My Lords, in the absence of my noble friend Lord Greaves and at his request, I beg leave to ask the Government the following Question:

What is their response to the recent report by Ofsted on the teaching of geography in schools.

My Lords, we were aware of many of the issues raised in the Ofsted report, which is why we launched the £2 million geography action plan in 2006. We agree with Ofsted’s recommendation to continue funding the action plan. We are looking at how best to continue to promote geography to young people and to provide high quality support for geography teachers over the next three years.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply but does he agree that a subject covering things such as climate change, the floods that have delayed my noble friend Lord Greaves, famines, conflict resolution and trade disputes—topics that hit the headlines every day—is far from boring? Can he therefore say why Ofsted found that children regard geography as boring, and what are the Government doing to help teachers to teach it in a more interesting way?

My Lords, it sounds as though the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, will be able to give personal tuition on the subject when he returns to the House. We are modernising the curriculum, which is an issue in respect of teaching geography. The new key stage 3 curriculum, which comes into force this September, will offer teachers greater freedom to teach topical, contemporary and relevant issues, such as climate change and globalisation, in order to engage and enthuse pupils. Part of the £2 million action plan to which I referred goes towards sustained professional development for geography teachers, raising the quality of their skills in this area.

My Lords, given that one of my geography reports said, “Patricia does well to find her way home”, I am not sure about my intervention in this Question but one thing that I enjoyed was geography field trips. Can the Minister comment on Ofsted’s finding that concerns about health and safety are reducing the amount and effectiveness of field-work? Although we must never be cavalier with the safety of our children, should we not review these regulations, which seem to prohibit them from doing many of the practical, exciting things that we took for granted?

My Lords, we strongly support field trips and other forms of education outside the classroom and have sought to simplify the regulations. We do not have any evidence—nor has Ofsted provided any—that the number of children going on school trips is declining; indeed, from the anecdotal evidence that we have from schools, we think the opposite is the case. Research into residential education by the Scout Association and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 2005 found that 86 per cent of primary schools and 99 per cent of secondary schools offer pupils at least one residential education opportunity, of which outdoor education was the most popular type, so the opportunities do appear to be there.

My Lords, long ago when I was a practical teacher, I taught a class in which all the pupils got to Oxford and Cambridge but none of them knew where the Rhine was. Can the Minister assure us that people will know where the Rhine and Danube are in Europe?

My Lords, I have many skills as a Minister but imparting that information to the nation’s youth is not among them. I am trying to think of the best answer I can give to the noble Lord. I will draw his remarks to the attention of those who have responsibility for the curriculum in schools.

My Lords, is the report therefore incorrect in saying that there is a collapse in the number of field trips? If the Government support field trips, what will they do to increase their number? I declare an interest as having a wife who taught geography at university.

My Lords, my noble friend is right. We do not believe that there has been a decline in the number of field trips; at least, we have seen no evidence of it. In terms of the support that we are providing, I referred to the work that we are doing to see that red tape is eliminated wherever possible. The geography action plan, to which I referred, provides further support and the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, launched in November 2006, is supported by £2.7 million of funding and aims to provide all young people with quality learning experiences outside the classroom covering the whole curriculum.

My Lords, a key finding of the report is that the quality of teaching at key stage 3 continues to be mediocre because most of it is done by non-specialists. Does the Minister agree that a worrying consequence of that is that the quality and numbers of young people going on to take geography at GCSE are adversely affected? This is a major concern of the Royal Geographical Society—I declare a rather ancient interest as a former president—and it is of course a major focus of the Government’s action plan for geography. Therefore, the Minister’s announcement that he has accepted Ofsted’s recommendation that funding should continue will be widely welcomed in those quarters.

My Lords, the noble Lord is right: the geography community is very grateful for the continuation of the funding of the geography action plan. I should stress that there are 870 training places for geography this year, so a large number of new entrants to the profession are coming forward. Although the noble Lord is right to say that the numbers of those taking geography have been declining, it remains the fifth most popular optional GCSE subject, after English literature, history, French and art and design. It remains very popular in schools.

My Lords, the Ofsted report found that pupils value the link between citizenship and geography. What evidence is there to show that citizenship teaching per se is effective in fostering a sense of belonging? Would it not be better to contextualise citizenship by a proper teaching of our history?

My Lords, it is so contextualised. Indeed, the revisions that we made to the citizenship curriculum last year introduced a new requirement to teach recent British history as part of citizenship, as well as history. The contextualisation that the noble Baroness is seeking is present in the citizenship curriculum.

My Lords, is there a shortage of geography teachers?

My Lords, the 870 places I referred to are enough to supply the profession with the new recruits that it needs.