Mary Biddulph
Lecturer, Faculty of Social Sciences
Contact
Biography
Mary Biddulph is a lecturer in Geography Education in the School of Education and a member of the Centre for Research in Schools and Communities. She was the commissioning editor (along with Dr. Graham Butt at Birmingham University) for the successful 'Theory into Practice' series published by the Geographical Association. This set of research monographs has extensive use in the professional development of geography teachers. She has also written for the Secondary Geography Handbook ( Balderstone, D ed) and she is currently editor of Teaching Geography, the professional journal for secondary geography teachers, both published by the Geographical Association.http://www.geography.org.uk/
Mary is an active member of the Geographical Association regularly presenting and running workshiops at the GA's annual conference. Her long-running work wih the GA has been based around a project entitled 'Young People's Geographies'. The project, funded by 'The Action Plan for Geography' (DCSF) aims to more effectively link research into young people lived geogrpahies with the school geography curriculum. via student led pedagogies. Working with teachers and students across the country the project has led to the development of valuable and creative approachs to the school geography curriculum.The project website http://www.youngpeoplesgeographies.co.uk/ captures some of this.
Mary is a member of GEReCo (Geography Education Research Collective) , a collective of active researchers in geography education from universities across the country. As a member of GEReCo Mary has recently presented research papers at The Association of American Geographers Conference in Las Vegas (2009)and Washington DC(2010). GEReCo is activly involved in developing the profile fo research in geography education as reflected in its forthcoming publication: Geography, Education and the Future. (Continuum)
Mary has been external examiner for a number of PGCE Geography courses and she is currently external examiner for the PGCE Geography course at University College of St Mark and St John, Plymouth. She has also been external examiner for the Institute of Education in Mauritius as part of a British Council project and has worked as a consultant on different projects for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).
Teaching responsibilities
Mary is one of two geography tutors on the PGCE geography course and also teaches on the MA in Education and has co-ordinated the Bachelor of Education course - an in-service undergraduate course for trained overseas teachers.
Research Summary
Research
Recent research interests have involved collaborative work with history colleagues on young people's perception of history and geography and how this informs their experiences of learning both subjects in school. The outcomes of this work have enabled some schools to better structure their curriculum and reconsider their teaching approaches in each subject.
Mary is currently involved in a research project which is funded by the Geographical Association exploring ways in which young peoples own geographies and can be used to shape and inform the school geography curriculum. The project is unique in that it aims to bring together researchers in university geography departments, geography teachers and pupils to collaborate on developing the school geography curriculum.
Mary is also in the process of researching for her PhD thesis on the contribution of Young peoples' Geogrpahies to teh school geography curriculum
Recent Publications
BIDDULPH, MARY, 2011. Young people’s geographies: implications for secondary school geography.. In: BUTT, G, ed., Geography, Education and the Future: Continuum.
FIRTH, R AND BIDDULPH, M, 2010. How can young people take an active rol ein the curriculum? Teaching Geography. 34(1), 32-34
FIRTH, R AND BIDDULPH,M, 2009. Whose life is it anyway? Young People's Geographies. In: MITCHELL, D, ed., Living Geography:: Exciting futures for teachers and students 1st. Chris Kington Publishing. 13-27
FIRTH, R. and BIDDULPH, M.A., 2007. Fantastic Geographies: connecting the school subject and the academic discipline through pre-service teachers Geographical Association, GTIP Think Pieces.
Past Research
In addition to this project Mary has also been involved, as project evaluator, in two other Geographical Association projects: 'Why Argue?' was a collaboration between geography and English teachers and 'Spatially Speaking' was a project focusing on developing the use of GIS in schools.
Future Research
A potential development of the Young People's'Geographies project is to consider the relationship between young people, their local communities and the notion of 'community cohesion'. Critically exploring what community cohesion means for young people and the UK can be expanded to links with other places where cohesion is both a political and social issue. Building on established links with the Institute of Education in Kigali , Rawanda initial explorations suggest that UK?Rawandan bewteen young people amd their teachers could support the notion of community cohesion.