Year of Fieldwork
For geography students...the chance to witness geography in action and study a number of geographical features for themselves is hugely inspiring.
(PRWEB UK) 31 July 2015
The Year of Fieldwork, which kicks off in September, is the product of the collaborative effort of a number of key bodies including the Geographical Association, the Royal Geographic Society (with IBG) and the Field Studies Council, to promote the importance of fieldwork and provide greater fieldwork opportunities for pupils of all ages.
Halsbury Travel, a leading school tour operator, counts former geography teachers among its senior management team and has been providing tailor-made school geography tours abroad for nearly 30 years. The school travel company echoes the sentiments behind the Year of Fieldwork, as Geography Tours Specialist Jenny Walsh explains: “We too, believe that fieldwork and the opportunity to take learning outside of the classroom is of huge educational benefit to students. For geography students in particular, the chance to witness geography in action and study a number of geographical features for themselves is hugely inspiring.”
The Department for Education reaffirmed the importance of fieldwork for GCSE and AS/A2 Level students in the relevant subject content requirements released in 2014, first to introduce students to the relevant techniques involved in collecting and analysing data, before encouraging greater independence in investigation. This is part of a trend which has seen fieldwork, and out-of-classroom learning experiences in general, better recognised for the educational value that they offer students.
“Providing students with the opportunity to take the theory that they learn in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations is of huge benefit, whatever the subject” explains Walsh. “For geography students, this is even more important, as the opportunity to witness the very processes that they are studying in class being acted out in the real world can only consolidate their understanding. Experiences like this will stay in their memory for years to come, helping them to achieve greater success in exams in the short term, and possibly even creating the geographers of the future in the long term.”
Halsbury Travel provides tailor-made school geography trips to a number of destinations worldwide, including Iceland, the USA’s West Coast, Europe and Asia. All the tours offer the opportunity to undertake fieldwork and feature a range of curriculum-based activities, such as a coastal management case study on the Costa Brava, a visit to a geothermal station in Iceland and a visit to the Grand Canyon in the US, or up Mount Vesuvius in Italy. “Our school geography trips are designed according to the requirements of the group leader, who we work closely with to ensure that the students are able to enjoy a tour packed full of exciting experiences in the field” adds Walsh.
As a school trip company founded on the passionate belief in the value of educational travel, Halsbury Travel looks forward to the forthcoming year, when the benefits of fieldwork and learning outside the classroom are brought to the fore. The company also hopes that this will provide students with further opportunities to take part in exciting school trips that will bring the subjects that they study in school, such as geography, to life.
Halsbury Travel was founded in 1986 by former teacher Keith Sharkey, who passionately believes in the educational value of school travel. Still independently owned, Halsbury Travel is a family-run business with two generations of the Sharkey family now working for the company, supported by a dynamic team consisting of former teachers and school travel specialists. Family values are core to the business, with honest advice and quality of service key to what makes Halsbury Travel unique in the school travel market. For more information: http://www.halsbury.com/