Teaching the Geography of France
On 17 January Professor Hugh Clout delivered the keynote lecture at a colloquium devoted to 'Teaching the Geography of France' held in Paris under the auspices of the French National Committee for Geography.
Hugh Clout's lecture, in French, was entitled 'La Géographie de la France enseignée en Angleterre: vers la fin d'une histoire?'. The conference was attended by about a hundred participants composed of university lecturers, secondary schoolteachers and educational inspectors. Hugh highlighted the differences in the educational 'systems' of the two Cross-Channel neighbours and demonstrated that, after a 'golden age' in the 1960s and early 1970s, teaching the geography of France in British schools and universities is currently in a fragile state. British experience brought no encouragement to the French audience.
