Learning the Landscape through Language: place-names and childhood education

English place-names arose as descriptive labels, in many cases coined hundreds or thousands of years ago, by local people describing their environment in ways that would have been meaningful to anyone else who happened to experience that landscape at that time. They contain references to topography and land-use, animals and plants, individuals and communities, activities and occupations, myths and memories, preserving earlier perceptions of a locality. They are a source of very detailed evidence on the changing landscape and, unlike many other sources, are ubiquitous and were bestowed by all sections of society, not just the literate or the powerful.

The Place-Names of Shropshire project (2013-16) engaged with a range of adult stake-holders through a travelling exhibition, a free booklet and public lectures. Learning the Landscape through Language will extend the impact generated from the earlier project to entirely new stake-holder groups, by engaging with schoolchildren and child educators. It will do this through a number of connected approaches, using innovative methods to bring place-names into the classroom and other educational environments. The main focus will be Key Stage 2, which emphasises the many phases of British history through local study, an approach to which place-names are ideally suited; but the use of place-names within the school curriculum could extend well beyond that age group.

The project will collaborate with local heritage organisations, working with their wider schools outreach networks. It will build on their established relationships with schools, schoolteachers and other educators, with the aim of developing ways to use place-names in existing educational programmes and curricula, and devising new learning materials and experiences with a focus on place-names.

The project team will organise four training and development days, where local educators will be introduced to place-names as a tool in understanding the development of language, landscape and community, with additional focus on best practice. During these events, local teachers will advise the project team on ways to enhance teaching provision through use of place-names, at KS2 and beyond, and will start to develop their own teaching materials for use in the classroom or in other educational contexts. The delivery of this new content will be observed by the project Engagement Fellow and any materials produced will be shared and made available to others.

The project team will start to build up a collection of innovative learning materials, new lesson plans and possible projects, with content focused on place-names. These will be made freely available as downloadable PDFs on the Institute for Name-Studies website, with links to the resources from educational groups in Shropshire, some of which also have a national presence: Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership, for example, has links with other AONB Partnerships, Historic England and the National Trust.

During the lifetime of the project, the team will work with the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, to explore ways of introducing place-names as a learning tool for trainee teachers. Teachers not directly involved in the project will have access to the its learning resources, made available on the University of Nottingham website and publicised through project partners and their contacts.

The legacy of the project will be changed teaching practice in Shropshire and beyond, greater use of place-name material as an educational tool, and a more widespread understanding, among schoolchildren, of the significance of place-names. This will be sustained through:
- Provision of resources for teachers and children
- Increased expertise in place-names among teachers
- Continuing education of teachers through links with Nottingham's School of Education.

The project will have an impact on a range of stake-holders connected with child education:

Schoolchildren
The activities that take place during the project will have an impact on the way schoolchildren think about place-names and about their local environment, types of land-use and resources. They will help foster a sense of local identity as it has developed over thousands of years, with an emphasis on diversity. They will become aware that place-names can be decoded and are a valuable part of our local heritage, providing a link to earlier inhabitants (human and animal) and how they lived, and highlighting changing ecologies, different cultures and languages over hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. These are key aspects of the Key Stage 2 curriculum; place-names will considerably enrich appreciation of the local landscape, British history and languages, and the cultural contribution of the many phases of migration to Britain throughout its history.

Children's outreach
There will be two main beneficiaries here, the educational networks run by Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership and the Shropshire Archives. Their activities already encompass engagement with schools and schoolchildren, but these will be enhanced by the development of new material for existing programmes, and new place-name-related experiences. Wildlife Trust officers, guides working for John Muir Award and town discovery walks will be provided with training in the use of place-names and will have access to a wider range of place-name material. The AONB Partnership also currently works with charities such as the South Shropshire Youth Forum, and their volunteers will also benefit from access to the training and resources.

Schools and schoolteachers
The project will make a significant contribution, at collaborating schools, to the delivery of curriculum at Key Stage 2 and potentially other Key Stages, for example the study of local landscape and environment (geography) and historical changes in settlement and culture (history). Teachers will be given access to training in the use of place-names and will be encouraged to develop learning activities focused on place-names. Further materials and guidance will be available online. Initially, work will focus on a small number of local schools with whom the AONB Partnership has active relationships, such as Norbury, Farlow and Chirbury primary schools, but the resources produced will be made more widely available in Shropshire and beyond.

Teacher training
By working with the School of Education at Nottingham, the project will influence the development of curriculum in teacher training, exploring ways in which place-name training can be incorporated into the existing syllabus and training future teachers in the use of toponymy as an educational tool.

Continuing impact will be secured in three ways:
1. Through upskilling of educators in Shropshire, who will be trained in the use of place-names and will be able to continue to use place-name material in their work with schoolchildren;
2. Through development of freely available online resources for teachers and children, including a child-friendly introduction to place-names, guidance for teachers in the use of place-names, learning activities and lesson plans;
3. Through work with the School of Education, the project aims to broaden the scope of its impact, fostering a sense of the importance of place-names in teacher training.