Recent events in England and Wales would suggest that geography teachers need to re-engage with their subject matter to enable them to improve how they teach the geography. However, this requires a detailed understanding of how teachers use their subject knowledge. This paper outlines how two geography teachers experience tension between how they understand geography at an academic level and the ways they prefer to teach it. How they resolve these conflicts shows that these teachers have an active relationship with their subject that enables them to develop curricula in line with their values about geography. (Contains 9 notes.)