Brilliant news! At last, confirmation that the Govt *will* go ahead with the #NaturalHistoryGCSE 🎉 We have to get to know our fellow travellers on this planet again. Young people who know & love nature are far more likely to protect & restore it - as well as enjoying better physical & mental health - ThreadSky

carolinelucas.bsky.social • 74 days ago

Brilliant news! At last, confirmation that the Govt *will* go ahead with the #NaturalHistoryGCSE 🎉 We have to get to know our fellow travellers on this planet again. Young people who know & love nature are far more likely to protect & restore it - as well as enjoying better physical & mental health

Comments

radical-leftist-mo.bsky.social•74 days ago

Congratulations! Also really love the americans on here not knowing other countries exist and have their own DoE lol 💯🤣❤️🙏🏻

brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social•74 days ago

Such wonderful news!

isobel-11.bsky.social•74 days ago

News about the government which isn't miserable shite: how refreshing.

petalpainter48.bsky.social•74 days ago

Good

charlie-cheeze.bsky.social•74 days ago

This is great news. I like that there is a cross over between the science of natural history and the arts, both of which try to understand the world around us through study. This was pointed out recently by Prof Carl Jones on BBC Desert Island Discs.

coolfm.bsky.social•74 days ago

Great. Now we just need schools to be given the budget to enable them to offer it and for teachers to be valued enough to resolve the retention and recruitment crisis.

worthlesswarbe.bsky.social•74 days ago

didn t the DOE Just get shuttered so this wont happen. :(

chrismo76.bsky.social•74 days ago

Don’t worry this is the UK not the insane USA

docp67.bsky.social•74 days ago

Wrong country.

worthlesswarbe.bsky.social•74 days ago

Babylon the Great the fabled land where all who dwell in babble on about how great they are greatest military greatest shopping malls greatest people greatest GOD this must be babylon the great the great nation destined to fall which no man would look upon again. is it that country? sorry where am I

jonathan-gull.bsky.social•74 days ago

A future where people travel to marvel at the natural world rather than stone edifices representing mans' hubris.

2300.bsky.social•74 days ago

Oh wow, I would have loved to take that at GCSE. What a great subject.

lynny49.bsky.social•74 days ago

Me too! I always loved the nature table at primary school 😊.

kayemac.bsky.social•74 days ago

It would be great if the content of the GCSE could be rolled out as one or more modular MOOCs for adults.

hierath77.bsky.social•74 days ago

I'd do it

learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social•74 days ago

Most GCSE courses end up available in some form for home educated children to take as private candidates; no age limit on access. You could start with Environmental Management or Marine Science.

kayemac.bsky.social•74 days ago

I would prefer short free courses with no exams - along the lines of FutureLearn but I can see the virtue of those private candidate GCSEs for those who can manage their time. I did 2 A levels that way one year when I was in my twenties and got 2 Cs. Brain fog can get the better of me nowadays.

learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social•74 days ago

The courses are generally separate to the exams. And ofc everyone prefers free but someone has to put the work in to create it, which happens less for lower entry subjects. The textbook is usually not too expensive though and I’ve found you can cover a GCSE in a few weeks that way.

maylandswa.bsky.social•72 days ago

Still wish that people such as Rachel Reeves actually cared about the Bats and the Newts

handalula.bsky.social•74 days ago

Fantastic news! I think it’s good that the government is revising the content of the course so that it includes field trips, that definitely sounds essential. Wish I’d done this at school. 💙

learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social•74 days ago

But will mean private candidates can’t access it :(

msbluewednesday.bsky.social•74 days ago

Wish I could have done one of these!

billga2603.bsky.social•74 days ago

So much less demanding than biology botany zoology ecology microbiology etc.

nicolawriting.bsky.social•74 days ago

Fantastic news! Thank you & Mary for all you’ve done in persisting with this - so important!

annellis6.bsky.social•74 days ago

Brilliant. Such good news @carolinelucas.bsky.social #MaryColwell @curlewaction.bsky.social hasnt Mary got a bluesky address?
Lots of work and nail biting along the way. Great for yound people.

curlewaction.bsky.social•74 days ago

Mary's not on here (yet)!

cryofly.bsky.social•74 days ago

The Brits just want to rub it in into the American wounds.

jgreen63.bsky.social•74 days ago

Great. I'd have loved to teach this. It's too late for me and the planet. It'll be the saddest of subjects, after History.

cathmartin59.bsky.social•74 days ago

This is such good news 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

gram10.bsky.social•74 days ago

Wonderful idea

anonimusnow.bsky.social•74 days ago

We don't have a Dept. of Education in the US, according to the President. 😒

vickyr.bsky.social•74 days ago

This is the UK curriculum.

anonimusnow.bsky.social•74 days ago

Yeah. I know.

mairi29.bsky.social•74 days ago

I hope we have some wildlife left for them to learn about, by the time this is up and running!

penny4it.bsky.social•74 days ago

Fabulous news!

ainemccaul.bsky.social•74 days ago

I loved the ecology component of my A-Level biology and would have loved this.

goldcrest10.bsky.social•74 days ago

Certainly a good piece of news.

oliviameans.bsky.social•74 days ago

The education department is being entirely dismantled, so unless this gets transferred to another department (which was not included in the provided list), it won't happen

aweatherall.bsky.social•74 days ago

Other countries other than the US exist in the world.
Doesn't seem like it sometimes - the whole world does appear to be sucked into this fascist melodrama.

oliviameans.bsky.social•74 days ago

I had only seen the guardian write about the US, I didn't realize it was an international paper. No ethnocentrism here

ducky365.bsky.social•74 days ago

... It's a British newspaper (nearly as old as the USA....)

oliviameans.bsky.social•74 days ago

I just realized I've mixed up papers lol I was very confused for a moment

aweatherall.bsky.social•74 days ago

I was just joking :)

oliviameans.bsky.social•74 days ago

I'm autistic so

aweatherall.bsky.social•74 days ago

It wasnt a very good joke tbf.

jesspar.bsky.social•74 days ago

this is for the UK…

oliviameans.bsky.social•74 days ago

That makes more sense. I'm not used to seeing that w the guardian

smashie603.bsky.social•74 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/smashie603.bsky.social/post/3lkvi6yvt222f

edhonnegan.bsky.social•74 days ago

Wonderful 💚

chipcampdenlitfest.bsky.social•72 days ago

Students from Chipping Campden school considering taking #NaturalHistoryGCSE can email [email protected] for free tickets to
THE LIE OF THE LAND @guyshrubsole.bsky.social in May
Everyone else tickets online:
https://www.campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/events

artteachjess.bsky.social•74 days ago

Yay!!

wrenkh.bsky.social•74 days ago

That sounds such an interesting & important subject. Well done to you and all those involved!

rogerjacucci.bsky.social•74 days ago

I'll take things that DOGE will destroy next week for a hundred please, Alex.

hierath77.bsky.social•74 days ago

This is in the uk

sugarmaple.bsky.social•74 days ago

This is not our country. That’s why it’s happening. It’s good for them. We don’t get nice things.

rogerjacucci.bsky.social•74 days ago

You're so lucky!

tabithasnicethings.bsky.social•74 days ago

Yay ! This is superb news ! 🩷

duncanpoundcake.bsky.social•74 days ago

Depends what is in the curriculum and who decides that?

The Government.

dani-vw77.bsky.social•74 days ago

🙌🏼 🙏🏼💚🌎🐾

feezy73.bsky.social•74 days ago

Wish this was about whe. I was at school!

philc24.bsky.social•74 days ago

Brilliant news 👏👏👏👏

sjcrn.bsky.social•74 days ago

Except we Don’t Have a Department of Education??

lynny49.bsky.social•74 days ago

Fortunately the UK does.

nigelleach.com•74 days ago

Great news? Well done Caroline Lucas and everyone else involved.

ihatemusk.bsky.social•74 days ago

Love this.

brightonwildlife.bsky.social•74 days ago

Perfect. Well done Caroline.

avalonmarshes.bsky.social•74 days ago

Great, but why "Natural History"?

curlewaction.bsky.social•74 days ago

"A GCSE in Natural History is a unique opportunity for young people to engage with wildlife in a structured, guided way, to learn the skills of a naturalist at a time when we need them more than ever." - Mary Colwell (Founder & Director of Curlew Action, who began the campaign for the GCSE in 2011)

avalonmarshes.bsky.social•74 days ago

It was the "History" I was questioning. Why not call it something more contemporary, such as "saving the Human Race"?