A tweet led me on a journey over the last few days...
The original stimulus came via Dan Ellison, a fellow Geography Collective member, who happened to be at the Institute of Education working with some PGCE geographers at the time, introducing them to Mission:Explore.
The tweet was regarding an article in the Independent:
There was a shocking headline that "one in five children has never paddled in the sea".
Leaving aside the issues with a survey like this... they hadn't asked every child for example - there is still an issue here about the access to geographical experiences.
When I was small, we had our annual holiday to Skegness or Bridlington every summer: staying in relatives' caravans just outside Butlin's and having two weeks to build dams on the beach, go on the penny slot machines, stay up late and ride round on bikes. We didn't have a lot of money, but we at least had our taste of the seaside. There was an annual pilgrimage to the coast, which was shared with a lot of other families from South Yorkshire when the steelworks had their "stop weeks".
Why are so many children losing out on this experience ?
The article suggests that it is related to poverty, and quoted a survey carried out by "Save the Children"...
Earlier this year the charity concluded that 1.7 million children, or 13 per cent of them, live in severe poverty. Their parents earn little more than £12,000 a year and many of them live in overcrowded conditions, have to sleep on the floor and go without a winter overcoat.
This would make a sobering enquiry for students to discuss, and research in the run up to Christmas: a time of such conspicuous consumption.
The original stimulus came via Dan Ellison, a fellow Geography Collective member, who happened to be at the Institute of Education working with some PGCE geographers at the time, introducing them to Mission:Explore.
The tweet was regarding an article in the Independent:
There was a shocking headline that "one in five children has never paddled in the sea".
Leaving aside the issues with a survey like this... they hadn't asked every child for example - there is still an issue here about the access to geographical experiences.
When I was small, we had our annual holiday to Skegness or Bridlington every summer: staying in relatives' caravans just outside Butlin's and having two weeks to build dams on the beach, go on the penny slot machines, stay up late and ride round on bikes. We didn't have a lot of money, but we at least had our taste of the seaside. There was an annual pilgrimage to the coast, which was shared with a lot of other families from South Yorkshire when the steelworks had their "stop weeks".
Why are so many children losing out on this experience ?
The article suggests that it is related to poverty, and quoted a survey carried out by "Save the Children"...
Earlier this year the charity concluded that 1.7 million children, or 13 per cent of them, live in severe poverty. Their parents earn little more than £12,000 a year and many of them live in overcrowded conditions, have to sleep on the floor and go without a winter overcoat.
This would make a sobering enquiry for students to discuss, and research in the run up to Christmas: a time of such conspicuous consumption.
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