All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Inquiry on Africa and its diaspora in the UK School Curricula1

1. Introduction

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) welcomes the opportunity to provide the following evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Inquiry on Africa and its diaspora in the UK School Curricula. The following is made as a public response.

Geography has a unique role in schools in educating young people about the contemporary world covering its people, places and environments, and the interactions between them, at the local, national and global scales.

Geography makes a distinctive and important contribution to learning about Africa and its diaspora in relation to teaching pupils about the contemporary and geographically diverse nature of Africa and its diaspora; addressing misconceptions and prejudicial understandings that may be held by pupils; and revealing the ongoing connections, interdependencies and influences between Africa, Britain and the wider world.

 

2. The Society

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. The Society maintains a strong overview of the discipline, its standing and practice in schools, higher education, and the workplace. We advise on and support the advancement of geography; the dissemination of geographical knowledge to teachers, policy makers and the public; and training and professional development for geographers. We work closely with the Department for Education, Ofqual, Ofsted, the examination board, and geography teachers to support good practice in teaching and learning in geographical education across primary and secondary schools. Over 2020-21, our CPD programme reached over 2,500 teachers and our award-winning educational resources are available online.

The Society recognises that it has a long, contested and complicated history. Founded in 1830, our status as a leading UK-institution emerged from the structures of imperialism and colonialism. These perspectives are particularly reflected in the Society's Collections, which hold unique materials of national and international significance. The Collections contain over two million documents, maps, photographs, paintings, periodicals, artefacts and books, and span 500 years of geographical research, travel, encounter and exploration. They are available for use by the public, researchers and schools. The Society's Collections are of relevance to the inquiry given its coverage of:

• cartographic representations of Africa dating from the 15th Century

• some of the earliest photographic images (1860) of Africa and its people

• archives documenting 19th Century encounters between British and African people

• unique early 20th Century photographic collections of the Caribbean

• further materials that document the wider African diaspora. 

The Society recognises that these materials were collected during, and underpinned by, Britain’s imperial and colonial period. Indeed, they were often used to both construct and reinforce negative perceptions of Africa and its people. For example, the first volume of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society records such views held in relation to British peoples’ encounters with the people of the Quorra (Niger) River who were described as being “poor, despised and abused, but industrious and hard-working” and the decline of the Moroccan town of Sala being attributed to the “results of ignorance, despotism and Mohammedanism”. However, it is not that other voices, including those of African descent cannot be found in the Collections. For example, the Society holds works by James Africanus Horton of Sierra Leone and Edward Blyden of Liberia, both being 19th century critics of European stereotypes of African culture. Their criticisms of the ignorance of European explorers concerning African societies merits re-reading today and are a prescient foretelling of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's presentation about the danger of a ‘single story’.

In making its Collections publicly accessible in the 21st century, the Society is working to revaluate their use for scholarly and educational purposes. This approach has been developed in partnership with diaspora communities and was recognised within the Society’s receipt of Designated Status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Society’s designation citation noted “the wider cultural significance of the collection is fully demonstrated … and offer a unique access point to the understanding of cultural exchange and encounters around the world”.

Today, the Society is a very different organisation to the Society of 1830. It has an organisational commitment to addressing equality, diversity and inclusion which recogniaes its responsibilities within its own work, and its support for the subject and the wider community of geographers. For example, the Society has sought to raise the profile of past and present geographers who have African and diaspora heritage through the profiles of Black geographers and developed a range of relevant educational support which is outlined in Section 7.

 

3. What pupils learn about Africa and its diaspora in geography: its curriculum and examinations¹

Geography is a statutory National Curriculum subject for pupils aged 5-14 and a popular examination choice at GCSE and A Level.

The numbers of pupils studying geography at GCSE have increased by over 50% since 2010 with 268,000 GCSE pupils taking this subject² in 2021. In addition, entries for A Level geography rose by 16% in 2021 with over 31,000 students taking this subject.

Within the geography National Curriculum, and its accompanying examination courses, there are specific elements that require pupils to be taught about Africa and its diaspora. In addition, there are also further opportunities where the teaching about Africa and its diaspora provides an important context to geographical study. Together these lead to pupils studying a range of African themes, case studies and perspectives including:

• its location, environments, physical geography and natural resources

• its human geography including selected nation’s socio-economic and demographic features

• case studies from the neighbourhood scale to mega-cities

• peoples’ livelihoods and economic activities

• economic, environmental and social progress, development issues, trade and migrations

• the role of Africa within regional and global geo-political and economic contexts

• the Caribbean and use of Caribbean case studies to exemplify themes and contexts

• how Africa and its people, ideas, resources and cultures – have shaped 21st century UK

The requirements and opportunities within the National Curriculum, GCSE and A Level courses are outlined in detail in Appendix 1.

 

^{[1] The following in provided in relation to the education system for English schools.  Comparable opportunities are also provided within the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.}

^{[2] In English schools, there will be further entries for GCSE and A Level geography in Northern Irish and Welsh schools}

 

4.The impact of this: who is studying geography?

The Society is pleased to report the growing popularity of geography as an optional GCSE choice in English schools and that the intake for geography has become much more representative of the wider diversity of the UK’s population.

Since 2010, the record growth in the numbers of pupils studying geography has been the result of GCSE entries predominantly from groups who had been previously less likely to take geography Notably these include: disadvantaged pupils, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) pupils, those with lower prior attainment or studying in non-selective schools. For example, the proportion of entries of Black/Black British pupils studying GCSE geography has doubled from 2010 to 2018 rising from 18.6% to 37.3% (based on the Society's report Geography of Geography, 2020).

However, the Society recognises that there is still much more work to be done if geography is to become more representative in relation to students’ A Level and degree choices, where BAME students continue to be underrepresented and underserved by the subject. The Society has recently undertaken further research to sample the views of young people, particularly those from BAME backgrounds, about geography. The research’s findings will be published in late 2021.

Turning to what geography pupils study, there are specific requirements and opportunities presented by the curriculum and its examination courses.  However, there are also longstanding concerns within the subject community about the nature of such lessons. These concerns are exemplified in recent research published in 2020 by Puttick and Murrey  (Geography Vol. 105) which identified that “A piecemeal approach to geographies of race and racism is insufficient for educating students for the 21stC. A more holistic and sustained anti-racist geography curriculum – with attention to Black, Indigenous and decolonial thought within the discipline – will help to ensure that young people have the skills and critical thinking necessary to understand complex and shifting politics of space, place and knowledge at a global scale.”

The Society also understands that Ofsted’s forthcoming Geography Research Review (June 2021) is likely to draw attention to the importance of teachers being aware of the risks of presenting single stories about case studies and countries that are studied. This builds on Mary Biddulph’s work about the need to bring critical reflection to how places are represented and to use geography to accurately represent the world’s diversity.

 

5. The importance of transforming teaching and developing resources that support school curricula about Africa.

In taking forward work to support the importance of teaching about Africa the RGS highlights the distinctive and complementary contribution that geography can make.  This contribution sits alongside lessons that pupils will undertake in history, English literature and other lessons.

Geography has the ability to:

• reveal the contemporary nature of African nations, their people and the wider African diaspora represented within the geography curriculum

• update outdated imagery, data and perceptions

• use current geographical information, concepts and approaches to address misconceptions, stereotypes or prejudices that pupils might hold.

• draw on the lived experiences for how pupils – particularly those with African heritage - might contribute to and better connect with their geography lessons

• advocate for how the study of geography can make a positive impact on young peoples’ further study and careers, particularly to those pupils who are underserved by the subject³.

 

_{[3] Geography students report some of the highest levels of satisfaction in their undergraduate courses and experience some of the lowest levels of drop out.  After graduation geographers experience above average graduate employment and above graduate average salaries.}

 

6. Barriers

There are a significant and interrelated range of barriers including:

• The need to build geography teachers’ confidence and capabilities, so that they can better teach about this area of work. For example, through greater inclusion of such perspectives within their initial teacher training, the Early Career Teacher framework, and ongoing professional training

• Providing geography teachers with additional access to relevant high quality and up-to-date resources, accompanying expert scholarship, and training so that they can ensure their lessons are based on representative and current information

• The relative lack of opportunities for joint curriculum development programmes that can bring together geography teachers, Higher Education colleagues, subject bodies and diaspora communities to address this issue

• Concerns about the use of general terminology to analyse, compare and categorise countries and how these can shape young peoples’ views. Geography has moved on from the use of previous terms such as Third World or “underdeveloped”.  However, common terminology includes terms such as Developed or Developing, North or South, Industrialised or Newly Industrialising, High, Middle or Low Income countries and Advanced Economies or Newly Emerging Economies. These can (inadvertently) present a binary separation of the world, which may not fully consider the diversity of African nations and the progress that has been achieved. 

• The Society’s work with geography teachers from BAME backgrounds indicates that in some schools there is an unhelpful perception that this is an issue that BAME, rather than all, are expected to lead on.

 

7. Examples of current good practice in collaborative curriculum development about Africa and its diaspora in schools.

In highlighting the following case studies of activities and curriculum development the Society would wish to make the following introductory comments:

• There is a significant body of scholarship developed by Higher Education geographers relevant to these issues, which can be a valuable resource upon which teachers can draw. This is exemplified in the theme of the 2017 RGS-IBG’s academic conference which was titled Decolonising Geographical Knowledge and also in the expertise of colleagues from the Higher Education Race, Culture and Quality in Geography Research Group

• Good practice is found in activities and resources that have been developed in partnerships between scholarly research, diaspora communities, geography teachers and subject bodies

• It is the Society’s experience that there is significant appetite amongst the geography teaching community for more activity in this area of work.

• There is not a ‘quick fix’ to building teachers confidence and capacities in this area of work. Rather there is the need for considered, sustained and long-term support

The Society’s approach is to draw on and combine the Society’s resources and subject leadership with higher education scholarship, the expert knowledge of diaspora communities, and the curriculum needs and expertise of geography teachers.

 

7.1 Revisiting the Society’s Collections as an educational resource in the 21st century

Over the last 15 years the Society has developed a significant program of educational and wider work with BAME communities and researchers to revisit its collections in the 21st century. This includes: