Trade, Economic Geography and Fairtrade

---

Enquiry questions

Where does our food come from, and is the trade fair?

---

Concepts

This study delivers 1 primary concept and 2 secondary concepts.

Primary concept: Settlement and Economic Geography (GE-KS2-C004)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 2/6

Settlements are places where people live and work, ranging from small hamlets to megacities. Their location, growth and character are shaped by physical factors (water supply, defensibility, flat land, resources) and human factors (trade routes, industry, government decisions). Economic activity is classified into sectors: primary (extracting raw materials), secondary (manufacturing), tertiary (services) and quaternary (knowledge-based). The distribution of natural resources including food, minerals, energy and water shapes economic activity and trade between places at global scales. At KS2, pupils develop conceptual frameworks for understanding why places are where they are and how economies work.

Teaching guidance: Study local settlement history: why was the town/city located here? What factors drove its growth? Compare settlement patterns in different environments: how do desert settlements differ from coastal or riverside ones? Use examples of global trade to illustrate economic interdependence. Investigate the origin of food and goods in the classroom or school. Map the distribution of specific natural resources (oil, minerals, food production) and connect to trade patterns. Explore how economic activity changes over time in a specific area. Key vocabulary: settlement, hamlet, village, town, city, conurbation, urbanisation, primary sector, secondary sector, tertiary sector, trade, import, export, natural resource, energy, mineral, distribution Common misconceptions: Pupils may think cities grow randomly rather than for geographical reasons. Studying the historical reasons for settlement location challenges this. The concept of comparative advantage in trade can be difficult; concrete examples of why one place might specialise in particular goods make it accessible. Pupils may not appreciate the scale of global economic interdependence; tracking the journey of a familiar product from raw material to consumer makes global connections tangible.

Differentiation

Model response (Entry): A village is small with few buildings and a city is very large with lots of buildings and people. People live in settlements because they need to be near other people, shops and schools.

Model response (Developing): Towns were built near rivers because rivers provided drinking water and water for animals. Rivers were used for transport — boats could carry heavy goods. The flat land near rivers was good for building on and farming. Some rivers were also good for defence — a river on one side made the town harder to attack.

Model response (Expected): Cocoa beans are grown on a farm in Ghana — that is a primary activity (extracting raw materials). The beans are shipped to a factory in the UK where they are processed into chocolate — that is a secondary activity (manufacturing). The chocolate bar is then transported to shops and sold to customers — that is a tertiary activity (providing a service). Each stage happens in a different place and involves different workers.

Model response (Greater Depth): When factories closed, people lost jobs and the towns became poorer. Young people often moved away to find work elsewhere. Some towns have adapted by developing tourism, technology industries or universities. Others have struggled with unemployment and depopulation. This shows that the economy of a place can change dramatically, and that places need to adapt when their main industry disappears.

Secondary concept: Latitude, Longitude and the Global Grid (GE-KS2-C001)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 2/6

Latitude and longitude are a coordinate system used to identify any location on Earth's surface. Lines of latitude run parallel to the Equator and measure distance north or south (0-90 degrees); lines of longitude run from Pole to Pole and measure distance east or west of the Prime Meridian (0-180 degrees). Special lines of latitude - the Equator, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles - mark significant climatic boundaries. The Prime Meridian (0 degrees longitude) divides the Eastern and Western Hemispheres and is the reference for time zones. At KS2, pupils learn to use this system to locate and describe global position.

Differentiation

Secondary concept: Climate Zones and Biomes (GE-KS2-C002)

Type: Knowledge | Teaching weight: 2/6

Climate zones are large areas of the Earth characterised by similar patterns of temperature and rainfall, determined primarily by latitude. The main climate zones are tropical, subtropical, temperate, continental, polar and mountainous. Biomes are large ecological communities defined by their climate and vegetation: rainforest, savannah, desert, grassland, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, tundra and polar ice. At KS2, pupils develop understanding of how climate shapes the vegetation and wildlife of different regions, connecting physical and biological geography.

Differentiation

---

Thinking lens: Patterns (primary)

Key question: What patterns can I notice here, and what do they allow me to predict? Why this lens fits: Linking latitude bands to climate zones introduces the idea that global climate patterns are not random but follow predictable spatial regularities tied to distance from the equator and angle of incoming solar radiation. Question stems for KS2:

What pattern can you see?

Does this always happen, or can you find an exception?

What rule connects these examples?

What would you predict for the next one? Why?

Secondary lens: Scale, Proportion and Quantity — Latitude and longitude are quantitative coordinate systems; the cognitive demand is understanding how degrees of arc translate to position on a sphere and why latitude predicts climate — reasoning about proportion and quantity in a spatial context.

---

Session structure: Topic Study

Topic Study

A structured enquiry into a defined topic, period, or place. Begins with an engaging hook to capture interest, builds contextual knowledge, moves through source analysis and interpretation, and culminates in a substantiated argument or conclusion. The core humanities template.

hook → context → source_analysis → interpretation → argument Assessment: Extended writing task presenting a reasoned argument supported by evidence from the topic. Can take the form of an essay, structured explanation, or debate position. Teacher note: Use the TOPIC STUDY template: open with an engaging hook that raises a question or challenge. Build context using a timeline or key facts. Introduce 2-3 sources for pupils to analyse, prompting them to consider who made each source and why. Guide pupils toward forming their own interpretation, supported by evidence from the sources. KS2 question stems:

What does this source tell us, and what does it leave out?

Who created this source, and why might that matter?

Do these two sources agree or disagree? How can you tell?

What is your interpretation, and what evidence supports it?

---

Study scope

Scale: Global Themes: global trade, economic sectors, natural resources, fair trade, supply chains Map types: thematic map, trade flow map, resource distribution map, atlas map Data sources: Fairtrade Foundation, World Bank, ONS trade statistics, Product packaging (origin labels) Fieldwork potential: Classroom-based investigation tracing the origins of products in the school kitchen or shop; local supermarket survey mapping the countries of origin for a basket of goods. Assessment guidance: Can pupils trace a product from primary producer to consumer? Can they explain the three economic sectors? Can they map where specific natural resources come from? Can they evaluate Fairtrade as a response to trade inequality?

---

Locations

Global (Global, global, global)

Development context: not_applicable Key physical features: Equator, Poles, continents, oceans, climate zones Key human features: 200+ countries, 8 billion people, global trade networks

---

Why this study matters

Fairtrade is the most common pedagogical vehicle schools use to deliver the KS2 statutory requirement on trade and economic activity, because it makes abstract global supply chains concrete and age-accessible. Tracing products (chocolate, bananas, cotton) from producer to consumer introduces pupils to primary, secondary, and tertiary economic sectors, global trade patterns, and the distribution of natural resources.

---

Pitfalls to avoid

Presenting Fairtrade as the only or complete solution to trade inequality — it is one model with both strengths and limitations

Oversimplifying producer countries as uniformly poor without showing their economic complexity

Focusing only on the product journey without connecting to the broader statutory requirement on settlement, land use, and resources

Sensitive content

Global inequality — avoid deficit framing of producer countries; show economic agency and complexity

---

Success criteria

Pupils can:

Trace a specific product through its supply chain from producer to consumer

Explain the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary economic sectors

Map the origins of at least 3 natural resources on a world map

Give at least 1 argument for and 1 argument against Fairtrade

---

Cross-curricular opportunities

---

Geographical skills (KS2)

These disciplinary skills should be woven through teaching, not taught in isolation:

Using maps, atlases, globes and digital mapping — Extending atlas and map use to locate countries and describe the features studied across the curriculum, and beginning to use digital and computer mapping tools — including online satellite maps — to access geographical information in a range of formats.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) — Using GIS software and online digital mapping platforms to view spatial data in layered formats, query and filter data by geographical attributes, and produce analytical outputs that communicate geographical patterns and relationships.

Using aerial photographs and making simple maps — Interpreting aerial photographs and plan-perspective images to recognise landmarks and physical and human features, and translating these observations into a simple hand-drawn map with a basic symbol key.

Fieldwork: data collection and presentation — Conducting fieldwork in the local environment and beyond, collecting primary data through direct observation and measurement, and presenting findings using a range of methods including sketch maps, annotated plans, bar and line graphs, and digital technologies.

Fieldwork in contrasting locations — Planning and carrying out fieldwork in at least two contrasting geographical settings — such as urban and rural, or coastal and inland — collecting and recording primary data systematically and drawing evidence-based geographical conclusions from the results.

Geographical enquiry — Asking geographical questions, selecting appropriate methods to investigate them, gathering primary and secondary information, and organising findings into a structured response that demonstrates geographical thinking.

---

Vocabulary word mat

Prior knowledge (retrieval plan)

Pupils should already know the following from earlier units:

---

Knowledge organiser

Key terms:

trade

import

export

Fairtrade

supply chain

primary sector

secondary sector

tertiary sector

natural resource

economic activity

Core facts (expected standard):

Settlement and Economic Geography: Explaining how economic activities are connected across places through trade, describing primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.

---

Graph context

Node type: GeoStudy | Study ID: GS-GE-KS2-006 Concept IDs:

GE-KS2-C004: Settlement and Economic Geography (primary)

GE-KS2-C001: Latitude, Longitude and the Global Grid

GE-KS2-C002: Climate Zones and Biomes

Cypher query:

``cypher

MATCH (ts:GeoStudy {study_id: 'GS-GE-KS2-006'})

-[:DELIVERS_VIA]->(c:Concept)

-[:HAS_DIFFICULTY_LEVEL]->(dl)

RETURN c.name, dl.label, dl.description

``

---

Generated from the UK Curriculum Knowledge Graph — zero LLM generation.