A blog providing ideas and resources for those teachers hoping to teach the new GCSE Specification, first announced in April 2022. Draft subject content released for consultation in June 2026 - for first teaching from 2028 or 2029.
A Guardian article from late 2023 had a piece on what it called the 'nature cure'.
A lot has been made of the health benefits of being outside in nature rather than inside staring at a screen. This is supposed to 'save the NHS' hundreds of thousands of pounds every year by reducing stress.
Nature connectedness will be a major element of the new specification I would hope.
Via The Guardian today.
News of some recovery in some wildlife populations was shared today by Natural England.
As part of its £13m species recovery programme’s capital grants scheme, the recovery of 150 species has been supported.
As Tony Juniper says, such nature recovery work needs more projects, more volunteers and more money to flow from all sources, particularly the private sector. It will also need to go hand in hand with improved environmental quality, including through reduced pollution.
An excellent Guardian interactive looking at the life of microplastics.
It includes some interesting details which I hadn't considered before about the impact on microfauna.
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.Often when walking in the countryside, a footpath will take you to a road and then expect you to walk along the road for a while to connect up to the next available footpath and continue with your journey.
There are also paths which have not been used for a while, or have been deliberately (or accidentally) blocked by landowners for various reasons.
Some years ago, a deadline was set for footpaths to be recorded otherwise the right to use them would be lost.
This Guardian article outlines the
During the COVID19 pandemic and lockdowns, one of the highlights of my day was when I closed my work laptop and went for a walk on a permissive path which completed a circular walk around my village, for my daily exercise. I did this for about a year.
On this (Boxing) day of walks, some good walking/access news—
— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) December 26, 2024
c. 40,000 miles of historic rights-of-way in England & Wales have been reprieved from deletion from the “definitive map” of such paths.
Great work @ramblers.org.uk & other campaigners on this.https://t.co/yUTKXfUUCt
Good to contribute to @Matthew_Wright's @LBC show on better walking access to avoid dangerous roads with you @emilymnorton.
— Dan Raven-Ellison (@DanRavenEllison) December 27, 2024
Agreed with your points, including the need for better driving!
We at @SlowWaysUK are working to find good ways where they exist! https://t.co/xbXYivQaqq
A piece in The Guardian from a few days ago talks about the slow disappearance of birdsong from the landscape.
Biodiversity is rapidly declining, reducing the quantity and quality of human interactions with nature and constraining its contribution to human health and well-being. Natural sounds are a key component of our experience of nature, but biodiversity losses are reflected in soundscapes, which are becoming less diverse and quieter.
There are various terms here which may relate to the changing relationship we have with our surroundings. The soundscape is changing, and shifting baseline syndrome means we are not necessarily aware of what we have lost. Landscapes emanate a collection of biological, geophysical and anthropogenic sounds which together form ‘soundscapes’
Check out this academic paper which is mentioned in the piece. It's accessibly written. On the extinction of experience.
A Long Read in The Guardian from October 2023 focussed on the battle to save Sheffield's trees during a period when their removal had been contracted out to a company that had no issues with removing an excessive number of trees which were causing no harm to people's property and were not diseased and dangerous.
At the time, people were arrested and had their lives disrupted and faced a criminal record to protect trees which were not causing any problems.
We know that trees are essential in cities and Sheffield was famous for having perhaps more trees than any other European city.
They had already lost elms during the period when Dutch Elm disease ravaged the tree species and changed the landscape in many parts of the country.
Today's Guardian long read on the battle for Sheffield's trees https://t.co/7Ep6vMFoXS
— GCSE Natural History (@GCSENatHist) October 24, 2023
I could easily start a series of blog posts of 'reasons why we need a GCSE Natural History' - usually these are stories showing a disconnection with nature, particular amongst young people and those who might have completed their education in the last few years, without a particular input on Natural History. This story relating to the Sycamore Gap tree makes some useful points.
'How can we expect people to form the kind of connections with this living world that might stop a tree-cutter’s saw or force a change in habits if they cannot be in it? How can we ask people to protect something they have no sense of belonging in, or to?'https://t.co/XB0ZZPq6z2
— Right to Roam (@Right_2Roam) October 3, 2023
A report which always makes fairly shocking reading is the Living Planet report from WWF.
This is the latest edition of the report, dating from 2022. There will be at least one more update before the new specification starts to be prepared for first teaching.
A young person's version of the report is also available.
The Young Person's report would be a fantastic resource for the course. It has a global scale look at key ecosystems such as the Amazon, and the world's oceans, and is presented in an easily accessible visual style.
A cross posting from my Geo Library blog project - what do you mean you haven't visited? There's over 700 books that would be of in...
