Want to encourage more students to take up geography at GCSE or A-Level? This free downloadable poster will help them see how your subject could help in their future careers!
Do you want to encourage more students to take up geography at GCSE or A-Level? One way to do so is to tell them about all the incredible skills and attributes geography will give them that could really help them in their future careers.
We’ve created this free downloadable poster to help you do just that.
So, how can geography help your students in their future careers?
Geography makes them great at interpreting data
An integral part of geography is learning the skills that will allow your students to take a set of data, and to interpret that data before drawing conclusions from it.
This is a really useful skill to have and one that is essential in many different careers.
Even if their careers don’t require them to be able to interpret data per se, having this skill shows employers that you are analytical and know how to reach evidence-based conclusions, meaning you are unlikely to rush into decisions. Being able to make rational, evidence-based decisions will mark students out as a great candidate for leadership roles, so having this skill really could help you climb the career ladder.
Geography gives you excellent IT and maths skills
Geography offers lots of opportunities to develop both IT and maths skills – both of which are essential in almost any job. Students may use computer cartography, databases or spreadsheets and they’ll need to handle data too. Being able to demonstrate that they have these skills through having studied geography will make their CV stand out to employers.
Geography makes you a better communicator
Students who choose to study geography will be required to write reports and present data both in written and oral form. All this practice will help them to develop their communication skills. Being a good communicator is an important skill to have in almost any job and your students will have solid evidence of their great communication skills thanks to their geography studies.
Geography can help you develop problem-solving skills
Through their study of geography, students will learn about many different problems and the variety of solutions that have been used to solve them. This will help them to think outside of the box when it comes to solving problems in the future.
They’ll also have to problem solve when doing fieldwork and coursework and these practical experiences will also serve them well in the future.
Of course, problem-solving skills are incredibly important for any job and being able to think creatively and come up with effective solutions will mark students out for many top roles.
Geography makes you a great team player
Studying geography will give your students plenty of opportunities to develop their teamworking skills, particularly when conducting fieldwork, but also in the classroom.
They’ll need to learn to take on board ideas, develop the confidence to offer ideas of their own and work with their peers to come to a common consensus.
Being a team player is useful for almost any job and having this skill is not only useful practically – it can help students to develop relationships with their colleagues that help them to earn respect and earmark them for promotions etc.
Geography can help you understand moral and ethical issues
When studying geography, students will learn that there are always moral and ethical issues to be considered when coming up with solutions to problems. This might be in the way that a coast is managed, in schemes designed to combat climate change or even in the urbanisation of an area.
Being able to understand that the moral and ethical issues involved are important considerations is a key skill that your students will already have, where many people will have to learn on the job.
Geography makes you able to develop a reasoned argument
Geography requires that students evaluate evidence before coming to conclusions.
Through this process, your students will be able to develop reasoned arguments in debates, essays or elsewhere.
Being able to develop an evidence-based, reasoned argument will stand your students in good stead for their future careers and is a fantastic skill to have nailed down by the end of their school career!
Geography makes you a creative thinker
As we mentioned before, studying geography exposes students to a variety of creative solutions to various problems. This, along with their understanding of the moral and ethical issues involved, will help them to ‘think outside the box’ and come up with creative solutions to the problems they encounter in their careers.
Geography can help you develop your time management skills
Good time management allows us to work well independently and prioritise effectively, making it an incredibly important skill to have in place before entering the jobs market.
Your students will have time management skills in abundance, having had to manage fieldwork activities and coursework throughout their geography studies.
Geography can earn you a higher salary!
All these are sought-after skills and attributes for any job. Plus, geography graduates are among the highest earners!
Still struggling to recruit geographers at GCSE or A-Level?
You may also like our ‘Where Will Geography Take You?’ poster.
And remember, offering students a geography school trip abroad where they can experience geography in action could be the incentive they need to choose geography over another subject!
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.