#450: Mary Colwell on the progress towards GCSE Natural History

This is a visual representation of a thread that Mary Colwell recently posted on X (which I try to avoid linking to). She has started to realise what those of us involved in previous curriculum innovation know tends to happen when they come across the desks of those who shape it so that it will fulfil OFQUAL's thinking about what makes them examinable on a large scale. 

The OCR Pilot GCSE Geography was the most innovative examination I ever came across, and had the chance to change things in the longer term. The people developing it were able to keep a great deal of the original conception of the course, but it was cancelled after the original pilot period came to an end. I'm glad I had the chance to teach it at the end of the first half of my teaching career and that my students had the chance to experience it.

When the first thoughts on the new specification and the results of the consultation came out there was a lot of excitement about the potential of the new GCSE Natural History specification: focus on fieldwork, creative aspects including art, photography and literature and training in field practice, as well as a multi-disciplinary approach to wildlife and landscape. 

During the time since it was first announced (see the early posts on the blog for more on this period) the exciting elements have undoubtedly been diluted by the various stages such things go through.

This is what Mary had to say earlier today, providing a few insights into what is emerging from the various stages of development so far which she has perhaps been made aware of - and a long way from the wide-ranging content on the 450 posts on this blog so far, which cover all aspects of natural history.

I haven't seen the original piece, but you can see the first page here.

Two days fieldwork is no more than you get from GCSE Geography - this could easily be more but that is what is examinable. There's no problem (as such) with schools offering more, but if it's not examined or really embedded in the specification's structure it will not happen.

Noticing is really important.

The statement above is a key aspect of the development of the new specification.

Fingers crossed that the next time I go to a GCSE Natural History Forum meeting, we are shown something a little more developed, rigorous and ambitious.

#2: OCR"s Natural History Hub

At the time of starting the planning and draft posts for this blog, the awarding body OCR set up a hub to share the work that is being done so far on the qualification and the development journey of the progress towards the official approval. 

I presume that updates will appear here first, so I have followed the various accounts and also set up Google Alerts for various terms.

A Cambridge Assessment seminar provided the following detail on the new GCSE:

Environmentalist and campaigner Mary Colwell began working to address a gap in education content in relation to nature and our environment nearly 10 years ago. In 2019 she began exploring how to make this vision a reality and gathered the support of MPs, environmental organisations and over 10,000 signatures on a UK Parliament Petition for the development of the secondary school curriculum. 

With the support of Tim Oates CBE, Director of Assessment Research and Development, Mary has worked closely with OCR and Cambridge Assessment, the Natural History Museum, The Wildlife Trusts and others to explore the purpose, design and delivery of a GCSE in Natural History. In 2020 a proposal was submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) for the development of this new qualification. 

At this Cambridge Assessment Network seminar, Mary addresses her reasons for embarking on this campaign, including the lack of understanding of nature and its impact, the challenges we face in the future and the important role education can play in overcoming them. 

She is joined by Tim Oates to discuss the process of developing a proposal around this new qualification and the steps involved in helping to shape early thinking about what a Natural History GCSE might look like.

There was a consultation which had the following results:

Keep an eye on this over the year(s) to come as this will be an important element of the development work that is under way.