Geography in Primary School?

Mocho Joe Joe

So here's my concern - I have a really bright 11year old, doing grand all round and no concerns regarding schoolwork etc. BUT she is completely clueless when it comes to Geography - countries, capitals, provinces and all that craic. I have never seen her bring home any kind of geography homework after 7 years in school. When i say clueless - i mean she thought the capital of England was France!! I would find it hilarious if it wasn't so shocking. I mean, she'll be off to secondary school in a year and a half, and can just about name the town she lives in 🀣 We're not well travelled, but she's done the usual sun holidays to Spain and Portugal. So i had been kinda blaming that. But still, she can't even name the capital of Ireland. Is this normal nowadays? Because I'm fairly certain this was stuff I knew at that age. There was a clip from love island doing the rounds during the Summer of girls in their 20's being clueless about cities and getting slated online - but then it made me realise maybe this is genuinely not being taught anymore?? She's getting an interactive wall map this Christmas, that's a fact!!

harr

Mocho Joe Joe wrote: »

So here's my concern - I have a really bright 11year old, doing grand all round and no concerns regarding schoolwork etc. BUT she is completely clueless when it comes to Geography - countries, capitals, provinces and all that craic. I have never seen her bring home any kind of geography homework after 7 years in school. When i say clueless - i mean she thought the capital of England was France!! I would find it hilarious if it wasn't so shocking. I mean, she'll be off to secondary school in a year and a half, and can just about name the town she lives in 🀣 We're not well travelled, but she's done the usual sun holidays to Spain and Portugal. So i had been kinda blaming that. But still, she can't even name the capital of Ireland. Is this normal nowadays? Because I'm fairly certain this was stuff I knew at that age. There was a clip from love island doing the rounds during the Summer of girls in their 20's being clueless about cities and getting slated online - but then it made me realise maybe this is genuinely not being taught anymore?? She's getting an interactive wall map this Christmas, that's a fact!!

I found the same with my lad now he is only 9 and does very little geography in school and definitely no homework. He got a good few books from amazon last Christmas about flags and countries and facts from those countries. He has a geography book for school but has gotten little use so geography must be or should be taught.
To be honest not knowing the Irish capital at 11 is strange , counties and provinces probably should be taught at home as much as school.

Effects

How many different teachers has she had so far?
Are you in the country with a bad school as your only option?

Mocho Joe Joe

Mocho Joe Joe wrote: »

So here's my concern - I have a really bright 11year old, doing grand all round and no concerns regarding schoolwork etc. BUT she is completely clueless when it comes to Geography - countries, capitals, provinces and all that craic. I have never seen her bring home any kind of geography homework after 7 years in school. When i say clueless - i mean she thought the capital of England was France!! I would find it hilarious if it wasn't so shocking. I mean, she'll be off to secondary school in a year and a half, and can just about name the town she lives in 🀣 We're not well travelled, but she's done the usual sun holidays to Spain and Portugal. So i had been kinda blaming that. But still, she can't even name the capital of Ireland. Is this normal nowadays? Because I'm fairly certain this was stuff I knew at that age. There was a clip from love island doing the rounds during the Summer of girls in their 20's being clueless about cities and getting slated online - but then it made me realise maybe this is genuinely not being taught anymore?? She's getting an interactive wall map this Christmas, that's a fact!!

Why leave it entirely up to the school? Do you never talk to her about things going on internationally?

E.g “Did you hear about what happened in X city? Do you know where that is? No? Oh well it’s the capital city of Y, a country that’s...xyz blah blah etc”

It’s not hugely difficult to foster some passive growth in her geographical knowledge with the above

Mocho Joe Joe

harr wrote: »

I found the same with my lad now he is only 9 and does very little geography in school and definitely no homework. He got a good few books from amazon last Christmas about flags and countries and facts from those countries. He has a geography book for school but has gotten little use so geography must be or should be taught.
To be honest not knowing the Irish capital at 11 is strange , counties and provinces probably should be taught at home as much as school.

Yeah we do family quiz nights (sad as that sounds) and have tried to drum stuff into her ourselves about the counties. Santy brought her a globe when she was 8/9, but i guess if it's not being done regularly like school or homework it's not going in. We're good, but we're not THAT good at keeping on top of it. I just thought this was standard stuff? Don't think I learned that stuff from my parents either, i remember listing off the counties and provinces to rhymes and all in primary.

Mocho Joe Joe

Batrachotox wrote: »

Why leave it entirely up to the school? Do you never talk to her about things going on internationally?

E.g “Did you hear about what happened in X city? Do you know where that is? No? Oh well it’s the capital city of Y, a country that’s...xyz blah blah etc”

It’s not hugely difficult to foster some passive growth in her geographical knowledge with the above

Yeah, if you read my other reply you'll see I never said it was entirely up to the school before you judge further! I asked is this not being taught in school anymore? That was my very simple question. It was def stuff I rhymed off in school!

Mocho Joe Joe

Effects wrote: »

How many different teachers has she had so far?
Are you in the country with a bad school as your only option?

She's in a great school, new teacher each year and I really can't fault the work she gets except Geography - it's literally non existant from what i can see. She had one teacher 2 years ago who made them do a project on a country of their choice - so she knows lots about Egypt at least

fed_u

OP IRELANDOPEDIA by Fatti Burke is a great book. There is also an Activity book to go with it.. A sratch off map might be a good idea as she can scratch off places as you visit - might get her interested!
It also really depends on the teacher - geography, history and science are covered under SESE so they maybe don't get the same attention as before??

Was never mad into geography as a kid myself, until I got one of them Weetabix atlas with the tokens. Must have read it about 500 times, cover-to-cover. Loved it. Maybe try to find something that she has an interest in with a geography twist?

My nephew lives in Oz and I got him a map to hang on his wall that is like a scratchcard. You scratch off the cities/countries you've visited over time. He loves it.

fed_u

fed_u wrote: »

OP IRELANDOPEDIA by Fatti Burke is a great book. There is also an Activity book to go with it.. A sratch off map might be a good idea as she can scratch off places as you visit - might get her interested!
It also really depends on the teacher - geography, history and science are covered under SESE so they maybe don't get the same attention as before??

Snap

Mocho Joe Joe

fed_u wrote: »

OP IRELANDOPEDIA by Fatti Burke is a great book. There is also an Activity book to go with it.. A sratch off map might be a good idea as she can scratch off places as you visit - might get her interested!
It also really depends on the teacher - geography, history and science are covered under SESE so they maybe don't get the same attention as before??

Great stuff, will add that book to the Christmas list, thanks! This is a kid who loves school, we're in the library each month, and she takes an interest in things. Her grandparents travel the world often, so it's chatted about in our house etc so I find it so fairly shocking how little she knows. We don't watch the news as a family - maybe we dropped the ball there!! But it's mostly too depressing for a kid to hear so it's a habit we got into.

Mocho Joe Joe

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Was never mad into geography as a kid myself, until I got one of them Weetabix atlas with the tokens. Must have read it about 500 times, cover-to-cover. Loved it. Maybe try to find something that she has an interest in with a geography twist?

My nephew lives in Oz and I got him a map to hang on his wall that is like a scratchcard. You scratch off the cities/countries you've visited over time. He loves it.

I had the weetabix atlas, you just gave me a great flashback yeah, will def try some new things to spur her on, that could be a good one!

byhookorbycrook

The type of physical geography you would have done at school, rivers, mountains , lakes etc. isn't the huge portion of the curriculum that it once was, sadly. (Though I don't think anyone will miss tracing paper and those awful plastic templates!) You can view the curriculum document here, but each school sets its own programme within certain parameters .

https://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/6e999e7b-556a-4266-9e30-76d98c277436/PSEC03b_Geography_Curriculum.pdf

fed_u

I've definitely seen an Ireland county jigsaw puzzle somewhere and I remember my cousins having a discover Ireland board game - if they are still around it may be another idea?

r93kaey5p2izun

I don't remember learning much if anything about European or World geography in school in the 80s/90s. We did learn Ireland in detail though, in terms of counties towns, rivers, mountains etc.


I had a really good knowledge of European geography though, and everything I knew I learned from a Discovering Europe board game at home. Maybe there's a modern version or something similar you could play at home? Or even some sporcle quizzes.

Kathnora

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

The type of physical geography you would have done at school, rivers, mountains , lakes etc. isn't the huge portion of the curriculum that it once was, sadly. (Though I don't think anyone will miss tracing paper and those awful plastic templates!) You can view the curriculum document here, but each school sets its own programme within certain parameters .

https://www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/6e999e7b-556a-4266-9e30-76d98c277436/PSEC03b_Geography_Curriculum.pdf

As an older teacher with 30+ years behind me I lament the fact that that the physical and political features are given little or any importance in the curriculum nowadays. It's all about tea plantations in India or Weather systems ( important in their own way, of course) and though you may find a chapter or two about the features in a text book or the child may have a map workbook to fill in they do not learn them off like children used to in the 70s, 80s and 90s. That's considered old fashioned and to be honest it takes a lot of time . The curriculum for History, Geog and Science is way overloaded. The children dip into themes and topics and are given a flavour of everything in these subject areas. What was once left to the secondary school is now being done in primary but not to the same extent, of course. Younger teachers don't or won't spend time drilling map facts into children. They are genuinely too busy with curriculum overload. Also, children nowadays are simply not used to learning things off by heart ( hence some have huge difficulty with learning maths tables). They don't learn words of songs ( unless they are performing on stage maybe) or poems because it's all printed out for them. Google maps is there when you want to find a city or country and the sat nav will take you anywhere when you start driving. So, many don't see the need to be learning off map facts. But, I'm 100% behind the OP ...it's a disgrace when a 9 or 10yr old doesn't know the basics when it comes to physical and political features. We have thrown out many babies with tubs of bathwater! I have also had complaints from parents too for asking children to learn off map facts. They tell me the children can't learn them off and become over anxious when I produce a map test. This is a consequence of the children not been in the habit of learning off facts especially if the previous teacher didn't require them to do so and also we've all gone a bit soft and don't make the same demands on children regarding homework as we used to back in the day.

echo beach

Oh how I hated those map tests back in primary school 40+ years ago. We had a big map of Ireland on the wall which could be turned around to a version with no names on it for testing on the rivers, headlands and towns.

Sure it was stressful but I have no problem getting around without a satnav and find that physical geography is one of the more useful things I learned at school. When you meet someone from Ireland or abroad you can say something to them about their county or country. It breaks the ice to know even a few details about their home place.

I agree that curriculum overload makes it impossible for teachers to cover everything in the sort of detail we did. I don’t know what the answer is. Parents taking on instructing their children in history and geography only increases the gap between those children and the children whose parents aren’t in a position to help them.

heldel00

So at the minute I am looking at Irish mountains, lakes and rivers with my 4th and 5th class. 6 pages out of a 60-odd page book. I will cover this over the next three weeks, three hours and that's more or less it. The curriculum is absolutely jam-packed, ridiculously so.
The idea of rote learning (rhyming it off) is gone, unfortunately. Tables is really the only bit of rote left and even doing this can often draw complaints.
Old curriculum had flaws but it gave teachers a bit of lee-way to give more attention to ie: Irish mountains, lakes and rivers rather than the tea industry in India.

Mocho Joe Joe

Mocho Joe Joe wrote: »

Yeah, if you read my other reply you'll see I never said it was entirely up to the school before you judge further! I asked is this not being taught in school anymore? That was my very simple question. It was def stuff I rhymed off in school!

To answer your question yes it is being taught at school.