GUEST SPEAKER VISITS ALTON COLLEGE AS PART OF GEOG-OUTREACH SERIES

An inspiring Geography teacher and PhD student was the first guest speaker in a series of talks as part of Alton College’s geographical lecture series.

Iram Sammar was invited by Geography teacher Izzy Wood to launch the 2023/2024 Geog-Outreach lecture series which focuses on educating and inspiring students on a range of key geographical topics.
The series, which began last year is an excellent opportunity for students, staff, and community guests to find out more about important topics from industry experts such as Iram.

Iram’s focus was on anti-racism and geography, in which she discussed her own experiences in a personable manner alongside key topics such as colonialism and capitalism through theory and life experience. Iram also detailed literature such as Representation Matters by Aisha Thomas to further support her discussion.

The A Level Geography students in attendance alongside students from Eggar’s School were given the opportunity to ask questions once Iram had finished delivering her presentation. Many students jumped at this opportunity, asking a range of interesting questions and further engaging in discussion.

Iram, who also led a ‘team-teach’ with Geography Teacher Izzy Wood before the lecture, said:

“It was great to visit Alton College to speak with the students about such a hard-hitting topic. There was great student engagement with many students asking in-depth questions afterwards. The students were introduced to new ways of thinking throughout and many commented on how these conversations are very much needed.”

Geography Course Lead Izzy Wood added:

“Iram was approachable – the students liked the fact she used her own experiences and had no agenda. She was very personal and informal which was memorable and good to engage with. She had a lot of energy and used her own students’ accounts too. She was great in the team-teach in the classroom, the students really liked this.”

The Geo-Lecture series plans to continue throughout the academic year, with a continuation of insightful guests.

To find out more about Geography A Level at Alton College, visit our course finder at hsdc.ac.uk