#644: Shooting Times journal article

Via my Google Alert for GCSE Natural History.

It will be inter­est­ing to see what the uptake might be. Will it be mostly teen­agers who already have an interest in nature, want­ing to know more, or new­comers hop­ing for an easy course? There are gen­er­a­tions of fam­il­ies spend­ing little time out­side their imme­di­ate sur­round­ings. From my own exper­i­ence, I am con­cerned to see so many people whose primary con­tact with nature is via tele­vi­sion doc­u­ment­ar­ies, their views on envir­on­mental issues shaped by mis­in­formed presenters and social media influ­en­cers.

Per­haps some of us can fill the gap and offer to help with the field­work aspects of the new course. Field­s­ports are the ori­ginal form of nat­ural his­tory in prac­tice, so per­haps the onus is on us to engage pro­act­ively with local schools rather than moan­ing from afar should the antis take over the nar­rat­ive.

The article quotes someone from the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) - a friend of mine Paula worked for them over 40 years ago... the article asks some of the questions that many others will also be asking.

#254: BASC: the British Association for Shooting and Conservation

When considering a specification on Natural History, an organisation which has the word "shooting" in its name may not seem like the obvious match. A friend worked for BASC many years ago, and explained how this might not seem such a problematic connection.

BASC: the British Association for Shooting and Conservation has a website which outlines their work.

BASC's Curtis Mossop explores the need for a GCSE in Natural History. BASC has been a supporter of the new qualification.

Part of this would be to have a space in the curriculum for considering the need for shooting.

As BASC says:

When you consider that shooting is involved in the management of two-thirds of the rural land area in the UK, we believe that land management activities need to be considered, and ultimately included, in the development of this new qualification.

BASC’s response to this consultation focused on fair representation of shooting and its associated land management practices. We encourage students to think holistically but also challenge their own moral compass: “Is killing one species to save another okay?”.

We know this to be sound and scientifically proven. We have seen examples of this in nature like the curlew coming back from the brink of extinction. But would a teenager who has never visited the countryside understand this concept?

It will be interesting to see whether the final document offers opportunity for a nuanced look at alternative methods of countryside management.