Jan 8: John Wilkinson's record collection

There are several teachers who I feel are always pushing creative boundaries and challenging themselves, often by adding a personal touch to their schemes of work. 

They're the teachers I continue to draw personal inspiration from. I've already mentioned Matt Podbury on the blog within the first week of the year and as we enter the second week, here's another: 

John Wilkinson 

John is the Head of Geography at St Edwards College, West Derby, Liverpool, and an Honorary Lecturer in the Geography Department at the University of Liverpool. 

John started his career tutoring at Lochranza Field Centre on the Isle of Arran. He is currently studying for a part time PhD at the University of Liverpool

The St Edwards College Geography department won The PTI’s Bernice McCabe Award in 2024. John regularly presents CPD for the Prince's Teaching Institute, and also at the GA Conference.

In Autumn of 2023, John contributed an excellent article on his vinyl revival scheme, and even made the front cover of the 'Teaching Geography' journal.

I saw him speak about this at a session at the GA Conference in Sheffield that year. It was great.

Subscribers can download the article from this link.

There are lots of geographical connections that John makes, starting with an album from 1995 to raise awareness of global issues.

This was the War Child Help Album.

It was noticeable that students weren’t entering the classroom to learn about geography, but embarking on a geographical learning journey: they developed as geographers through cultivating the power of popular music. The only non-negotiable is investing in a cache of vinyl records to supply authenticity, awe and wonder to the learning experience.