Geography field trips can fire children’s minds says Palin

The Sheffield-born writer, presenter and actor said he believes it is vital pupils see the natural world for themselves, and suggested youngsters are taken out of the classroom less often now than in the past.

Ahead of a speech on geography to the Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI) later this week, in an event marking the body’s 10th anniversary, Palin stressed the importance of the subject.

“Geography itself is such a wide-ranging subject,” he said. “It’s really about the study of the surface of the earth, it’s relative to every single thing we do, what we eat, what transport we take to work, where we live, what houses are made of.

“It’s an issue that directly relates to what we know of the earth.

Palin, a former president of the Royal Geographical Society, said the subject must remain in the curriculum, and be well supported.

The subject is part of the new English Baccalaureate, which pupils achieve by scoring at least a C grade in English, maths, science, a foreign language and either history or geography.

Last year’s GCSE results show that geography is in decline, with the numbers of students entering slumping by a massive 13,800 compared with 2010.

“What we have to do now, and want to do, is popularise the subject, we’ve got to make it exciting,” Palin said. Work needed to be done to find out what would make geography interesting and appealing to schools.