Product reviews for Powerful Geography

This is an original and very welcome book. Mark Enser has fully grasped the nature of powerful knowledge and the three futures approach to thinking about the geography curriculum. These are not analytical concepts that result in recipes for teachers to follow; they are heuristics, developed to enable thought and action. 

Enser takes us through his own thoughts and actions in a book that is overtly open, inviting and engaging. Throughout the book, he is thinking out loud about what constitutes high-quality geography in school, and his answer is based on unavoidable and undeniably challenging (and professionally rewarding) curriculum leadership. In short, he sees the vital role of teacher agency in high-quality “curriculum making” guided by a clearly articulated vision of the subject's role in education. In adopting the “garden of peace” as a classroom metaphor, the book is a radical antidote to what David Mitchell calls the hyper-socialised conditions in which curriculum-makers have to work. 

In producing Powerful Geography, Mark manages to convey a sense of geography's significance in the school curriculum - yet he also acknowledges that it is not the last word, and that debates concerning geography education will continue.