slavery. Votes for women. The end of (legal) apartheid. A treaty to close the gap in the ozone layer. The eradication of polio from Africa. The internet. How did these things happen? Now imagine it’s the year 2050. How did these things happen? : Control of climate change The end of plastic pollution in the seas The end of the tobacco industry The end of gender inequality The end of racial inequality The end of extreme poverty The end of pandemics Source: adapted from Hutchinson (1996); informed by F Harvey (2020) ; see also Hoffman et al (2019)

Challenges Challenge 1: Hasn’t it been done before? • ‘Pedagogy of hope’, futures education, Factfulness, ESD, and so on – but this is a syncretic approach • Rawding, GTE 2015 • Work to be done: Source: screenshot from Oak Academy KS 3 Geography Resource (accessed Jan 2021): https: //teachers. thenational. academy/lessons/wha t-are-the-potential-consequences-ofoverpopulation-74 rp 2 d

Framing the future Future timelines (Hicks, 2007: Lessons for the future: A geographical contribution – Geography 92(3): 179 -188 A more hopeful framing?

Challenges Challenge 2: Should teachers promote hope? • Greta Thunberg: “I don’t want your hope” • False hope? Cruel optimism (Lauren Berlant)? • Complacency? Might it dilute radical education? But Hicks refers to: “a radical and empowering model of education in which pupils have learned the skills of self-reflection and critical awareness of the world. … To discuss issues, at their own level, such as limits to growth, the nature of consumerism and how education can prepare them for the future, requires bold, critical, creative and outgoing students” (Hicks, 2012)

Challenges Challenge 3: If we do take it on, how could we do it? • Which key stage(s)? “A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives” [my italics] – Geography KS 3 Programme of Study • Awareness of the importance of the context of delivery – the ‘affective atmosphere’ of the classroom • Guiding vision / separate unit / standalone session? • Think back: did the Geography curriculum, and/or the way it was taught, allow sufficient ‘scope for hope’ in the past? In other words, did Geography pay enough attention to ‘successes’?

One week before ‘Grounds for Hope’ Day Two days after ‘Grounds for Hope’ Day 86 Year 10 students at Bradford Grammar School, 10 Dec 2020 via MS Forms Photo: @Luke. Ellis. Craven

Hopeful geography’s place in a broader ‘hopeful education’ An ‘outward turn’ of education (Standish) relating to the third of Biesta’s three aims of education: subjectification Time to revisit and incorporate futures education – to involve children in discussions about their future Free publication Sust. Schools. Sust. Futures. Hicks 2012 WWF. pdf Also Hicks (2014) Educating for Hope Need for an adequate - and critical - grounding of the progress that has already been made A willingness to go beyond binaries – e. g. technocratic vs ecological, Malthusian vs Boserupian

Discussion in break-out groups: What might a more hopeful Geography look like? • What role could/should Geography play to promote a more hopeful curriculum? • What might this look like in the classroom? • What are the opportunities and challenges of adopting a more hopeful curriculum? • Other questions?

What might a more hopeful Geography look like? David Alcock – Geography Teacher, Bradford Grammar School @David. Alcock 1 dga@bradfordgrammar. com www. alcock. blog Photo: @Luke. Ellis. Craven

Interested? Find out more: • May 2019 Impact Journal: ‘An Optimistic Education’ • Autumn 2019 Teaching Geography: ‘Optimism, progress and geography – celebration and calibration’ and Jan 2021 online teaching resource • November 2020 Geography Review: ‘Challenging your world view’ • Upcoming: GA CPD pack • 2021 GA Conference: Lecture Plus • 2022: Resource pack / whole year group session plans / conference? Thank you for listening! David

Charles Rawding’s key questions for geography educators to consider regarding environmental geographies (GTE 2015)