GCSE in Natural History

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It seems like this is going to be officially announced later this week: a new GCSE in Natural History. There has been much discussion today on #geographyteacher Twitter about the plans and their implications.

Several papers have reported it, and it forms part of a new strategy aimed at.....  well, deflecting attention from the many things the Prime Minister and other members of the government have done wrong, as with all recent strategies. 

And finally, it is being announced as definite on Thursday (also World Curlew Day!) - a GCSE purely on studying natural history in the UK and how it relates to the rest of the world. Field skills, ID, connection to nature. Some good news. Only took 11 years of campaigning! https://t.co/d2UH0b4t3X

I've been aware of these plans for about four years now and have already commented on the proposed qualification previously on the blog. There is certainly a great deal of merit in exploring nature and our relationship with it. The qualification proposal has been developed with the support of Caroline Lucas and others.

The OCR page here has more details and links and has been around for a while. 

The OCR consultation ran during 2020 - I took part in it - and the final report and proposal document is here.

It included the infographic below:


Source: https://teach.ocr.org.uk/summary-of-findings?hsLang=en-gb 

It will be interesting to see if a little more fleshing out of the proposed specification appears this week as well. It will also need to go beyond the knowledge of identifying plants / trees which was part of the rationale. I hope it doesn't have a list of plants to identify as part of an assessment, for example.

Here's a seminar from May 2021 that Tim Oates and Mary Colwell took part in. 

It includes some statistics on time spent outside by children for example - one of the reasons behind the creation of Mission:Explore in 2006.



In 2019, I met Mary Colwell at an event at the Linnaean Society down in London. It was to mark the 75th anniversary of the Field Studies Council. I blogged about it here. 

Mary spoke about her plans at the event and I talked to her afterwards. 

I said how I liked the approach that was suggested, but also that my KS3 Geography curriculum already did much of what she was proposing. I mentioned the staffing implications and timetable demands and how any periods of time were important to particular teachers' personal timetable allocations and therefore potentially their job security, or the balance of teaching in any department that offered it. 

I mentioned how Geography already taught about sustainability and climate change. I mentioned how any geography teachers teaching the new GCSE would therefore not be teaching other years, and how it's important that from Early Years to KS3, that students aren't switched off choosing GCSE Geography or they won't be candidates to take it.

I would also suggest that an interest in Natural History doesn't mean you want to study it at school on a government approved specification that doesn't match with your particular interests in Nature and the Planet... 

How contentious will the areas covered be? 

How critical will it be of the last decade of Tory Government when we lost so much time to reduce climate emissions because of their inaction?

How much notice will be taken of the pupil voice in this area, and will students' own agency make its way into the official OFQUAL approved document?

Will there be consultation with the appropriate related curriculum areas: with the subject associations for example?

Will it explore the issue of unequal access to nature? We use the photography of Ingrid Pollard to explore this, and have also followed the growth of groups like the Muslim Hikers with interest.

Given the statistics that were used by Steve Brace at his session at the 2022 GA Conference last week on the reasons lying behind students' own choices of exam qualifications to study, will there also be some sort of information on the careers this might open up, and how well paid those might be? Where are the overlaps with other subjects going to impact on teaching / assessment - geology etc. Will it recruit enough students to run as an option? How will it be promoted?

I loved reading, but studying English Literature means looking at specified books you would not have chosen to read, that you have to read and dissect and regurgitate in the exam, and that can remove some of the personal connection with them...

In the Guardian, the Educational Secretary Nadhim Zahawi is quoted as saying:

“Sustainability and climate change are the biggest challenges facing mankind. None of us can be in any doubt just how critical they have become. The new natural history GCSE will offer young people a chance to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of this amazing planet, its environment and how to conserve it.”

Fixed it for you Nadhim

“Sustainability and climate change are the biggest challenges facing mankind. None of us can be in any doubt just how critical they have become. Geography already offers The new natural history GCSE will offer young people a chance to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of this amazing planet, its environment and how to conserve it.”

On Friday last week I was in London when young people were among the group of Extinction Rebellion protestors who blocked four London bridges. I walked across an empty Blackfriars with protestors drumming and whistling and helicopters hovering overhead as hundreds of Police officers stood and watched.

Young people already know how to save the planet, but if they try to do it, it is very possible they will be criminalised by the new protest bill which is making many of our means of questioning the Government's decisions harder. 

Natural History and our environment is being damaged by decisions over power generation, transport infrastructure, housing developments and a whole range of other government policy decisions which are often aimed at the short term to try to get them voted back into power. 

At my school, our curriculum already covers much of what it seems will be covered in the proposed specification. We do it at KS3 and below.
  • We introduce students to nature - the 'field skills' mentioned
  • We read with them, and use the words of the new nature writers, sharing the words of Robert MacFarlane, Cal Flyn and others.
  • We engage them with environmental art / culture / music / poetry - the cultural and literature links run through our curriculum
  • They appreciate that we are changing the planet, that we live in the Anthropocene and that the warming planet will affect ecosystems and humans.

I also remember back to the mid 2000s when OCR introduced another specification: the OCR Pilot GCSE Geography. I taught it, and allowed us to explore whole new areas of the subject, with a conceptual basis.
This was based around five concepts.
Futures
Uneven Development
Globalisation
Interdependence
Sustainability

There were units exploring our impact on the planet, and one called My Place, where students chose the place they were going to investigate.

After about five years, OFQUAL pulled it... it was a little too revolutionary perhaps... I still remember that as being the best experience of my teaching career. Geography already explored much of the same areas as the proposed new qualification, and 15 years ago...

I'm looking forward to finding out more, to seeing what is on the spec and how it will be examined. This is potentially an exciting qualification that can result in the Collaborative Geographies that are the theme of Alastair Owens' 2023 GA Conference. I might even get to teach it before I finish teaching.

Oh, and if OCR are reading this and need someone to write the textbook for the new specification, I can definitely 'recommend' someone...
Which reminds me of another question - how and by whom will it be resourced?

Images: Fungi on Litcham Common / XR protestors on Blackfriars bridge - Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license.

Update
Thanks to Steve Brace.


Update 
Thanks to the i Newspaper.
An article by climate justice activist Scarlett Westbrook. Her details are in the tweet below. I hunted out a copy of the article.

The online version of the piece interestingly has a different headline.

Update

Another useful point was made by Paula Owens about the need to ensure sufficient student agency in the new qualification - that was a real strength of the OCR Pilot course. 

Update 21st April

From the DfE Sustainability Strategy - published today

Get a copy by clicking this link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy/sustainability-and-climate-change-a-strategy-for-the-education-and-childrens-services-systems

From birth to 5 years old, the early years foundation stage (EYFS) framework ensures that all children develop an understanding of the world and the natural environment.

As they progress through primary and secondary school, children and young people continue to build on this knowledge through science, geography and citizenship programmes within the national curriculum. Existing GCSEs such as design and technology, food preparation and nutrition, and economics contain opportunities for students to be taught about the environmental and sustainability context of the processes and principles underlying these subjects.

By 2025 we will aim to introduce a natural history GCSE, giving young people a further opportunity to engage with and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the natural world. 
In studying this GCSE, young people will explore organisms and environments in more depth, gain knowledge and practical experience of fieldwork and develop a greater understanding of conservation.

Does that mean first teaching from 2025 or first exams in 2025?

Alan Kinder, the GA's Chief Executive was present at the event at the Natural History Museum where it was launched.


Update - 22nd April 2022
An interesting piece in 'The Conversation' about the new qualification written by two academics from the University of Reading.
This provides a further perspective on the background to the new qualification.

A response from co-chairs Ann Finlayson, Andrea Bullivant and Elena Lengthorn


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