Down to Earth? Geography Fieldwork in English Schools, 1870–1944

Abstract

For a practice so central to the discipline, geography's fieldwork tradition has attracted surprisingly little historical analysis, and its ideological significance for popular education in the past remains largely unexamined. In this paper I discuss the role of school fieldwork in the context of wider cultural and educational, as well as geographical, discourses. I begin by exploring the increasing scope and sophistication of outdoor activities in the locality of the school which, contrary to common assumptions, were an integral component of geography lessons from the early 1870s. This leads to closely focused discussion of systematic Local Survey, a practice often taken to characterise interwar school geography. Finally, I consider residential fieldtrips to entirely unfamiliar environments in distant localities which were, I suggest, manifestation of a far broader ‘culture of the field’ that increasingly suffused popular culture in Britain during the period. In sum, I argue that, whether in familiar local surroundings or unknown distant areas, fieldwork was most highly valued for its social, moral, and civic benefits, rather than for its contribution to geographical education, narrowly defined.