My Journey to Chartered Geographer with the Royal Geographical Society
I have not taken a typical route, however I wanted to share my experience of applying for chartered status with the RGS and what I have taken from the process.
Having career-changed into the teaching profession from industry, I have come from a background where chartered status holds professional weight. It opens up a network and makes you commit to being active within your professional community. I have certainly found it has made me push myself a little out of my comfort zone- this site being one of the consequences!
THE START-
There are different post nominals with the CGeog accreditation; CGeog, and CGeog Teach are among them. One of the criteria for CGeog teach is 6 years teaching experience and the application necessitates a back catalogue of your CPD engagement of 3 years. With this in mind I contacted the RGS to ask if it was worth making a record of my COD on one of their templates so that I would have put together Evidence in time for my 6 year anniversary. To my surprise (and delight) the RGS said that my industry years as a geologist working with GIS would count as years worked as a geographer and therefore I could apply right away for CGeog.
THE EVIDENCE –
This was excellent news- however back dating my CPD record over my teaching career thus far was not an easy process. With this in mind I would recommend logging all CPD to the CGeog criteria as you go!
The criteria ask you to log your CPD according to wether it is internal or external to your organisation and the format/ your role. For example you may take an online course on assessment in geography, this would count to your external hours. If you were to run a department CPD session this would be internal. Once you have been accredited you need to submit a record like this every year so it is good practice!
I could not have asked for better support from the RGS throughout the application process. Quick to reply with any questions I had and also to review my application before I submitted it. Once submitted the application goes through two assessments. Two reviewers look over the application and may ask for edits before it is forwarded to the two final reviewers who may also ask for edits before recommendation to Council. The whole process for me took 5 months form the November, compiling my application and evidence to submission in December and my application being passed by the RGS Council in April 2020.
WHY CGeog?
So, why go through the above? For me it focuses my personal development as a geographer and a teacher. There is something very satisfying in looking back over your achievements for the year, what your plans for development were and how they may have changed for the year ahead. I find that having it independent to any school record, makes it about me and my personal development rather than performance as an employee and it makes me want to invest.
For more information, look at the RGS pages, you can request a mentor to support you in you application, or contact me on Twitter ( @Mrs_Geog ) and I am more than happy to discuss further. https://www.rgs.org/professionals/chartered-geographer/
Keeping it reflective- GA Professional Passport
The GA, via Pebble Pad have a tool where for a modest fee of £25 you can have access to your own professional passport to guide your professional development, log your CPD and provides space for you to reflect.
As a relatively new offering i got on board as it is significantly cheaper than an RGS fellowship and CGeog application, an accreditation that then involved an annual fee and CPD update commitment. The GA offer a structure and space for you to be able to put inlace personal targets, log and evidence progress and track your outcomes. A structured annual reflection. All the information you log in PebblePad is private unless you wish to share with the GA community on PebblePad or to share your log as evidence towards one of the two Professional awards the GA is now offering.
If I am honest, i found it tricky to get up and running, the GS website and getting going on PebblePad- if you have not used it for other purposes before was a bit tricky which I fear could put some people off.
Unlike keeping a log of CPD in a table where you can just add bits in as yo go you do need to sit down and have a bit of a ‘session’ filling in the passport as it is in s free text box, so for example something you can revisit each term or half term.
The professional passport, when you get there, is simply a series of free text boxes for you to log your thoughts, ideas and then a file upload section for you to add evidence. Professional development focus, Reflection, Impact, What next?, Evidence and supporting documents. Each year you can then have a new document and ultimately follow that journey.
What I have not utilised is the community on PebblePad- I tend to just go to Twitter, so it would be interesting to hear from those active on there how they have benefited.
I do like the flexibility of the passport, and I think it is an excellent tool for those finishing their NQT year and want to maintain some formality to keep them reflective one all the evidence folders/ logs/ meetings become a think of the past. For the price – I think it is worth a shot to see if it works for you.
https://www.geography.org.uk/The-GA-Professional-Passport
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FWC Gegraphy 