Rewild the Natural History GCSE

The UK Government is running a consultation on the new Natural History GCSE, offering a chance to shape how young people learn about the environment and their place in it.

Studying natural history gives young people a background of understanding of the impacts on biodiversity over recent centuries and supplies them with an appreciation of how to reverse this trend. This GCSE could inspire a new generation of advocates for and participants in nature regeneration.

Rewilding is an exciting subject, with huge grounds for optimism and hope. It’s a proven and effective approach to nature recovery, with plenty of examples happening now in the UK at large and small scale. We know from our own experience that species reintroductions and the restoration of dynamic habitats are especially compelling for young people.

We are therefore advocating for rewilding to be strongly integrated into the content of the Natural History GCSE. Something you can now help shape.

The consultation includes an online form, or the option to respond by email. We have reviewed the consultation and made a template to use.

To ask for rewilding to be incorporated into the course, you can:

  • Use our suggested responses for questions to complete the online form.

OR

  • Copy and paste our template into an email.

  • Add what rewildings mean to you or how you think your children, family, or society would benefit from rewilding the curriculum.

  • Add your name.

  • Send this to nhgcse.consultation@education.gov.uk

Email template

Subject: Natural History GCSE Consultation Response

Dear Department for Education Qualifications Policy Team, 

I am writing in response to the consultation on the proposed subject content of the Natural History GCSE, and feel strongly that rewilding should be both directly mentioned and it’s principles integrated throughout the curriculum.

Add positives here? Fieldwork and local relevance.

Studying natural history builds a background of understanding of the impacts on biodiversity over recent centuries and supplies young people with an appreciation of how to reverse this trend. This GCSE could inspire a new generation of advocates for and participants in nature regeneration.

As drivers for nature recovery increase around the world, opportunities for the employment of young people in nature-based roles are rising at unprecedented rates. A Natural History GCSE provides an entry point for young people into these roles. It is therefore fundamentally important that the study of natural history reflects the latest scientific thinking and evidence.

Rewilding is an exciting subject, with huge grounds for optimism and hope. It’s a proven and effective approach to nature recovery, with plenty of examples happening now in the UK at large and small scales.

(Add a personal anecdote about what rewilding means to you here or why you think it’s important for young people.)

Question 11. Paragraphs 7 – 12 of the proposed subject content detail the requirements for the study of habitats and wildlife in the UK. Do you agree with these requirements?

Paragraph 7 and 8 (which define the entire structure of the content): Natural history has tended to focus on species and habitats in isolation. The new GCSE continues this by dividing content into six habitat types. We’re missing how species move between them and the diversity of margins. The curriculum should recognise the inherent limitations of habitat definitions; providing a gateway into understanding ecosystems as habitats in flux and the dynamic movement of species. THIS IS THE THE NUMBER 1 KEY POINT, MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T GET LOST!

At Knepp, rewilding has taught us the value of taking a holistic approach to the study of nature and, in particular, understanding the importance of natural processes in an ecosystem – processes such as dynamic natural hydrology, natural regeneration, animal disturbance, predation, and the dynamic forces of death and decay,  

In the past, natural history has tended to focus on species and habitats in isolation. Rewilding is revealing the effect species have on each other, and how they interact with and change their environment. Conventionally, science assigns a specific habitat to a certain species, but rewilding shows us that most species benefit from different habitats in different seasons and over the course of their lifetime. INTEGRATE THIS PROPERLY

Paragraph 10: Students will learn how geology and soil shape habitats, but urban and farmland are explicitly excluded. As these are habitats that many young people will be familiar with, and are vital parts of landscape connectivity and diversity, it’s important to explain how they have evolved historically, how they are continuing to evolve, and what they can (if managed in the right way) provide for wildlife. Understanding this is particularly crucial for urban and farmland as they do best when developed on suitable land - for example, avoiding farming on heavy clay soil or building houses on floodplains.

Paragraph 11: The framing of a fixed order of species toward a final end point or ‘climax community’ is outdated and focuses on plants to the exclusion of animals - an artificial construct resulting from the eradication of large herbivores and other animals from our landscape. The curriculum should recognise that healthy landscapes allow space for regeneration alongside disturbance like animals herbivory and storms, creating a fluctuating balance which benefits far more species than a fixed ending. This is currently on presented in the footnotes and should be moved into the main content.

For all these points, I’m torn between keeping language simpler like the social media post so more people can understand the points they are making, or fitting it into the government’s more complex language. Above and below are examples for paragraph 11. Would a middle ground work best?

The framing of succession towards a climax community of plants is outdated. It focuses on flora to the exclusion of fauna – an artificial construct resulting from the eradication of large herbivores and other animals from the landscape. The balance between natural regeneration and animal and other disturbance should be central to an understanding of how ecosystems function, not complex terms with footnotes. The bullet points on mosaic habitats and spatiotemporal heterogeneity are doing too much work for concepts this important. 

Question 12. Paragraph 13 of the proposed subject content details the requirements for the study of human influence on the natural world. Do you agree with these requirements?

It is important that human influence should not be framed as exclusively damaging. Our role in nature recovery - e.g. the nature-friendly, restorative role of regenerative agriculture and the important role of sustainable fishing in policing Marine Protected Areas - must also be acknowledged to avoid creating a binary view. 

Descriptions of nature conservation in marine reserves, nature reserves, national parks and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are currently exclusively interventionist – ie relying on human management, stimulus and control. Recent evidence shows how limiting human management of nature sites can be, and how costly in terms of time, energy and money. Rewilding has opened up a whole new world of opportunity for nature restoration, focusing not just on existing conservation sites, but creating functioning, diverse ecosystems from degraded land such as unprofitable farmland, defunct mining areas and brownfield sites.  

At large scale, free-roaming large animals (including beavers) can be used as ‘managers’ of the system, restoring the soil with their dung and disturbance, generating diverse habitats including shrubland, opening up closed canopy woodland, creating bodies of water and keeping them open, spreading seeds and providing materials such as hair and dung as nesting materials for other species. ‘No take zones’ and Marine Protected Areas demonstrate how quickly marine ecosystems can recover if simply left to their own devices. Allowing nature to take the driving seat takes the burden off human resources and creates a far more heterogenous and complex ecosystem than humans could ever come up with on their own.   

Herbivores can also be extremely effective at controlling non-native invasive species – eg cattle, ponies, elk and beavers all eat Himalayan balsam. A huge amount of human time and money is spend on eradicating non-natives with generally only very limited success – time and money that could be better spent on ecosystem recovery. Rewilding demonstrates how much harder it is for a non-native species to make inroads, let alone take over, in a functioning, complex ecosystem. SHORTEN

Calls to simply ”support the natural world” are unhelpfully vague. Young people, who may well be suffering some degree of eco-anxiety, are keen to know what they can do to help. Taking action is, itself, a cure for eco-anxiety. Becoming part of the solution, part of a movement for change, is galvanising and hopeful and helps build communities and self-esteem.

Question 13. Paragraphs 14 – 20 of the proposed subject content detail the requirements for fieldwork. Do you agree with these requirements?

Could add something positive about fieldwork here. Nice to have the balance against the changes that need making, but also makes it longer.

16. Appendix 2 provides a list of different types of species within each of the following 6 habitats (Urban, Freshwater, Woodland, Grassland, Farmland and Marine).

The department has proposed this is an advisory list from which awarding organisations can use to create their own, equivalently sized list for each habitat, when writing GCSE specifications. Do you agree the list set out in the subject content should be advisory?

Another place to talk about the issues with talking about habitats in isolation or the positive about local relevance?

19. Is there anything you would like to feed back that is not covered in the questions above?

A subject aim here is stated as: “Demonstrate knowledge of the global dynamic and important relationships between species, through study of migrations, introductions and invasions.” But migration doesn’t appear anywhere in the actual content. ADD IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTIVITY HERE, COULD LINK TO STORKS?

Rewilding is a proven and effective approach to nature recovery, with huge grounds for hope and plenty of examples happening now in the UK at large and small scale. Species reintroductions and the restoration of dynamic habitats are especially compelling for young people. The new GCSE is currently missing out on an increasingly popular way to engage young people. Rewilding should be both directly mentioned and it’s principles integrated throughout the curriculum.

22. Do any of the proposals have the potential to have an effect, positive or negative, on:

  • the use or management of land in the UK;

  • the atmosphere;

  • any type of inland, coastal or marine water body;

  • wildlife;

  • the supply of raw materials from natural sources;

  • opportunities for outdoor recreation?

Could reinforce previous points? I don’t think there is anything specifically new here?

Final CTA.

Thank you for considering my views within your consultation. 

Sincerely, 

(Add your name)