Geography Teaching Today

I am interested in becoming a student ambassador.
The ambassador scheme is a volunteering programme. It will give you the chance to make a positive impact on the lives of others by acting as a role model and enthusing young people about geography. In return you will benefit from enhanced experience, skills and employability. Find out more about the scheme here.

I am interested in our school having a visit from an ambassador. How do I get my school involved?
When would you like an ambassador to visit? Why not link a visit to a key intervention point such as option choices in Year 9, Level Three course choices in late spring or your Year 12 and 13 HE awareness programme? For more information click here.

How can our university be involved?
Do your students need more ‘real world’ experience? We are looking for university departments to encourage their undergraduate and postgraduate students to get involved in the scheme. Your university could even host one of our ambassador training events. The ambassador scheme is an excellent way of improving links between your department and local schools, raising awareness of the university amongst pupils and widening participation in further and higher education. For more information click here.

I am a graduate geographer. How can I get involved?
Did you study geography or a related subject at Higher Education level? Would you like to share your experiences of how geography’s broad portfolio of skills has helped you in your career? We are just as interested in those of you who are using the transferable graduate skills which came from study at university as those of you who are currently employed in a more geographical line of work. Click here to find out how to get involved.

There will be a range of workshops throughout the day, allowing students to choose the sessions that will be most useful for them. The workshops will be presented by both undergraduate and graduate ambassadors plus staff from universities and the RGS- IBG.

Taking note of the feedback from previous years we have shortened the day to start at 10.30 and finish before 3pm. For those of you travelling from further away we hope that this helps with the organisation of your day. We do encourage all delegates to attend for the whole day to give them the opportunity to hear from the full range of our university and graduate speakers.

This event is now fully booked. For further information about similar events please contact b.cox@rgs.org.

Year 9 Going Places with Geography: A Careers and Higher Education event 3rd December 2009

For the first time this year we are introducing a higher education and careers event specifically targeted at Year 9 students.This event will be held at the RGS-IBG in London on 3rd December 2009 from 10.30 am - 2.30pm. Year 9 can find out more about what it will be like to study geography at GCSE and A level and get a glimpse of the opportunities university will offer them. There will also be a practical curriculum based session such as GIS, run by the ambassadors. This is an excellent opportunity for you to enthuse your Year 9 pupils. Places are limited and places should be booked in advance. There is no charge for this event but places must be booked in advance. This event is hosted by the geography ambassador scheme as part of the Action Plan for geography which is funded by the DCSF.

Climate change debate day for Year 10 

180 Year 10 pupils from schools in London and the south east attended a day
focused on climate change at the RGS-IBG on Friday 16th March 2007. Read article

Ambassadors in the news

Harry Jackson, an ambassador from the University of Reading, has
painted a picture of life at university through a series of presentations at
Highdown School. Read article

This is typical of the positive feedback received from the Geography Ambassador scheme. Building on this success, the Ambassador Project has expanded to provide access to enthusiastic geography ambassadors for all LEA Maintained schools in England.  The aim is for ambassadors to make at least one visit to a school where they will work with one or two groups of pupils in the 11 – 19 age groups.

What is the aim of the geography ambassador scheme?
The scheme recruits, trains and supports undergraduate and postgraduate geographers from universities and business to act as ambassadors for geography in the classroom.

This is a great way to introduce younger students to the benefits of studying geography and encouraging them to pursue the subject beyond the compulsory stages.

The ambassadors act as positive role models for pupils and they illustrate, with enthusiasm, both the specific and transferable skills they have developed as a geographer. The scheme offers schools the opportunity to strengthen links with local HE and businesses.

What will ambassadors offer?
Ambassadors deliver a presentation with activities to groups on a mutually agreed theme such as ‘Why study geography?’, ‘Geography and careers’ or ‘My special project or research interest’. Subsequently ambassadors could return to  support geography clubs, homework clubs or fieldwork activities.

The Geography Ambassadors strand of the Action Plan for Geography is run by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Settlement

Society

Geographical Techniques

Environment and Sustainability

Physical Systems

Travel, Tourism, Leisure and Culture

The Business World

Development and Global Issues

Are you thinking of taking geography further? You are onto a winning formula!

Employers seek a mixture of skills, qualifications and experience when they recruit for a job. As a graduate (this is someone with a degree or university qualification) you will be in demand for your transferable skills such as being:

• A good Communicator with strong presentation skills
• Competent with ICT
• Able to carry out research
• Used to working effectively in a team and taking a variety of roles in a team
• Able to manage your time by juggling commitments, meeting deadlines and managing stress
• Good at combining information from a variety of sources with excellent writing skills