Beyond the Specification: Regeneration

Updated August 2024
Written December 2022
This is the long overdue 4th and final blog post in this ‘Teaching Beyond the Specification’ series that I started in 2020. For each of the human topics of Edexcel A-Level geography, I have shared some of the ‘best’ resources that I’ve come across for going beyond the specification in our teaching. The criteria for making the list of ‘best’ resources?

• Free to access

• Engaging and readable for 6th form students

• Encourage students to ‘think geographically’ beyond the prescribed content of their course

 By their very nature, these resources can date quickly and the list must frequently change. This is one of the issues with teaching A-Level, it can seem (at times) overwhelming to keep on top of everything and so I hope the list below proves useful to you in the classroom. One thing I’m keen to promote in my teaching of A-Level is the use of varied sources and thus you’ll notice that each of the 4 resources below is presenting information to students in a different format. I’m always on the hunt for more of these so if you know of any, please do comment below with suggestions!

1. What is a sense of place?
Video by Time for Geography available here.     

Unlike other exam boards, Edexcel doesn’t require an explicit understanding of ‘place’ and what it means to have a sense of place. However, it runs implicitly throughout the Regenerating Places topic and so this short video helps to get students thinking about what place means and why it matters.

2. Building a sense of place
Mark Steel’s ‘In Town’ Podcasts available here.

Trying to develop students’ sense of place is, in my opinion, one of the hardest elements of teaching regeneration. It can be hard for students to recognise the features and uniqueness of the place around them when (they’ve often) never known anywhere different. These podcast’s of Mark Steel’s stand-up comedy acts about different places can be invaluable for getting students to think about different places and different perceptions of the same place. Well worth looking at to see if Mark has visited anywhere your students study! Thanks to Alan Parkinson for making me aware of this resource on his Living Geography blog.

3. Urban Gentrification
A lecture by Professor Lees for the RGS available here.

Although not explicitly studied in detail, I would argue that in order to fully grasp this topic, students need a solid understanding of gentrification. If they understand the process, they can apply it to all of their case studies and better develop their arguments as a result. This lecture discusses gentrification in depth and introduces students to the concepts of ‘super-gentrification’ and ‘hyper-gentrification’ before discussing gentrification in the context of China- a country that students regularly consider across the A-Level course. The question sheet that I gave students to accompany this lecture is here.

4. The Index of Multiple Deprivation
An independent learning resource from the GA available here.

Similarly to the concept of gentrification, an in-depth understanding of the IMD is implied throughout this topic as students regularly consider the link between deprivation and regeneration. This resource from the GEO arm of the GA allows students to independently consider how we can use the IMD and what the results of the 2019 dataset show us. By completing this independent lesson and the accompanying quiz, students develop a solid understanding of the IMD and are (hopefully!) better equipped to consider the significance of the data they discuss in their case study exemplars.

5. Our London-Centric economy
A photo essay from the BBC available here.

Is it a problem if the UK’s economy is so reliant on London? What does this mean for regeneration in the areas around London and for regeneration projects further afield? Regardless of where your school is, it is likely that you will consider at least one London case study of regeneration and thus the question of London’s significance is likely to arise. This photo essay article explores the London-centric nature of the UK economy in an engaging and thought-provoking way and will hopefully get students thinking more broadly about the UK economy and the significance of this for regeneration.

6. The Street, Changes in Hoxton
Documentary on Amazon Prime available here.

It was thanks to a tweet by Rachael Robinson that I came across this documentary and after watching it myself, I straight away saw the value of showing it to 6th form classes as a way of teaching beyond the specification. As said above, whilst gentrification isn’t explicitly covered in-depth as part of the Edexcel course, it is implied as an issue throughout and thus certainly worthy of consideration for those wanting a top grade. I showed around 45 minutes of this 90-minute documentary to 6th form students and we completed this sheet of notes as we did so. Although I made some links to the specification (the titles of the boxes), the discussion was far broader than that considering how change in the area is discussed and viewed and discussing whether or not the pace of change is the main issue.