1. World Issues Survey
Conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Geographical Association
February 2009

2. Contents In this summary report: Background & methodology
What young people think is important
What young people learn at school
Learning about the wider world
Key findings

3. Background & methodology

4. Background
The Geographical Association commissioned research with year-olds to inform its role to promote geography.
The aim of the GA’s 2009 manifesto programme A Different View is to restate and reaffirm geography’s place in the school curriculum.
GA wished to understand what drives interest in the subject amongst pupils at Key Stage 3, and what issues they would like to learn about.
The research examined the issues that Key Stage 3 pupils think are important and whether they feel they are learning about them. It explored:
The wider world issues that pupils think are important
Whether or not they have learnt about/discussed them at school
The lessons in which they have learnt about/discussed them
The importance they attach to learning about these issues

5. Methodology
Results are based on 598 interviews carried out face-to-face with young people aged years old in England; fieldwork ran between 15 and 22 January 2009
Results are based on all respondents unless otherwise stated
Base sizes are shown in brackets
Where results do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, computer rounding or the exclusion of don’t knows/not stated
An asterisk (*) represents a value of less than one half or one percent, but not zero
Data are weighted to gender, age and region

6. What young people think is important

7. What young people think is important
Young people age most commonly mention Crime and anti-social behaviour (61%) as affecting the area where they live. Young people in GORs* West Midlands (70%) and South East (68%) are more likely to flag this than their peers in GORs East (52%) or London (50%)**.
This issue is also more likely to be mentioned by young people in school Years 8-10 (65%) than those in Years 6 and 7 (53%). By social class, C1 young people are more likely to mention it than ABs (64% versus 52%).
Overall, Economy and jobs (37%) is the second most frequently mentioned local issue, but is significantly more likely to be mentioned by young people in GORs East Midlands and West Midlands (46% and 51% respectively) than by those in GORs North East (23%), Yorkshire (30%) or South West (18%)**.
No other issue is mentioned by over 15% of young people.
Environment and climate change (14% overall) is more likely to be mentioned in London (25%) and the East Midlands (20%) than in the North West (8%), East (7%) or South West (7%)**.
* Government Office Region; ** Indicative finding: some small base sizes

8. What young people think is important
The picture is much more mixed when young people consider the issues affecting the world, although Crime and anti-social behaviour (45%) is once again the most cited. Young people in the North East, North West, West Midlands and South West are much more likely to say this than their peers elsewhere. For example, well over three in five young people in the North East mention this issue (67%) compared with less than one in five (18%) in GOR East**.
Differences also emerge by social class (52% in AB and 51% in DE versus 41% in C1C2).
War and terrorism (44%) replaces Economy and jobs (41%) as the issue in second position overall, with War and terrorism particularly top of mind in the South East (64% compared, for example, to 28% in the North West and 32% in Yorkshire)**. Mentions of Economy and jobs is highest in the West Midlands and London (58% and 55% versus, for example, 18% in the South West)**.
As with War and terrorism, Environment and climate change (34%) and Poverty and hunger (32%) are seen to be much greater problems globally than locally.

9. Crime and jobs the big issues locally
Which of the following issues, if any, do you think are the main issues affecting the area where you live at the moment? Please choose up to three.
Crime and anti-social behaviour
Economy and jobs
Environment and climate change
Health and illness
Population growth and migration
War and terrorism
Other 3%
None of these 9%
Don’t know 10%
The future of water, oil and gas
Poverty and hunger
Inequality and discrimination
Wildlife conservation
Transport and world travel
Extreme acts of nature
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

10. Crime, war and economy big globally
Which of the following issues, if any, do you think are the main issues affecting the world at the moment? Please choose up to three.
Crime and anti-social behaviour
War and terrorism
Economy and jobs
Environment and climate change
Poverty and hunger
Health and illness
The future of water, oil and gas
Extreme acts of nature
Other 1%
None of these 1%
Don’t know 7%
Population growth and migration
Wildlife conservation
Inequality and discrimination
Transport and world travel
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

11. Crime and economy most important issues combined
And which of the following issues, if any, do you think are the main issues affecting the area where you live/the world at the moment?
Combined local area/world issues: Top 5 mentions
Crime and anti-social behaviour
Economy and jobs
War and terrorism
Environment and climate change
Poverty and hunger
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

12. What young people learn at school

13. What young people learn at school
Crime and anti-social behaviour (50%) and Environment and climate change (46%) are the issues most likely to have been learnt or discussed at school, followed by Poverty and hunger (32%), Economy and jobs (30%), and War and terrorism (28%).
Those aged are generally more likely to have discussed wider world issues, such as crime and the environment, although this may be due to having been at school longer than younger pupils.
The environment is also significantly more likely to be discussed in the South West (62%) and South East (54%) compared to the North West (31%) and London (36%)**.
Over half of young people in GOR East have discussed poverty at school compared to a fifth of those in the West Midlands (51% versus 20%), while war is most commonly mentioned by young people in the South East (42%) and West Midlands (36%) versus 13% of young people in Yorkshire**.

14. What young people learn at school
Young people who have learnt about or discussed any of these issues at school are most likely to have done so in Geography (49%), followed by PSHE (30%), History (29%) and Citizenship (27%).
There are significant differences in the proportions of young people discussing these issues in Geography by:
Year group: 57% of Year 8s and 52% of Year 9s, compared with 45% of Year 7s and 39% of Year 11s
Social class: 59% in AB versus 44% in DE
Overall, young people aged are most likely to expect to learn about these issues in Geography (42%), more so than for Humanities (31%), Citizenship (30%), or PHSE (28%).

15. Issues learnt about at school
And which of these issues, if any, have you learnt about of discussed in school? Any others?
Crime and anti-social behaviour
Environment and climate change
Poverty and hunger
Economy and jobs
War and terrorism
Extreme acts of nature
Health and illness
Population growth and migration
Wildlife conservation
Other *%
None of these 7%
Don’t know 5%
The future of water, oil and gas
Transport and world travel
Inequality and discrimination
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

16. Geography top subject for discussing issues
In which of the following subjects, if any, have you learnt about this issue/these issues? Any others?
Geography
PSHE
History
Citizenship
Science
Other subjects below 10%
None of these 1%
Don’t know 3% RE
English
Base: 529 children aged years old in England who have learnt about issues at school, January 2009

17. Geography where discussing issues expected
In which of the following subjects, if any, would you expect to learn about these issues? Any others?
Geography
Humanities
Citizenship
PSHE
History
Science
Other subjects below 10%
None of these 1%
Don’t know 10% RE
English
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

18. Learning about the wider world

19. Learning about the wider world
The majority (93%) of young people aged think it is at least fairly important to learn about the issues affecting people’s lives in different parts of the world; 46% think it is very important.
Young people in social class AB (62%) are significantly more likely to think it is very important to learn about these issues (versus 44% in C1C2 and 38% in DE), as are pupils in Year 7 (53% versus 41% in Years 8-10).

20. Learning about the wider world
Because a large majority (over 90%) of young people ‘agree’ it is important to learn about a range of wider world issues, it is more instructive to consider the relative proportions that definitely agree it is important to learn about them.
Young people aged are most definitive about learning about how the world they live in may change in the future (59%), changes to the world around them and how they occur (56%), where resources, such as food, energy and water come from (52%), and – finally – people, societies and cultures in other parts of the world (49%).
Furthermore, young people in social class AB are generally more likely than those in other classes to definitely agree, e.g. 70% versus 49% in both C1C2 and DE regarding where resources come from.
Overall, two-thirds (63%) agree that not enough time is spent learning about the wider world in school, although only 19% definitely agree (a further 28% disagree). Agreement differs significantly by region with 78% in Yorkshire and 77% in the North West agreeing versus 44% in the North East and 45% in the South West**.

21. Learning about people’s lives elsewhere
How important, if at all, do you think it is for people your age to learn about the issues affecting people’s lives in different parts of the world?
Not at all important
Don’t know
Not very important
Very important
Fairly important
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

22. Learning about future change
To what extent, if at all, do you agree or disagree with the following statements? It is important to learn/think about …
How the world I live in may change in the future
Changes to the world around me and why they occur
Where the things I use, such as food, energy and water, come from
People, societies and cultures in other part of the world
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

23. More time needed learning about wider world
To what extent, if at all, do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
There is not enough time spent on learning about the wider world in school?
Don’t know
Definitely agree
Definitely disagree
Tend not to agree
Tend to agree
Base: 598 children aged years old in England, January 2009

24. Key findings

25. Key findings
Young people see Crime and anti-social behaviour as the most important issue affecting either their local area or the world generally, followed by Economy and jobs. War and terrorism, Poverty and hunger, and Environment and climate change are also seen as more important issues globally.
Crime and the Environment are the subjects that young people are most likely to have learnt about/discussed at school.
Geography is the subject in which young people have most often learnt about/discussed these issues at school, and the one in which they most commonly expect to do so.
The great majority think it is important to learn about issues affecting different parts of the world, particularly how the world they live in may change.
Most young people think that not enough time is spent learning about the wider world in school.