The State of Geography Education in English Secondary Schools: An Insight into Practice and Performance in Assessment

Over the last 20 years policy makers have introduced a number of measures intended to improve the quality of education provided by state secondary schools in England. The survey reported here, undertaken at the request of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), offers an insight into geography education in such schools with particular reference to assessment. A small national sample of school geography departments (n = 17), most of which were in partnership with their local higher education institution (HEI) for the provision of initial teacher training, provided the data. The results create a snapshot of geography education and its assessment across a range of state secondary schools. Whilst the diversity of the schools sometimes leads to very specific and non-generalisable results, there are trends in performance which appear despite variations in the schools' location, size and catchment areas.