#350: GCSE Natural History and the election - still waiting.

The status of the qualification is now in limbo as a result of the general election and a change of government.

I've already blogged about the possible impact of this earlier on this GCSE Natural History blog.

What did the political parties have to say on the matter of nature and natural history? There was little in the manifestos to link to the climate emergency or protecting biodiversity.

The new Environmental Secretary talked about the terrible state that some of our environment is in, and water companies have been fined for polluting the rivers - a starting point, assuming the fines come out of dividends for shareholders rather than being passed on to customers.

Will Labour continue with the GCSE Natural History project as part of their look at the curriculum?

There are a lot of unknowns here. Caroline Lucas, who was a big supporter, stepped down as an MP.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.

#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.

#39: Caroline Lucas

Another post which came from the Google Alert I have set up for 'GCSE Natural History'.

One of the big supporters of the new GCSE Natural History was the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas. 

She was the Green Party's first MP. 

She served in Brighton and was also the former co-leader of the Green Party. She announced this week that she was stepping down as an MP.

This week we had a number of other MPs announce they were stepping down. Several of them were appalling individuals and will not be mentioned here.

In the Metro yesterday, Caroline Lucas released a statement.

It contains the following statements, starting with a thanks to the people of Brighton:

I’m truly grateful for the trust they placed in me to be their MP - but I’m standing down to ensure I can focus fully on the climate and nature crises gripping the world.

The Climate and Ecology Bill, which I first tabled back in 2020, and currently going through Parliament, has broad cross-party support.

When campaigns have needed a voice inside Parliament, I have sought to offer it.

After collaborating over many years with nature campaigner Mary Colwell, a Natural History GCSE, will be on the syllabus by 2025/26.

(More evidence that there may well be a delay in the specification being taught for the first time)

I’ve sometimes struggled to focus on the existential challenges that drive me – the climate and nature emergencies.

So I’ve decided to step down at the next election to allow me to turn my full attention to those twin issues.