Academic guest edits leading education magazine

Arthur Kelly, PGCE Primary Programme Leader in the University’s Faculty of Education and Children’s Services has edited the Autumn edition of Primary Geography, the Geographical Association’s journal for early years and primary school teachers which is published three times a year. The magazine includes practical, informative and thought-provoking articles to support the teaching and learning of Geography in the primary school classroom.

As part of his guest editor role, Arthur wrote the Introduction, where he focussed on ‘youthful geography’. He discussed Earth Day and that knowledge is ‘no longer just about knowledge and understanding, it is about action and change at a local, national and international scale’ and how teachers can lead the way on ‘environmental education, environmental appreciation and environmental action’.

He also supplied an article encouraging primary school teachers to engage in tree-based activities. These include the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to ‘plant a tree for the Jubilee,’ create a diary of a tree and observe how the trees change through the seasons.

The edition also features an article written by Hayley Doddison, who trained to be a teacher at the University of Chester.

Arthur contributes to a range of roles with the Geographical Association and is a member of the Editorial Board of Primary Geography, which decides the theme of the issue before allocating it to a member to edit and inviting contributions from universities and schools.

He said: “I think readers would be surprised at how long it takes to edit an edition! It takes around 18 months from the start of the process to when the publication arrives on your doorstep or in your local University library.

“The whole process was very enjoyable and it was really interesting to see the different perspectives of the other contributors. It was a pleasure to see the article by Hayley Doddison, where she reflected upon her personal geographies. This was lovely for me because I had known this young person as a be a BA QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) student at Chester and it was great to see how she had blossomed and grown in three years after graduating from our learning community.”