The Attainment Target for geography in the 2014 National Curriculum requires that students will ‘know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study’, (DfE, 2013a). a planned end point: all learning intentions should be planned against expectations and with continuous formative assessment of progress in mind. Bear in mind that when you use formative assessment in a lesson and sequence of lessons, and have gauged how well students are meeting the objectives, you need to decide if you need to adjust your teaching accordingly. Therefore, however good your plan, it should not be ‘written in stone’. Students do not progress in their geographical learning by simply accumulating geographical knowledge. Progression in geography is best seen in geography as a web of linked ideas. It involves development of geographical thinking, and showing the ability to identify geographical relationships and make connections between geographical phenomena. Progression is indicated by increasing student fluency of geographical understanding in different and more complex situations. Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the Journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

Just because a child can do something today doesn’t mean that they can still do it in a week … two weeks or a term’s time. However, if they can’t do it today then there is virtually no chance that they will be able to do it at a later date.’ Easily and cost-effectively implement a new KS3 scheme of work: this coherent single-book course covers the latest National Curriculum content, providing 150 ready-made lessons that can be used flexibly for a two or three-year KS3Progress in Environmental Geography offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies. increasing the range and accuracy of pupils’ investigative skills, and advancing their ability to select and apply these with increasing independence to geographical enquiry. select three students from a Year 9 geography class – ask your mentor to identify students across the ability range. Look at some of their geography work over as long a time span as possible –they might have kept some work from key stage 3 in a portfolio. Analyse their work taking each of the Dimensions of progress. Can you see progress? Make notes of some of the indicators of progress you find and discuss these with your geography mentor

Papers should not normally be less than 4000 words in length and should NOT EXCEED 8000 words (inclusive of endnotes but excluding Bibliography). Based on Bloom’s work, progress in geographical thinking has sometimes been seen in terms of a hierarchy known as Bloom’s Taxonomy . The first, and lowest tier, is ‘remembering’, which includes the recall of factual information and simple description. There is a general consensus amongst geography educators that this is the least demanding intellectually. active geography: pupils should DO geography, rather than just listen to it, by being engaged in practical activities in and beyond the classroom. Removing levels will provide teachers and schools with the opportunity to focus on formatively helping students make day-to-day progress in geography, rather than recording progress through often dubious sub-level judgements.

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There is very much a mixed economy of approaches and most schools are evolving a way to assess progress that works best for them. It is critical that the curriculum and its assessment are carefully designed and implemented so that students do secure progress, without which there is a clear risk that the attainment gap will widen. collect small samples of work which exemplify quality work at each benchmark and/or for each aspect: annotate them Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input Are adapted by teachers in relation to a school’s geography curriculum plan, for example by adding specific places, themes and skills