A Geography Department ExaminedAuthor(s): Alan JenkinsSource: Area, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1989), pp. 168-169Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20002706 .

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168 Observations

There is no harm apart from the tedium of preparing an application, in applying to the ESRC for a competition award, even if you have been told that there is a thousand to one chance of your proposal being given a second look. For all you know, there may be someone on the ESRC Geography Panel who would be sympathetic to the work you are proposing.

The same applies to other grant-giving bodies. Search through that thick book in the library called The Directory of Grant-Giving Trusts. Perhaps you will be able to tailor your application to the conditions laid down by Leverhulme, Nuffield, Gulbenkian or Rowntree. Are there any specific bursaries awarded for your kind of research, by such bodies as the Royal Geographical Society? Is there a local charity originally set up to apprentice orphan boys as shoemakers, which is now applied to grants for postgraduate education? It is only when you consult these directories that you see what a range of grant awarding bodies there are. Also, try contacting major financial institutions, and major companies and organisations to whom the results of your research may be relevant.

If you have any time to spare you might think about getting something in print as that is sure to assist any application you make.

There is of course much personal satisfaction to be gained from the successful completion of a research project. The rewards when your research is going right will be commensurate, and there is the satisfaction of knowing that any pleasing results are entirely your own work. The final word of caution has to be that at the end of the day through no fault of your own three or four years studying for a PhD may lead you no further than your undergraduate degree in terms of employment prospects.

If after taking account of all these factors you still decide to take the plunge and pursue the life of a researcher keep plugging away-you never know, you may be one of the lucky few.

A geography department examined

Alan Jenkins, Oxford Polytechnic, Headington, Oxford OX3 OPB

'Thirty six teaching sessions were seen, discussions were held with staff and students, including student representatives on course committees, examples of current and previous course work, projects and examination scripts were examined and the ... Geography Subject Board was attended ' (DES 1988, p 2)

This is from a report of HM Inspectors on an honours degree in geography and geography within a combined studies honours degree at Plymouth Polytechnic. The report is valuable for what it tells us about that department and the department can feel proud of what it has achieved. This inspection by HMIs also raises the wider question of how to assess a department's effectiveness.

At the Loughborough IBG Conference, members debated the principles and the methods to be used in evaluating the effectiveness of departments. There was much discussion over the principle and methods of assessing research effectiveness. How ever, there was far less attention given to considering a department's overall effective ness or in particular to considering the quality of its teaching and student learning.

There were and are good reasons for this 'imbalance'. The UGC is requiring regular external assessment of a department's research and is only considering how (if at all) there can be external assessment of teaching quality. Many of us suspect that

when teaching is externally assessed it will be through ' mechanistic ' measures such as

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Observations 169

costs per student, degree completion rates, employability, etc. Qualitative issues such as the nature of the curriculum or the quality of teaching and learning, are unlikely to be

(directly) assessed by the likely performance indicators (Johnston 1989). Such ' measures ' would require the UGC and departments to put resources into such

procedures. That requires them to value teaching and to believe that external

evaluation of teaching and student learning are one way to improve their quality.

Those of us in the public sector are now accustomed to regular external appraisals of

a department's effectiveness. For some time the CNAA (including many university geographers) have regularly and systematically appraised the quality of departments

centering on the curriculum and the resources (including staff expertise) available to

deliver that curriculum. In addition-and perhaps of increasing significance-Her Majesty's Inspectors are carrying out appraisals of particular departments, whole

institutions and aspects of teaching and learning in a variety of institutions. While it is

rare for CNAA panels to observe teaching-here appraisals tend to centre on analysing

documents and discussion with staff-HMI visits always include detailed and system

atic observation appraisal of teaching. For example the report on Plymouth states ' Teaching on the BSc Geography degree is well planned and co-ordinated ... Lectures

... are well prepared, of an appropriate intellectual level, clearly structured and pre

sented and conducted at a reasonable pace. The best are of a high quality. Nevertheless

most lecturers devote too little attention to challenging students to review what they are

learning ... or challenge ideas and points being presented ' (ibid pp 10-11).

Readers should beware that I have been selective from a twenty-one page report.

The whole report should be read. But then it can be. For such reports are public

documents. Other reports on geography in the public sector are likely to be forth

coming. As they read the full report, members of university geography departments could

consider whether this is an effective way for their department to be appraised. (At

present HMIs only inspect teacher training departments in universities). This would require university departments to value teaching, to develop internal programmes for staff appraisal and development. It would also require them to have confidence that

assessment would be to help them improve. It would also require the DES, the UGC

and individual departments to commit resources to monitoring and improving teaching

in universities. Will that be one of the central arguments of IBG representatives in any

future meeting with DES or UGC officials?

References Department of Education and Science (1988) Aspects of Provision at Plymouth Polytechnic: BSc in Geography

and the BSc Combined Honours Copies of the report are available (free of charge) from DES, Publications

Despatch Centre, Honeypot Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex HA7 lAZ Johnston R J (1989) ' Do you use the telephone too much? A review of performance indicators, examination

and appraisal in British Universities 'journal of Geography in Higher Education 13, in press

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