After the graduation ceremony: Some thoughts on geography graduate careers

Abstract

An increase in the level of concern with geography graduate careers is needed. Geographers in higher education should undertake fuller and more detailed analysis of career patterns so that they can give careers advice and provide courses that give students some marketable skills. A brief survey of information currently available on geography graduate careers is followed by an analysis of the career patterns of geography graduates from the universities and a polytechnic. Suggestions are made for data improvement and for immediate action.     

Planning and Culture Unfolded: The Cases of Flanders and the Netherlands

Abstract

Planning culture has been frequently invoked in recent years to explain the differences in spatial planning across different countries. In discussing planning culture, most contributions emphasize the characteristics and particularities of spatial planning practice in particular contexts. This paper discusses the roles of culture and institutions in relation to the distinct urbanization patterns that have emerged in Flanders and the Netherlands. It concludes that it is not the differences between planning cultures (interpreted as the culture of planners, their ideals and practices and the features of the planning system) that provide the major explanation for different urbanization processes. It is rather the fit between the planning culture and the broader societal culture that seems to be an important explanation for how spatial development is managed.     

Celebrating the legacy of Mark Williams from the Oconee Valley to far beyond

ABSTRACT

This issue brings together former students of Mark Williams to celebrate his legacy to the archaeology and ethnohistory of the Southeast in honor of his retirement from the University of Georgia. Although best known for his work in his native Oconee Valley of Georgia, Mark has had a wide-ranging career, as briefly summarized in this introductory article. His field schools and classes, true to his often-repeated adage “archaeology is fun or it is nothing,” have inspired many of us to career paths in the field. In the spirit of Mark, participants were encouraged to think creatively about datasets close to their hearts; the articles that follow speak to this passion and to Mark’s enduring legacy.     

Reflections on work experience and community

Abstract

A series of ‘Community Involvement’ courses were developed at Toronto since 1970. In them, students spent time in the field as interns. Their purpose was generally to develop a critical awareness of the city society and organisations, to give job experience and career exploration, and to foster community development by making connections into the activities of the city. These courses have now been discontinued, apparently because they were not sufficiently conventional, and as a result a critical edge of academic life has been dulled.     

Some Ideas and Reflections on Teaching 'Ideas' in Geography

This paper outlines the characteristics of a seminar on realism which forms part of the teaching of 'ideas and methods in geography' in the department concerned. The seminar requires each of about a dozen students to answer a specific question by reading a single paper, writing a summary answer to the question based on this source, and delivering an oral presentation. The questions are structured to deal with abstract theoretical issues at first, and then to consider the implications of these issues for research practice. The experience of the seminar is intended to help students prepare for an open-book examination, and to develop the research planning for their dissertations. Student feedback is reviewed, and ideas for modification of the seminar structure are discussed.     

Internationalisation of the Curriculum: Designing inclusive education for a small world

Responding to the globalisation of commerce and communication and driven by competition in the multi-billion dollar international market for higher education, many universities are seeking to market their educational provision internationally. Feedback from some disappointed 'customers' has created pressure for change in the way that instruction is designed and delivered. This pressure is beginning to affect teachers in subjects perceived as international in perspective. This paper reviews the strategies suggested by Western universities to achieve internationalisation of the curriculum. Internationalisation is a major project that affects all aspects of a university's provision, including its priorities for staff development and career rewards. The challenge for course developers is to design a curriculum that serves global rather than national priorities, which does not rely on prior knowledge of local provenance, where students from all sources share equal opportunities for advancement in an inclusive learning environment, and which serves to introduce stay-at-home students to the demands of an increasingly multinational world of work.     

Effectiveness of Planning Instruments for Minimizing Spatial Conflicts of Biogas Production

Abstract

The energy policy in Germany encourages an ever-greater utilization of biomass to produce biogas. But this utilization interferes on the natural resources and affects new conflicts regarding other forms of land use particularly flood prevention measures, drinking water supply and recreation. A forward-looking planning is needed to minimize these conflicts. Hence, this paper aims to derive quality and protection standards, summarized in checklists, assessing the effectiveness of different planning instruments with respect to the impact of biogas production in practice. These checklists were used in four model districts in Lower Saxony to evaluate the effectiveness of planning instruments on the regional level. The results show that the investigated Regional Planning Programmes do not contain any explicit planning statements as to the production of biomass or biogas. Specific regulations regarding potential conflict situations are mainly to be found in the respective Protected Area Regulations. However, generally the German spatial planning and sectoral planning provide options to control the production of biogas in a way that it is compatible with the majority of competing land uses.     

A feminist geographer in a strange land: building bridges through informal mentoring in Switzerland

Abstract

This article is a narrative representation of a personal experience as an early career feminist woman in the French-speaking Swiss context. After highlighting the androcentric tradition in Swiss academia, and the still-prevalent glass ceiling for young female scholars, this article aims to explore the survival mechanisms women use among themselves when up against a pervasive old boys’ club. Using a reflexive approach, this article illustrates how informal mechanisms can support early career women academics. Despite the lack of either feminist or gender geography programs and departments in Western Switzerland, this article highlights the presence of feminist practices in the everyday life of academia. Numerous collaborative practices are encountered at different career levels, and in different sites. While the bias of such practice is acknowledged, relying on individuals more than on institutionalised practices, the article aims to understand the workings of female solidarity networks better. It calls for a recognition of their role in women’s career progression and for the implementation of a culture of informal mentoring within academia. Finally, by more fully recognising such practices, it calls for the use of mentoring as a feminist tool to create a more inclusive academia, promoting an ethic of care that aims to challenge the masculinism and elitism of the neoliberal university.     

The Interview Hurdle to Postgraduate Studies and the Job Market

Abstract

This paper explores the educational value of a rural trail—a field visit on foot—using as an example a trail in a small area of countryside near Lancaster in northern England. This trail provides those teaching rural geography in higher education with a means of developing their students’ skills of informed observation and interpretation of field evidence based on study and discussion on‐site. A trail can enhance the appreciation and teaching of conceptual matters such as cultural approaches to rural geography. It also encourages the integration of diverse theoretical approaches to rural studies (based on culture, planning and management) and the simultaneous consideration by students of both local (often personal) details and national (or even global) pressures for change. The paper concludes that the rural trail has considerable pedagogical and academic merit for rural geographers.     

Opportunities,challenges, and transitions: educational aspirations of Pakistani migrant youth in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Through the experiences of Pakistani-migrant families in Hong Kong, this paper explores ethnic minority students’ aspirations for education, work and the future in a context where education is highly valued but also extremely competitive. The first part depicts how Pakistani youth and their parents articulate their aspirations and opportunities and investigates the sociopolitical changes in education that are creating new opportunities for young Pakistani students. The second part considers the challenges from the larger Hong Kong society and within the Pakistani community that may hamper aspirations. The last part examines transitions and promises and the ways Pakistani youth negotiate for better futures. This article delineates the intertwining dynamics of cultural consensus, cultural dissonance and children's agency as the youth navigate the terrain of education and career.     

Working with the Community: Improving the learning experience for large classes

The need for students to develop skills that are of use in the wider labour market, as well as those specifically related to their degree subjects, has been widely accepted for a considerable period of time. It has also been noted that unless these skills are practised and are contextualised they tend neither to be learned, except at the most superficial level, nor transferred to other situations where their use would be appropriate. This paper reports the use of projects extending over a number of sessions, involving working with local community groups, carried out within a discrete module specifically designed to facilitate the learning and practice of both geographical and transferable skills. The problems of providing an integrated approach to the learning of skills for a large group of students, with limited resources and in the context of timetable restrictions imposed by a two-subject degree structure, are addressed. The degree of learning perceived by the students is evaluated and suggestions are made for further development of this approach.     

The Engagement of Territorial Knowledge Communities with European Spatial Planning and the Territorial Cohesion Debate: A Baltic Perspective

Abstract

Recent, dramatic spatial development trends have contributed to the consolidation of a unique territorial governance landscape in the Baltic States. The paper examines the transformation of this evolving institutional landscape for planning practice and knowledge, which has been marked by the disintegration of Soviet institutions and networks, the transition to a market-based economy and the process of accession to the EU. It explores the evolution of territorial knowledge channels in the Baltic States, and the extent and nature of the engagement of actors' communities with the main knowledge arenas and resources of European spatial planning (ESP). The paper concludes that recent shifts in the evolution of these channels suggest the engagement of ESP has concentrated among epistemic communities at State and trans-national levels of territorial governance. The limited policy coordination across a broader spectrum of diverse actors is compounded by institutionally weak and fragmented professional communities of practice, fragmented government structures and marginalized advocacy coalitions.     

'Nothing Can Ever Be the Case of 'Us' and 'Them' Again': Exploring the politics of difference through border pedagogy and student journal writing

Linda McDowell (1994) has called for styles of teaching which put into practice arguments about the 'politics of difference', which has become an increasingly central part of human geographical research. This paper draws on a number of years' experience of teaching an undergraduate course on multicultural historical geography, in which this was attempted. Here students were encouraged to get more involved in these debates, to take them more personally, and to develop 'situated knowledges' about the UK as a multicultural society. The approach to teaching, learning and assessment which made this possible was based on the principles of 'border pedagogy' and on students writing journals throughout the course which charted the development of their understandings of the materials they encountered.     

'This stalwart fellow of five lands and two seas': The Life of Fukushima Yasumasa

Abstract

Although known primarily for his lone horseback ride from Berlin to Vladivostok in 1892–93, Fukushima Yasumasa's career encompassed more than just this one remarkable ride. Born in 1852, Fukushima was caught up in the 1867 civil war, before beginning a military career that took him to almost all corners of the globe. In addition to his service during the 1894–95 Sino-Japanese and 1904–05 Russo-Japanese Wars, Fukushima played an important part in the development of Anglo-Japanese and Japanese-Mongolian relations in the early twentieth century, an aspect of his career that has been largely overlooked. This article re-examines Fukushima's career.     

Strategic spatial planning – a missed opportunity to facilitate district heating systems based on excess heat

ABSTRACT

Strategic spatial planning is important for developing long-term visions and strategies towards regional and local sustainability. This paper explores if and how strategic spatial planning could be useful for overcoming some barriers related to new sustainable ways of heating residential areas, using district heating systems based on industrial excess heat. This longitudinal study builds on interviews with municipal and private actors in six Swedish municipalities. It highlights that important barriers can be overcome by influencing the design and location of residential districts and industrial activities. Further, it identifies missed opportunities in local spatial planning practice as stakeholders are involved late in the planning when much is set, leaving little space for stakeholders to have an impact. Consequently, there might be a lack of knowledge and expertise in how such issues could enhance planning. Strategic spatial planning could facilitate conditions for excess heat-based systems of district heating as it implies a broader systems perspective which could enhance a broader planning scope. Plan programs could bring about more strategic spatial planning processes as these require early stakeholder involvement. If taking stakeholder involvement one step further to stakeholder collaboration or co-production, an even broader planning scope would be achieved.     

Engaging Students in the Learning Process: The learning journal

This paper explores the usefulness of the learning journal as a means of actively engaging students in the learning process, based on a case study of a third-year undergraduate geography course. After briefly reviewing the literature on journal writing in different contexts, the paper outlines the approach adopted in the new geography course, in which students were given guidelines on how to write a journal that would be assessed as part of the course. Extracts from students' journals for this course are used to illustrate how they approached the task, and how they viewed the experience. It is concluded that the learning journal has good potential to increase student interest in and engagement with course material, to encourage and empower students to take more responsibility for their own learning, to be more reflective in their study, and to allow them to have a voice and provide valuable feedback to the teacher.     

Developing and Embedding Reflective Portfolios in Geography

The School of Geography at the University of Leeds, UK, led the development of a faculty-wide Personal Reflective Portfolio as part of a university project--A Strategic Model for Developing Methods and Materials for Recording Achievement in Traditional Universities (Jackson et al., 2000). This paper describes the materials and their usage, the value of bottom-up design, and the issues of embedding this type of material within faculty programmes. The reflections of both students and tutors are considered. Overall the materials are viewed positively and considered to have long-term and workplace relevance. Whether they meet the original aim of helping students to become more reflective and evaluative learners is impossible to measure and not thought to be successful as yet. Reflection on action is more evident than action planning.     

Student Evaluation and Assessment of Group Projects

University teachers in the UK are increasingly being asked to develop skills, such as the ability to work effectively in groups, both by government and by employers. This paper outlines and evaluates, from a student perspective, the use of fieldwork projects to develop group-working skills. It also considers the use of self-assessment for summative purposes and the development of reflective practice or 'learning to learn' skills in students.