A whole school and personal commitment to Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is vital in order to cope with the rapidly changing educational climate that we find ourselves in.

My diverse background, plus my Consultant to the Geographical Association (GA) and Fellow and Chartered Geographer (RGS-IBG) status, enable me to offer face-to-face training and support ‘in situ’, tailored to the specific requirements of a teacher or their establishment. For instance, I may be approached by Geography/Humanities Subject Leaders, largely in primary schools, for advice when they are planning or developing fieldwork activities or learning opportunities outside the classroom. Where confidence is low, experience is lacking or resources are minimal, I may also assist individuals in leading such events. Furthermore, I have helped several schools with applications for Frederick Soddy Trust awards to secure funding for fieldwork activities. I regularly organise and deliver a range of CPD workshops at numerous venues throughout Gloucestershire. From time to time, requests come from schools further afield, hence my travel to the neighbouring counties of South Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

I am increasingly found in primary, and sometimes secondary schools, delivering whole day or half day workshops to pupils. These are often theme-based, incorporating the development of key skills, as well as promoting a connected, creative curriculum. Many have a geography/humanities focus, but aim to incorporate other elements of the curriculum that are often ‘squeezed out’ due to time and resourcing constraints. Such events are highly interactive for all; the intention is for professionals to feel inspired to ‘experiment’ with new teaching approaches both within and beyond the classroom and for youngsters to be fully engaged, more willing to take more responsibility for their own learning and keen to ‘explore’ at their leisure.

Due to my years as a Consultant to the Geographical Association (GA) and more recently, as a Fellow and Chartered Geographer (RGS-IBG), approved British Council Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning (CCGL) trainer and project manager of a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) school and community groups’ initiative, I am frequently invited to speak at conferences or lead small scale workshops. More often than not, such tasks entail showcasing recent initiatives that have been particularly successful and could easily be replicated by other establishments, pinpointing new resources/web-links which could take teaching and learning to the next level and highlighting pressing issues or essential themes that schools now need to address.

Since children are engaging with technology at an even younger age than ever before, largely due to the exponential growth of mobile devices, greater availability of wi-fi and the blurring of home-school boundaries, schools are having to devote more time and resources to raising awareness about safeguarding and online safety.

As an Accredited Assessor for the Online Safety Mark, I work alongside Computing Subject Leaders and those responsible for safeguarding in schools to provide advice on online safety policy and practice within their establishment. I also visit schools to carry out Online Safety Mark assessments. My strong links with South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) and the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) mean that I am able to keep abreast with online safety issues and developments and remain in an ideal position to relay such fundamental information to staff, parents/carers and pupils via online safety briefings.

Our world may not be physically shrinking to any great extent, but we are becoming increasingly inter-connected and inter-dependent. It is, therefore, important that global learning is integrated into both the extended and taught curriculum and a whole school approach is advocated as the most effective way of achieving this. Over the past nine years, I have been heavily involved in the instigation and delivery of many Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 transition projects linked to the Global Learning Programme (GLP) and offered support to schools when applying for a Primary Geography Quality Mark (PGQM) award.