Political Understanding through Geography Teaching

Author(s): G. W. Butt
Source: Teaching Geography, Vol. 15, No. 2, Special Feature Geography and Politics (April
1990), pp. 62-65
Published by: Geographical Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23751936
Accessed: 29-03-2020 21:11 UTC

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 TEACHING FILE

c. Do I wish to take the enquiry

which could readily be seen to address one Most important of all, students were
further? of the Questions in the Route for Enquiry directly involved in an issue of local
(Naish et al., 1987). relevance with a genuine enquiry
Based on the GSIP procedure for studying approach. Their understanding was
a Controversial Issue (Corney,3. 1990)
Teaching and Learning Strategies and assessed by their performance in a
Assessment simulated public enquiry. A video recording
This sequence was followed through of the enquiry enabled effective evaluation
effectively. Certain features relating Assessing
to the student understanding and
questions to be posed by students and
issue, the fieldwork, the teaching and was seen as an integral
achievement part alike.
teachers
learning strategies and the assessment
of the planning and teaching. At the outset,
were seen as important (as described students were involved in the enquiry by time of writing, Carol Bamber was a
At the
below). researching the issue, identifying Geography Tutor at Leeson House Field Studies
interested parties and deciding upon a Centre, Langton Maltravers, Dorset (now
About the Issue focus for study (eg. the oil company's teaching at Dorchester Middle School).
perspective on the issue). Thereafter,
Graham Ranger was a Geography Tutor at the
The advantages of this particular issue students,
for working collaboratively in groups,
University of Oxford, Department of Educational
both the students and staff were: were in role, pursuing the course of the Studies (now County Adviser for Geography and
enquiry from this standpoint. Environmental Education, Derbyshire LEA).
a. the issue was of sufficiently small It was important, however, that each
scale to be manageable; student analysed the value positions held
by all affected parties, whilst developing References
b. the size of the island (200 hectares)their argument. Teaching was designed to Corney, G. (forthcoming 1990) Teaching
and the length of the wall (100 encourage the students to use a wide Economic Understanding Through
metres) enabled the students to get variety of resources, such as structure Geography: The Experience of the
Geography Schools and Industry Project,
a 'feel' for the issue by observation; plans, newspaper articles and transcripts
Geographical Association.
of local television interviews. Although an Isle of Purbeck Local Plan (Consultative Draft),
c. evidence can be gathered official policy line on the issue did not exist, Purbeck District Council, August 1988.
empirically, by eg. measuringaccess
wavewas given to the report of the Naish, M., Rawling, E. and Hart, C. (1987) The
Consulting Engineers, which included
frequency, direction of wave attack, Contribution of a Curriculum Project to 16-19
wind speeds, number of vessels conclusions and recommendations. Education, Longman.
using Poole Harbour, etc.;

d. the issue is currently being debated

and is unresolved, hence the final
stages of a Route for Enquiry (Naish
et al., 1987) to enable authentic
predictive work to be done by the
students;

e. supporting material is readily

available — the local and national
Political Understanding
press, in the Isle of Purbeck Local
Plan (Purbeck District Council, 1988)
as well as from The National Trust;
through Geography
f. there are a large number of parties
interested in the outcomes of the
Teaching
issue; G. W. Butt
Ward Freman School Buntingford
g. the site is accessible for fieldwork.
Although the sea wall is not located
Syllabuses for both GCSE level landform management issues which have
in a part of the island open to tourists,
geography and the increasingly popular a political expression to their resolution.
there was no problem in gaining
permission for access from The
16-19 courses now place far more And yet how prepared are students to
National Trust. emphasis on political issues than in the cope with the increasing political
past. It may be argued that many of the understanding needed by them to deal with
areas of geographical study were such issues? The political education that
previously not exactly "apolitical" in their most students receive is limited — they
2. The Fieldwork theme or content, but now we are surely may have gained a certain amount of
witnessing a far more direct approach to background knowledge in a wide variety of
Data collection was geared to specific their study. Geography students must be subjects but experience difficulties in
questions in the enquiry sequence: competent in dealing with the intricacies of successfully drawing on this to help in
planning decisions and understand the dealing with specific issues. The teacher
What is the nature of the problem? political processes behind the decision may be confronted with a cascade of
Why has it occurred? making; they are confronted with issues partially formulated political ideas and
Who is affected? such as the politics of planning policies, the misconceptions in students' work which
What are the possible outcomes? locational decisions made by multinational abounds with received knowledge,
How will I respond? companies, the allocation of aid, the choice acquired from peers and parents, and
of development strategies and the reasons which is often deeply stereotypical,
The practical success of the values for different urban morphologies in So what is the way forward if we want to
enquiry in the field depended greatly on the 'capitalist' and 'communist' systems, teach an issue that requires some degree
nature of the tasks the students were being Physical geography is similarly involved of political literacy but do not want to devote
asked to carry out. Tasks were selected when dealing with many environmental and a whole lesson to 'teaching polities', or get

62 © Teaching Geography, April 1990

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 TEACHING FILE

involved in the extremely sensitive areas implies an understanding of (political) makers, what h
of passing on personal political views? As disputes, an ability to explore the beliefs cannot be resolved and
an introduction to dealing with issues with and values of the major participants, and be implement
a political dimension it is useful to use a a grasp of how the issues are likely to affect political path from
student-centred decision-making approach the common citizen. Involvement is an possible methods
and directly engage the student's own important factor — "literacy means that the From this students c
ideas and feelings in the issue, participants are aware of how they are the process of decision m
Significantly, this does not have to involve involved" (McElroy) — and one which not the ultimate stage o
deep political analysis or a rather stilted should be of some importance to that the equitable
'Conservatives think this'and'Democrats geography teachers, for we are often decision is of majo
think that' approach but merely the criticised for teaching about things that are point the values
suggestions that different political groups either not relevant to the experiences of decision maker
may express certain views or beliefs in children, or do not successfully involve participants are brou
response to particular issues. If the them. perceptions of individuals within the
exercise under consideration is handled Once the realisation occurs that the political process ar
carefully the students will generate their established political system can, at a important and st
own decisions, which will then form the variety of scales, affect what decisions are that what they ha
basis for discussion about the views, made (by whom and for whom) pupils an indisputable 'fac
theories and beliefs of different political begin to see their position within the person's view or
groups. Choosing newsworthy items such process and can start to assess it. It is Discussion, role
as the origins and effects on different important to involve pupils in realistic reveal to studen
countries of acid rain, or the cause and decision making as a step towards their particular views
effects of ozone depletion, or development future roles in life. The process by which made will be
issues such as US involvement in political, or indeed any, decisions are made different groups
Nicaragua, should be sufficient to involve is extremely important — within geography Increasing
students in a reasonably discussion. teaching we can perhaps adopt the students should enable them to make real
Huckle argues strongly that much of the following route of enquiry when attempting life decisions in a more reasoned and
teaching that occurs in schools "instills to resolve a question which has political confident way — the exercise is therefore
beliefs and values supportive to the implications: not solely academic but one which has
dominant economic and political interests" importance in creating a greater sense of
— teachers must perhaps acknowledge Definition of involvement in shaping decisions made
that much of what is taught fails to raise Question i outside the classroom in which the student
significant political questions or is not seen has previously not assumed a role.
i
by pupils as having a relevant or
Assembling relevant
challenging political dimension. The real A practical example of political literacy
knowledge and
issue of whether geography teaching information in a 16-19 decision-making exercise
should address political questions was — The Trumpington Hypermarket
raised and endorsed by Sir Keith Joseph
i Development, near Cambridge
Process of decision
in June 1985 in his speech to the GA,
making. Role of political
which questioned "the (amount of) Students were given background
participation. Use of a i
attention given to the impact of political and information regarding one location of the
politically democratic
economic processes on geographical site on the outskirts of Cambridge next to
(or non political?)
patterns and changes" and also the need the M11 motorway and the proposal to
system.
for geography teachers to "foster build a hypermarket, cinema, coach and
i
economic awareness and political Possible bus station, hotel and filling station on the
understanding." resolution 78 acre site. With the aid of a variety of
Some geographers suggest that the resources (see leaflets, Figure 1)
of question or
most useful way to consider geographical conflict containing statements from the pressure
issues is to start by using local examples group TEAG (Trumpington Environmental
that the pupils can easily relate to; this of This, however, oversimplifies the stages Action Group), location maps, news
course has a parallel within teaching through which actual decisions are made articles, letters and protest stick
towards political literacy. An example could and does not deal with alternative students were asked to reach a dec
be a local planning decision such as an approaches to decision making, the as to whether the developer's plans
enquiry into a by-pass proposal, building differences in power and status of decision be adopted fully, in an augmented
in the political dimensions of pressure
groups and local government support and
Making the Decision
encouraging the political issues and
processes to emerge from that. National
Use of power to carry out the decision made
and international issues, especially if they 1
I 1 l l 1
have received significant press coverage Influence Reason
Force Manipulation Authority
(such as, say, the Channel Tunnel rail i i I
routes) can be used effectively. 1 1 I
Compliance Consent Dissent
These may start to encourage the i
1
development of political literacy in students 1 Disorder
— what though are the parameters into Order
which we can define 'political literacy'? In |
1 Anarchic
one form it could be considered as a basic Representation Participation
knowledge of political systems and how |
they work in practical terms, although some Democratic
would suggest that it should be given a bias
(after Stradling, 1978)
towards being 'healthily sceptical' of the
political status quo. Political literacy also

© Teaching Geography, April 1990 63

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 TEACHING FILE

Figure
Figure 1. TEAG produced
1. TE
aarange of leaflets
range of l
for
for
for the
the campaign.
the campaign. cam

not at all, giving reasons for their decisions.

decisions. —
— "...
"... most
most of
of the
the cost
cost of
of road
road extensions
extensions extent,
extent, be
be r
The background information they
they were
were would
would be
be borne
borne by
by the
the ratepayers
ratepayers who
who thus
thus with
with t
provided with was, in some respects,
respects, would
would pay
pay for
for the
the privilege
privilege of
of suffering
suffering the
the individuals.
individuals.
heavily 'biased' because it was almost
almost effects
effects on
on the
the environment."
environment." the
the detachment
detachment
entirely written by the pressure group actual feelings, values, attitudes and
TEAG
TEAG —
— one
one of
of the
the roles
rolès of
ofthe
thestudents
students——"Act
"Actnow
nowVisit
Visitthe
the
Guildhall."
Guildhall."
beliefs
beliefs
of of
the
the
people
people
involv
inv
was therefore to evaluate how much of the it is to expect pupils to be able to
information
information was
was acceptable
acceptable in in its
its current
current"Lodge
"Lodgepersonal
personalobjections
objectionsby by writing
writing recon
reco
form and
and where
where care
care waswas necessary
necessary in into
tothe
theChief
ChiefPlanning
PlanningOfficer."
Officer."willwillreact
react inin
g
order not to embrace unjustifiable opinion supplied in the form of protest group
rather than fact. "Approach your elected representatives, leaflets, quotes from individuals and
Establishing a full knowledge of the You are welcome to contact your local reports from newspapers? Can the drivi
various groups involved, their policies and Councillors and MP." forces behind residents, planners and loca
courses of action is essential to maintaining government officials really be accurately
fairness in the exercise. The exercise can be developed in a variety conveyed by these means? In the real
Newspaper extracts
Newspaper extractsabout
aboutanan
ofof ways
ways according
according to the
to the nature
nature of the
of the world
world how how
muchmuch
do thedoresidents
the residen
acrimonious
acrimoniousmeeting
meetingbetween
betweenthe
the
TEAG
TEAG
group
group
being
being
taught,
taught,
the desired
the desired
outcome
outcome
understand
understand
the political
the political
processprocess
they arethey
and
and consortium
consortiumof
ofdevelopers
developersand
and
local
local
andand
thethe
amount
amount
of time
of time
available.
available.
caught
caught
up in?upCan
in?we
Can
transpose
we transpose
all of all
governmenthelped
government helpedtotoilluminate
illuminate the the wider
wider TheThe "traditional"
"traditional" approach
approach to these
to this this these intricacies
intricacies into
into the the classroom
classroom and an
political
political nature
natureofofthe
theissue
issueand
andledled
into an an
into exercise involves
exercise a broad
involves basedbased
a broad actually hope to
actually resolve
hope them there
to resolve themwithout
there withou
understandingof
understanding ofthe
theactual
actual procedure
procedure of of introduction
introduction of the
of the Hypermarket
Hypermarket an insight
an insight into
into the the processes
processes of discuss
of discussion
decision
decision making
makingininthe
thereal
realworld.
world.TheThedevelopment
developmentto establish
to establish
basicbasic
ideasideas
aboutabout
and argument
and argument
deployeddeployed
in real in
life?
real life?
TEAG leaflet,
TEAG leaflet,June
June1986,
1986, clearly
clearly illustrated
illustrated the'groups'involved
the'groups'involved andnature
and the the nature
of theof the are
These These are fundamentally
fundamentally importantimport
the
the growing
growingpolitical
politicalnature
natureofof
the
the
argument
argument
differences
differences
thatthat
might
might
arise.arise.
Then Then
the questions
the questions
and cannot
and cannot
be ignored.
be ignored.
We are We are
resources
resources are
arediscussed
discussedwith
withthe
the
actual
actual
surely
surely
concerned
concerned
herehere
not not
so much
so much
with with
— "Major
"Major additions
additionstotothe
theoriginal
original
scheme
scheme
decision
decision
to be
to made
be made
outlined
outlined
on a on
separate
a separate
the empathetic
the empathetic
realismrealism
of making
of making
Student Studen
suggest
suggest that
thatthe
thedevelopers
developers expect
expect sheet. TheThe
sheet. sheet includes
sheet a series
includes of 'key
a series A feel
of 'key A exactly the same
feel exactly the as Resident
same B or
as Resident B o
Councillors
Councillorsand
andourselves
ourselvestoto
bebe
so so
gullible
gullible
questions'
questions'
thatthat
needneed
to betoaddressed
be addressed
Planner
Planner
C, butC,with
but establishing
with establishing
in morein mor
as to
to accept
acceptanything
anythingthey
theycare
care
to to
throw
throwbefore
before
a final
a final
written
written
report
report
is created,
is created,
general
general
terms terms
what the
whatmajor
the values
majorand
values
at us
us at
at any
anytime.
time.SoSomuch
muchfor
for
There
There
areare
numerous
numerous
drawbacks
drawbacks
to this
to this
attitudes
attitudes
of these
of these
individuals
individuals
are, a
consultation." approach although they can, to a certain representing them fairly and then going

64 © Teaching Geography, April 1990

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 TEACHING FILE

learned.
through the steps of the political process, should try to assume a profile of not being
The process-based approach would go central or 'dominant'Into conclusion political literacy
the decision that can be
some way to avoiding the problems is collectively, or individually, said to involve 'the resolution
being of conflicts'
made
outlined above. by the student. The role of the teacher is and demands the involvement of
After initial discussion and perusal of one of helping with the process and participants in this process. Geograph
materials students can be divided into methods, keeping students involved, and the National Curriculum will contain,
groups (residents, planners, TEAG building confidence rather than directingamongst its cross curricular themes, some
officials, newspaper reporters) and openly the activities towards a 'set' answer or
element of world citizenship and political
debate the issues 'in role'. result. and economic awareness. Although the
It is important that before any exercise Afterestablished the Hypermarket exercise i
Working Groups for foundation
like this is undertaken one is clear about completed it should be possible for subjects have currently worked in a rather
what the expected result is going to be — students to report back with a clear
insular way and have not yet looked into
such links thoroughly, geography will have
are you aiming for a final, resolved decision justification and explanation of their
that will please everybody (or the decision, pointing out what effects there
a place in delivering political understanding
through the curriculum.
majority)?, or is the process of arriving at would be on both people and environment,
the decision rather than the decision itself what the costs and benefits would be to the
more important? Equally relevant is the local people, whether further developments
References
question of how the exercise will be in the region were likely, whether an Daugherty, R. (1989) (ed.) Geography in the
conducted — does the teacher mediate? increase in shopping provision was actually National Curriculum, The Geographical
Association.
Or take a "neutral" stand? Or should the needed in the area, what precedent this
Joseph, Sir Keith (1985) "Geography in the
students elect a mediator? was setting for Green Belt developments
School Curriculum", The Geographical
To keep the debate moving in the most and who the 'real' decision makers were
Association.
useful direction it is often prudent to have in this issue. Huckle, J. (1986) "Geography, Citizenship and
the teacher assume a central role, and The strength of this exercise is that, Political Literacy" in J. Fien and R. Gerber
aware of the possible effects of reinforcing using case study material, it presentsTeaching
a Geography for a Better World.
views that s/he appears to endorse! On the local issue that students were alreadyStrandling, R. (1978) "Notes for a Spiral
other hand as more controversial issues aware of and could easily 'visualise'. AsCurriculum
a developing Political Literacy", in
B. Crick and A. Porter, Politics, Education
are debated it may be felt that, despite the simulation it cannot be extended into action
and Political Literacy.
procedural advantages of open student that students could take in the real world
Machón, P. (1987) "Teaching Controversial
centred discussion, certain comments —the issue has been resolved anyway!— Issues: some Observations and
cannot be left unchallenged at the time (for but it does bridge a significant gap thatSuggestions", in A Case for Geog
example one cannot allow racist comments often confronts teachers regarding the Bailey and A. Binns (eds.) The Geo
to be given tacit approval by lack of relevance of what is being taught and theAssociation.
reaction). Whenever possible the teacher applicability of the skills that have been

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