Dd age 15, thinking about what she wants to do when she’s older, wants to do either something to do with geography or primary school teaching

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

Any advice for a hard working lovely girl ?

geography is her favourite subject at school

Work experience in a primary school would help her decide if that is for her.

She can also look at the 'Going places with Geography' site- it is created by the Royal Geography Association ( ? )

What is it about geography that she particularly enjoys?

Sorry- Royal Geographical Society

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.rgs.org/schools/teaching-resources/going-places-with-geography-brochure/&ved=2ahUKEwiYgZCw_-73AhVoSkEAHS6qDH8QFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2zX9bZMLkidnAsJO7fHrOG

If it’s teaching, secondary is less insane workload wise than primary. Primary teaching places a ridiculous/untenable requirement on people.

Could she do a degree in geography, then if still sure about teaching, do that via a post-grad?

The first thing your daughter needs to do is see her Careers Adviser to discuss researching the types of jobs Geography graduates do, what is involved in Primary teaching and the pathways to qualifications. Even if you don't live in Scotland, their national website (Skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk) is brillant to use.
www.mykidscareer.com/

DS did a geography degree, it has lots of transferable skills, especially if she chooses a course that covers both physical and social aspects. He is a Chartered Accountant now, several of his peers went into accountancy or secondary school teaching . Another works in shipping.
Alternately, she could look at something like Town Planning or Surveying.

Human or physical geography?

I suggest looking at the summer programmes with the National trust or geological survey. Both existed pre covid (well 6 years ago) one of mine did one on geology at 16.

I’d recommend a geography degree, there’s so many things you can do with geography.

What is it about geography that she particularly enjoys?

all she’s said is she’s really
good at it and it’s her fav subject and she really enjoys it

I’ll ask her tomorrow what exactly it is about it that she enjoys
as she’s in bed now

she’s a hard worker, too hard on herself at times
she has minimum expected grades of 10 a’s for her GCSEs
obviously she has to get them first …
bit she’s thinking about what a levels

she says she doesn’t want to do a level
maths, Spanish or physics

But she would like to do geography
biology and another one but not sure what

Great ideas here for work experience and summer camps and things we have no clue about
myself nor dh been to uni
so we haven’t experienced any of these things

Neither Myself nor dh

What about land surveyor …… great career and you can travel the world

Look at the range of subjects available for A level, they don't have to match the school subjects she has done already eg geology, sociology, psychology, or law could fit with geography and you don't need to have studied them previously. Which Universities does she fancy? Have a look at their prospectuses. You might be able to find them in the library or online. That might indicate which A levels they would be expecting and where their graduates end up.

As the sister of a teacher and watching them waste their academic brilliance working their arses off for pitiful money and a whole load of stress...steer her away from teaching if you can.

With her abilities, she could earn so much more money for alot less effort. Plus, thinking ahead, teaching isn't as family friendly as it initially seems. My sibling hardly ever has the time to spend with their kids...

Parent of geography graduate here. Their favourite subject all through school was geography so choosing it for a degree course was a no brainer- at that point they had no idea at all about future careers. And that’s fine.

what we discovered was that a) geography degrees are very wide ranging and you can usually tailor to your particular areas of interest after the first year and b) geography graduates are in high demand precisely because the degrees cover a lot of knowledge and teach a wide range of transferable skills.

DC walked straight into a good job on graduating and is well on the way up the ladder a few years on.

So to get to the point - encourage the interest in geography, student membership of RGS is well worth it, encourage reading about the environment, geopolitics, definitely a good newspaper everyday. Career thoughts can wait, what’s important is to study subjects that interest and will lead to the best grades achievable. Everything else will slot into place eventually.

Geography teacher here! Lots of transferable skills and knowledge (sustainability/climate change for example) and graduates are in demand. Geography and Biology A levels are a good combination and could lead down environmental science/ecology type pathway or anything really... geography is very good for keeping options open as it's so varied. Will she be able to pick entirely new subjects at A level like economics perhaps? I know previous students who went on to do economics, politics, sociology (and history) at A level alongside geog (I teach in an 11-16 school), as well as those who have combined it with sciences/maths or English.

Geologist.

My DC did Geog, RS, Politics (and Business AS) A levels before the geography degree

Geography is a great degree and I wish I had been better at it tbh! Sustainability is going to be more and more important in the future and it puts you in a good place to work on that, as well as a whole range of other things.

If she is interested in geography and biology, but does not want to do Maths A level, how about Computer Science? Using big data sets or mapping application will need computer skills which are essential these days.

Wow, thank you so very much, you guys are so much more knowledgable about this subject than us
i will go through this thread with her tomorrow and feedback to you what she says and replies
will be good reading for her dad too as he went into finance in his late 20s and has found it a very good fit for him so I think he’s very pro finance and law
but I’m more into follow what your interested in and you will create your own path and ideally you do something your interested in

massive massive thanks for taking the time to help her and us💐💐

Finance and law still possible after a geog degree - ultimately for many professions the grade of degree is more important than the subject and so it makes sense to choose something that she is engaged with and will enjoy, far more likely to get a good grade!

I did a geography degree because geig was my favourite subject nearly 40 years ago! I became a Town Planner which I love. It gives me all the variety that I liked about geography in the first place.
If thinking if a geography degree, definitely look closely at the courses to check how flexible they are with module options etc