Place meaning – opportunities and challenges for A level curriculum making

The A level reforms of 2014-16 The publication of the Department for Education's (DfE, 2014) content guidelines for A level geography, based on the recommendations of an advisory board of higher education geographers, was a watershed moment for the geography curriculum. The following statements (emphasis added) briefly characterise the prescribed content that current A level cohorts must study to satisfy the requirement that they understand place meaning and representation: * 'Contrasting images ... of places ... the way in which these meanings and attachments affect learners' own lives' (WJEC Eduqas). * 'Characteristics of your chosen places ... [...]today's A level learners are, of course, digital natives: theirs is a densely networked and shrunken world. In February 2019, I conducted an online survey of teachers which focused on teaching and learning about place meaning and representation. * I contacted users of the A level geography Facebook groups serving AQA, Edexcel, WJECEduqas and OCR teachers (this was a selfselecting sample, thus the usual caveat applies - the views expressed are not representative of the teaching community as a whole).