Sunday, January 05, 2020

GCSE in natural history being developed


Will Hazell claims an exclusive in the i:
A GCSE in natural history is being planned to help teenagers reconnect with wildlife by learning the names and characteristics of British plants and animals, i can reveal. 
i understands that a major UK exam board is actively working up proposals for the new qualification, which is the brainchild of broadcaster and nature writer Mary Colwell and backed by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas. 
Ms Colwell said she was hopeful it could be taught in schools in England as early as September 2021.
Mary Colwell explained why she has been promoting this idea in a guest post for this blog last year:
It arose from a realisation that the world is unfamiliar to so many. Although we live here, breathe the air, eat what is grown in the earth and watch programmes that celebrate the natural world, many people know little about their surroundings. 
This was not the case 50 years ago. There has been a steady erosion of the rock that kept us stable on the planet - our understanding of nature and our place in it. 
A similar idea lay behind the publication of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris and the subsequent campaign to get it into schools.

1 comment:

  1. Children love to learn ,are curious by/of the World about them.An A level must come forward to encourage further understanding of the balance of nature and our part in it.. This is something the party should encourage for they are the
    future(and voters).

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