DAMMED WATER PHOTOPACK Age range 11 to 14 International Broadcasting Trust2 Ferdinand Street, London NW1 8EE Pounds 15. 0171 482 2847

Graham Hart assesses materials for a range of age groups produced by small, independent publishers .

There was a fear, sometimes voiced on the pages of The TES, that the advance of the national curriculum in geography (and many other subjects too) would be accompanied by the retreat of published materials. It was predicted in some quarters that a few large texts would dominate the market, leaving little scope for choice.

For the big publishing houses, and their investment in core textbooks, this is still a period of change. For smaller independent publishers, particularly those representing special interests, geography presents numerous opportunities for significant and valuable contributions to teaching within the national curriculum.

These four packs demonstrate the current pattern of publishing very well. Each has been extremely well researched; each comes from a positive standpoint and each deals in detail with human geography in its most literal sense.

Bangladesh - A Geography Pack for Key Stage 2 is published by a branch of the Traidcraft organisation, a company that encourages the import and sale of clothes and crafts from developing countries and ensures that the profit is returned to the producers rather than the middle men.

The pack, comprising a workbook and set of A4 colour photographs, deals with a typical villagefamily situation within Bangladesh. Following a general description of the nation, the pack deals in detail with the trade issue, encouraging pupils to think about the inequalities of the current situation.

Although valuable propaganda for Traidcraft, the resource is worthwhile in its own right. The photographs are excellent, and anybody who has spent time in Bangladesh will be able to feel the heat coming off the page.

The Geographical Association also targets key stage 2 with its Localities in Malawi. This pack, consisting of A4 colour prints, photocopiable worksheets and a teacher’s booklet, aims to enable pupils in the UK to compare their locality with one within Malawi, and facilitates a comparison between rural and urban lifestyles.

Malawi enjoys, and suffers, the same problems and challenges as other developing nations in Africa and makes an ideal choice for this area of curriculum work. Special chords will be struck as the authors go into detail about such matters as school timetables, the price of food and even a recipe for Nsima - a thick maize meal porridge.

Another interesting feature of the pack is a chapter detailing uses of information technology.

There is plenty here although in some places the wide diversity of ideas and excellent level of information are let down by the quality of reproduction and the standard of design.

Worldaware, part of the World Vision movement, is another organisation with a mission. The Worldaware pack Kenya comprises a stylishly designed pair of books (students’ and teacher’s) and four laminated map masters. The whole resource is photocopiable.

The geography of Kenya is investigated from a development standpoint; the nation’s health is seen from both an African and global perspective. The statistics, both their variety and presentation, are especially impressive and the case studies have a sense of reality about them. The author, Nick Reggler, also deserves praise for finding the right level for both text and illustrations; they are entirely appropriate for the pack’s key stage 3 audience.

Some of the maps in Dammed Water do not match the standard of those in the Worldaware pack - even with only one colour they could have been much better - although generally the pack is excellent.

Dammed Water is a photopack of 30 colour A4 prints with an accompanying activity booklet, targeted at key stage 3. It examines the different ways in which communities in north-east Nigeria have been affected by the building of dams and irrigation projects. This specialist topic, of course, can open up into a wide debate about development issues, the environment and the roles that people play. The pack provides every opportunity for this debate to take place and supplies enough data to facilitate real discussion.

The photographs at the heart of the pack are also real, and knowledgeable teachers (especially any who have been to Nigeria) will be able to enhance their value by looking into their four corners and away from the main centre of interest.

Dammed Water has been produced in association with Channel 4‘s Geographical Eye - Over Africa series (which fact hints at its quality), although it should be pointed out that the pack is a standalone resource.

The use of colour photographs in three of the above four resources is interesting. Large colour prints could be considered old fashioned but they are good to handle, and they reward in-depth study.

In many respects they are more satisfying than video and computer images, and certainly more enjoyable to use than transparencies. Of course there is the problem of availability in a class, but providing a good number in a pack should allow cyclic use. And, of course, this is another area where smaller publishers can supply something for a market that would be beyond the reach and interests of the big boys.