#522: Environmental Improvement Plan 2023

You can download a PDF of the new Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) for 2023 on this link (PDF download)

This contains a range of information about the Government's plans to protect the environment. Perhaps it should start by not allowing water companies to pollute the rivers.

Plus a whole range of other work that is not being done....

#437: Well, now we are finally getting somewhere... maybe...

Well, it took a while, but there was some news from Parliament today....

Here was the question in Parliament.

It was asked by Ellie Chowns of the Green Party.

And here was the answer from Cathrine McKinnell.

Let's see what happens next...

According to The Guardian:

The government will consult on the GCSE’s subject content later this year. According to Colwell, the criteria drafted under the previous government would need to be revised to ensure the GCSE provided young people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with fieldwork opportunities to learn about the wildlife in their local neighbourhoods.

#428: Launch the GCSE Natural History now!

So say campaigners according to this Guardian piece from the weekend.

It could apparently be delayed until 2030....

The previous Conservative administration had supported creating the GCSE, which would teach pupils how to observe, identify and classify plants and animals.
However, campaigners have claimed the plans had been shelved by Labour because the qualification was seen as a “Tory initiative”.

In response to a letter sent by Mary Colwell, Caroline Lucas and others...

A Department for Education spokesperson said on Saturday: “We are committed to driving high and rising standards in schools and ensuring all pupils benefit from a rich and balanced curriculum that sets them up for work and life.

“Through our National Education Nature Park programme, led by the Natural History Museum, children and young people are inspired to connect with nature and develop their understanding of their own role in climate change.

“The government is currently in the process of considering the next steps for a natural history GCSE.”

Let's see what happens next...

#406: Important update and story in 'The Guardian'

“We need nature education at the heart of school life so everyone has access to it, not just middle-class people who go to the countryside at the weekend and have big gardens. 

It’s the kids in very urban areas who I had in mind because the whole idea of the GCSE is to make natural history on your doorstep something you are fascinated by. 

We have such a crisis in the mental health of our young people and nature is known to be a very healing thing.”

Mary Colwell

The Guardian has a piece from its Environment reporter on the continued delay.

It's a great pity if this is seen as 'political' and something that the new Government can't get behind and move to the next phase with. It has the potential to offer something distinctively different from other curriculum offerings.

As Mary says at the end of the piece:

"Nature can’t afford to be a political football. We need future generations to understand or care for the natural world.”

#401: Climate Action Panel

It's now almost 2 years since I started this blog.

I've just posted the 400th post on the blog, and there is still no sign of the next stage of the process towards adding this qualification as an official additional extra. There needs to be a proper consultation on the draft content of the specification which has been in the making for a while now, and sat on a Minister's desk in the previous government.

Cambridge University Press and Assessment recently hosted a Climate Action Panel event which included Stephen Morgan MP, Minister for Early Education.

The article here describes the event and includes some interesting snippets of information.

Read it to see more...

#395: Hansard Debate

Thanks to Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett via the GCSE Natural History twitter feed for sending a link to this Hansard debate.

Questions were asked about the GCSE Natural History and what progress was being made towards it. Search under Natural History / Geography to find some interesting statements and quotes:

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

We have inherited a disastrous set of values and attitudes towards the environment, with thinking that goes back a long way and which we have adopted into our intellectual tradition. It includes the great chain of
being, which is the concept that human beings are some kind of pinnacle of life, and the idea that the whole complexity of life on earth—the living system that James Lovelock identified as Gaia, which has evolved over billions of years—is there for us as a species, under our control and for our exploitation.

The 21st century has exposed that for the dangerous fallacy it is, with the climate emergency, the nature crisis and the poisoning of our planet with novel entities; six of the nine planetary boundaries have been exceeded. We know that there are other intellectual traditions and other ways of looking at the world, which are attracting attention from our scientists and researchers. For example, I note that, across many African religions, there is the concept of ukama, which states that animals are part of a community with humans; it emphasises mutual dependence, a sense of unity and, at least sometimes, a moral imperative of respect.

Shared via OGL (Open Government License)

#394: Wildlife Trusts blog 'statement' on the GCSE Natural History's stalled progress

The Wildlife Trusts have called on the government to take action to keep the GCSE Natural History on course. 

The Natural History GCSE would bring young people closer to nature through hands-on learning, but delays are holding it back. 📚 🌳

The Wildlife Trusts urge @GOVUK to move forward, empowering students to engage with our natural world!

Read morehttps://t.co/Wm0F6DBO8j

— The Wildlife Trusts (@WildlifeTrusts) November 13, 2024

You can read the blog post from Jen Davis by clicking the link.

 It ends with these words

The Natural History GCSE claims to prioritise nature connection and bringing theory and experiential learning together to support our future leaders. Surely, it’s worth exploring.

Now, a small army of new ministers and advisors – new not only to their roles, but to the legacy left by their predecessors, hold the potential of the GCSE in their hands. 

The next step is for the DfE to release the long overdue public consultation, where you can have your say. What do you want to see in the GCSE? How can we ensure that this becomes a truly accessible way for students to both learn about, and connect with the natural world? 

Without the consultation, this opportunity will simply pass us by. We strongly urge the Government to take the next step and instruct DfE to launch the public consultation, unlocking the GCSE for the next stage of development.

#343: Curriculum review incoming

The new Labour government is turning its attention to the curriculum.

There are already new specifications which are going ahead. This includes the uncertain fate of the GCSE in Natural History - we are waiting for news of that.

Bridget Phillipson, the new Secretary of State for Education has announced a review of Curriculum and Assessment led by experts.

✏️ Today I've announced an expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review

🤔 What does that actually mean?

📺 Watch below 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/lRgzSw2BvK

— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) July 19, 2024

 

Our Curriculum & Assessment Review will give every child:

🧮 Strong foundations in core subjects
🎨 Access to music, sport, art & drama
🗣️ More digital, speaking & life skills

We'll deliver a broad, rich curriculum so children leave education ready for life, work & the future. https://t.co/54QrEWkwJZ

— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) July 19, 2024

The person leading that review is certainly an expert, having worked with the Education Endowment Foundation - we used their toolkit when developing our work on the D3 ERASMUS project.

Professor Becky Francis was also the previous Director of the UCL Institute of Education - another organisation I have been involved with in the past - firstly as somone who helped develop the GeoCapabilities project and as a UCL Fawcett Fellow for 2022-23.

Thanks you for all the generous and kind comments about my appointment by @bphillipsonMP to lead the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review. I am really overwhelmed by your support.

— Prof Becky Francis (@BeckyFrancis7) July 19, 2024

They will also take a look at OFSTED too.

The Labour government knows we need accountability to drive high & rising standards in education.

But today’s Ofsted system is high stakes for staff, low information for families — it needs proper reform.

Pleased to speak to HMCI about delivering the change our children need. pic.twitter.com/hsRmzjYq3V

— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) July 20, 2024

I look forward to seeing what emerges, and hopefully having a say in anything which touches on the geography curriculum and the place of geography generally.

One good outcome will hopefully be a focus on SEND and those pupils who need more support and removing overly strict behaviour policies.

The TES article here outlines what we know so far.

#336: Green Party message following the recent election

We now have a new Labour Government and a new Education Secretary in Bridget Phillipson. She is going to be very busy. The new Government has already shown that it is different in that it has placed people in key ministerial positions who have some knowledge of the spheres in which they will be working.

The Green Party quadrupled its number of MPs at the election.

They have released a list of 10 priorities they think the Government should have to improve the environment, and Britain generally.

Number nine is of particular interest to us.

#327: Teaching Times article from Mary Colwell gives an update

A new article in 'Teaching Times' by Mary Colwell gives a bit of an update into the state of the GCSE Natural History, and its possible introduction in 2026.

She mentions the assessment as being based on coursework and fieldwork - I think that is very unlikely.

The Subject Criteria have now been written and were signed off by Damien Hinds, who is the current Minister of State for Schools. However, it became mired in the political process before the general election was called, and it has not yet gone to public consultation. We wait to see if the next government will revive it and make it a reality for first teaching in 2026 (at the earliest). 

There is a long way to go still; the public consultation will need to be taken on board, Ofqual will need to produce its requirements and the exam boards will need to write their exam content, which must be approved again by Ofqual. Textbooks will need to be written and teacher training and resource provisions put in place. 

There is a lot to do even for a 2026 introduction.

Natural history requires specialist knowledge and support must be found for schools that want to train teachers or take on new staff. Resources must also be available to help schools with trips and equipment.

#323: A casualty of the early election?

Earlier today, this diagram was shared on Twitter, which looks from the formatting to be a panel from a recent copy of the i newspaper.

It shows the Government policies that were announced, but never came to fruition because of the early call for a General Election. 

Some of these were not the result of the 4th of July call, but the civil servants who would have been working on preparing all the documentation for the consultation that is needed in order for the next stage of the qualification's development ahead of a possible 2025 start will no longer be working due to purdah. This means that the relevant steps to progress have not been taken. 

Is it the end for the qualification? 

Will the new Government continue to develop the project? 

It's unlikely to be earlier than 2026 before it will be taught for the first time?

We'll find out more after the Election I guess....

Update - a Tweet from Mary Colwell...

Thanks Jules - so despairing about the last delay to the GCSE in Natural History - it now hangs in the balance and relies on Labour pushing it through. But will they? https://t.co/kbEvfXTYhl

— Mary Colwell (@curlewcalls) June 3, 2024

#310: A small 'update' (or mention at least)

I regularly search through a number of media to see if there are any relevant details on the development of the new specification and the need to have another round of consultations on content and assessment models.

Earlier today there was a bit of a mention during a meeting of an all-party Parliamentary group on the Environment...

.@CarolineLucas asked for an update on the consultation for the new Natural History GCSE, which is due to start in Sept 2025.

This is in write round, taking longer than planned, and the 2025 start may be challenging. pic.twitter.com/mIgbDiwzTX

— All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Environment (@EnvironmentAPPG) May 15, 2024

#268: Nature has rights - or not...

Another new low from the UK government from a week or so ago, which I've just got round to posting here... there've been quite a few other related stories as well.

This Guardian article has been retweeted a number of times over the last few days, with the same sort of response from a great many environmental organisations and campaigners.

“It’s paradoxical because it recognises rights for non-human entities like corporations but denies them to non-human living beings. It’s contradictory because, while rhetorically acknowledging different cultures and Indigenous worldviews, it nevertheless imposes the western understanding of rights and law,”

Robert MacFarlane has written on the fact that rivers were recognised as being a living thing, and Patrick Barkham has also written for The Guardian on this theme.

#235: NatureScot website

The NatureScot website is worth a visit. There is plenty of interest here on the work of Scotland's Nature Agency.

There is a useful Information Hub.

This includes a set of Podcasts on the theme of Making Space for Nature.

There are also sections on Climate Change, Landforms and Geology, Landscapes and Habitats and  Platnts, animals and fungi.

#165: Politics

It's going to be interesting to see the political dimensions of the new curriculum and how particular topics are framed, and guidance given to teachers in terms of how they approach the teaching of particular areas of Natural History linked with the management of landscapes and environments. 

At the moment, the ideas and results of the original consultation are sitting with an Education Minister who has not responded in enough time to keep to the original timetable for first teaching from 2025.

A group of people as yet unknown have been working on draft subject criteria for the new specification which are long awaited, and there is no sign as yet of when we might expect some sort of action with few updates being provided despite the need to get cracking if all the support material that is needed to teach an entire specification is going to be produced in anything less than a great big rush.

One can imagine the ministers who see the document wanting to ensure that particular elements of the course are looked at for their potential political implications. The particular dogma that political parties in government follow are not always sympathetic to the environment. We have also seen lots of broken promises on the benefits of Brexit for farmers, none of which have been seen, and the end result has been a lot of food producers going out of business or deciding to sell up due to the economics of farming. It would be difficult to teach some of the proposed topics without referencing a lack of action, removal of funding or some other outcome which is the result of years of the same party in Government.

The Government has made a number of decisions on topics which will have a direct impact on the economy, including the use of chemicals which are harmful to bees in order to protect sugar beet crops.

They appointed Therese Coffey to the vital role of Environment Secretary. She has little understanding of the key topics such as nutrient neutrality. Her recent comments on the impacts of Storm Ciaran and the fact that the wind was coming from an unfamiliar direction drew rightful criticism. The state of our rivers, including local chalk streams has also been the subject of campaigning by Feargal Sharkey and others. Protections are being removed and legislation watered down. None of this is in doubt. The Government also recently said that species reintroductions were not a priority.

“The UK is officially cited as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. A major study recently found that a shocking one in six species is now at risk of extinction – and the huge decline in abundance of most species bodes very badly for us all – whether through the lack of pollinators for crops or thriving habitats to filter water and store carbon. Nature’s buzz and song is disappearing from our lives and so are the huge range of other benefits that nature brings us. The UK Government has recognised the need for urgent action and it has made big commitments – but has failed to keep them. That’s why we’re publishing a list of this Government’s broken promises – it’s a wake-up call to us all.”

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts website features ten broken promises. Many of them are directly relevant to the GCSE Natural History development in some way.

Today, The Wildlife Trusts publish a list of 10 broken promises by the UK Government on nature and our environment.

We hope next week’s #kingsspeech will signal a better future for the UK’s struggling natural environment.

Read more 📜👉https://t.co/t2MuwS4UBF

— The Wildlife Trusts (@WildlifeTrusts) November 3, 2023

The ninth of these references the Natural History GCSE directly:

#161: Natural England

The resources that will be created for the new GCSE Natural History will include a set of weblinks directing teachers and students to organisations which connect with the key themes within the specification. 

Natural England is the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. It helps to protect and restore our natural world and some of its activities and reports connect directly with the likely themes within the specification which is as yet to be revealed.

Natural England is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

It is worth exploring the links above, to investigate what the site has to offer. There is content on a range of themes linked to landscape and nature.

Here are some sample highlights from the Natural England site. 

I had the pleasure of working with Natural England on a booklet called 'The Language of Landscape' which accompanied free Ordnance Survey Maps which were sent to Year 7 students for some years in the early 2000s. The emergence of Digimap for Schools was the end of that project.

Natural England has a number of publications, maps and data.

Natural England also provide information on lanscape and its management.

#116: Write to Nick Gibb...

...to ask him why he's been sitting on the proposals and stalling on the release of the subject criteria... while the natural world continues to decline. I guess we should expect this of this government: - U-turns and delays and cancellations (let's wait for that...) 

The GCSE in Natural History has stalled in the Minister for School's office (@NickGibbUK ) for 18 months. Please email him and ask why the delay? Please tell him you think it is vital we teach the next generation about nature. Draft text here: https://t.co/5KwCGm4CtX pic.twitter.com/iJQlSYWtNY

— Mary Colwell (@curlewcalls) October 6, 2023

 

Click the link for some text that you can use to draft your own message to Nick Gibb to ask him to pull his finger out...

It's also available on the Facebook group page in the FILES section.

#37: Mentioned in Parliament, and a possible delay?

An interesting mention for the new qualfication....

📺 WATCH: CEN MP @WalkerWorcester highlights the new skilled jobs being created to monitor levels of biodiversity.

He sets out how the Natural History GCSE will help equip students for these new careers. Its introduction was a campaign win for CEN MPs. pic.twitter.com/rR5QAC9L1W

— Conservative Environment Network (@CEN_HQ) May 18, 2023

But will it be ready for first teaching in 2025 as previously mentioned?

It seems that this may in doubt according to a post on Mary Colwell's blog from the start of the month, providing an update.

It has been one year since the Natural History GCSE was agreed by the Department of Education. What has happened since? Read our latest blog to find out more.https://t.co/g6Ucgyxnu4#nature #NaturalHistoryGCSE #naturalhistory #naturalhistorymuseum #schools #wildlife #blog pic.twitter.com/JGoZ1HFYfU

— Curlew Action (@CurlewAction) May 8, 2023

#17: Hedging their bets

More news of mistakes by government recently, this time referring to hedgerow planting as part of the new plans for supporting wildlife in the countryside. 

Hedgerows are an important habitat for a wide range of species, and are really important for biodiversity. Some are hundreds of years old - those in Devon which are an important feature of the landscape are over 800 years old.

There was apparently a typo in the document that was previously published...

CPRE is 'the Countryside Charity' and has a particular focus on hedgerows.

Their hedgerows campaign is calling for #40by50. 

But what does this mean?

From the CPRE website:

The government loves talking about tree planting and peatland restoration, but it seems to have forgotten our hedgerows. 

We’re campaigning for them to commit to a target for planting and restoring thousands of miles of hedgerows across the country.

'We need a 40% increase by 2050 at the latest.'

40: We want to see the hedgerow network increase by 40%. This number was recommended by the independent Climate Change Committee and is equivalent to about 120,000 miles in Britain – half way to the moon!

50: This is the time frame. We need a 40% increase by 2050 at the latest. This requires adding over 4,000 miles of new and restored hedgerows per year, starting now.

For those in need of a definition of hedges, here's a useful one:

A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties.

Top image: Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license - a hedge in Norfolk - love your local hedges...