Teachmeet at 20

Teachmeet is 20 this year.

It's 20 years since a group of Scottish teachers met in a pub to discuss their practice and share ideas.

My first Teachmeet was at the Scottish Learning Festival in 2008, chaired by Ewan McIntosh - one of the original Teachmeet crew. I talked about NINGs (social networks) - remember them?

In January 2009 I was at the Teachmeet BETT, with John Davitt and the infamous camel which was thrown at people who ran over time on their allotted few minutes.

I also attended the Education 20:20 conference on the Isle of Islay in summer of 2009 - we are overdue a repeat in a similar venue. The hospitality was legendary.

Not sure why I'm standing like that though...

You may recognise some, or all, or none of those people. 

That was a remarkable event where educators from Scotland and elsewhere gathered together to consider what the future of education could look like, as those entering school that year completed their education in 2020... which is in the past now of course.

I look so young here.... making notes on a 'Thinking Space' map - one of the early creations of the GGiP campaign with Dan Raven Ellison, David Rayner etc.

Teachmeet also moved into BETT, I remember the Teachmeet Takeover and did a session on our GA Stand in 2010, when the GA used to attend these sorts of events.

Mags Amond created a timeline of the development of Teachmeet.

In May 2011, I drove up to Scotland for TM Beyond, which involved the wonderful Juliet Robertson, who sadly passed away at the end of last year.

Image: Alan Parkinson

David Rogers, Richard Allaway and Matt Podbury persuaded Lucy Oxley to add a Teachmeet to the official programme... that was over 10 years ago now, although it is now coordinated by the GA themselves. I presented at many of those on a range of topics including cultural geography, emojiography and various blog projects.

Prior to that we had organised an unofficial Beermeet, and even had posters designed by the wonderful Tom Morgan Jones. Here's a non-TMJ poster for the 2019 event in Manchester.

Since then, I have chaired Teachmeet events at the Royal Geographical Society, both in person and virtually - which has been the format for the last five years or so, allowing people to join from all over instead of needing to travel to a particular venue.

Fiona Sheriff, who will become GA President in September 2026, has written about how 6 minutes in a Teachmeet inspired her to do some more events, and also apply to become a Fawcett Fellow and ultimately be voted as the GA President for 2026-27.

I was present at that Teachmeet. I actually ended up sitting outside my classroom on some grass so that I could get a signal to be able to join in - one of those COVID era things we ended up doing.

What are your own Teachmeet experiences?

If you haven't presented at one before, perhaps 2026 should be the year you put yourself forward to do that... who knows where it will lead you...

Why not sign up to attend the next RGS online Teachmeet, and put yourself forward for one in the future.