The Geography Roadshow: Bridging the Gap between the Sixth Form and Higher EducationAuthor(s): Roger LeeSource: Area, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun., 1985), p. 128Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20002166 .

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128 The geography roadshow

The geography roadshow: bridging the gap between the sixth form and higher education Despite the recent appearance of a number of publications designed specifically to provide information and guidance to the intending entrant to higher education, the gap between school and HE remains dauntingly wide. In consequence, an application is made more difficult than it should be for both the applicants and their advisers and, all too often, insufficient information is brought to bear on the decisions leading up to the application. Such barriers to entry may help to reduce the number of potential applicants, increase the potential mismatch between applicants and the institution to which they are admitted and reduce the chances of admission. Clearly, all levels of the educational system have an interest in bridging the gap and recent debates within these pages and at the Leeds conference point to the concern of the IBG about these matters. This note reports on a project designed both to publicise geography as an undergraduate discipline and to facilitate the transition from school to higher education.

Two one-day conferences aimed at reducing the information gap between school and HE have recently been organised by the joint GA/IBG/RGS Committee for Geography in Higher Education in conjunction with the Department of Education at the University of Keele and Staffordshire LEA. Held at Keele, the success of these ventures has spawned a demand for more of the same and the next conference is to be held in Shrewsbury on 10 July this year and will again be funded by the local education authority. The intention is that the conference should become a kind of travelling circus with a nationwide circuit serving both sixth formers and their teachers.

Briefly, the day's proceedings are arranged as follows:

Morning: Three keynote addresses 1 What is this subject called geography?

A talk designed to provide a taste of modern geography in HE. Speakers thus far have included Rex Walford (Cambridge) and John Bale (Keele).

2 Choosing among the 57 varieties: geography degrees in higher education The variety of choice available, criteria for decision-making and the application and after. The speaker to date has been Roger Lee (QMC).

3 And life thereafter: the graduate geographer and careers What sort of jobs do geographers do and what are the particular and more general qualities offered to the labour market by the geography graduate? Speakers to date have included Ralph Hebden and Sam Danks (Sheffield Poly).

Afternoon: 1 Concurrent sessions on Geography at .... with a number of speakers from a variety of local

universities, polytechnics and institutions of HE 2 Concluding Question and Answer session with a panel made up of all the day's speakers

In association with this package of live exchanges, the GA is producing a guide to intending students of geography. This booklet, provisionally entitled Geography beyond A-level is being edited by Malcolm Lewis (Sheffield) with contributions from Ron Johnston (Sheffield), Roger Lee (QMC) and Ralph Hebden (Sheffield Poly).

Further information about the 'geography roadshow' and how it might be organised in other regions of the country may be obtained from John Bale, Department of Education, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire (Tel. 0782-621111) and about the booklet (to be published in 1985) from The Geographical Association, 343 Fulwood Road, Sheffield S1O 3BP.

Roger Lee Queen Mary College

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