Climate change GCSE to help pupils ‘carve career in natural world’
Education Secretary to launch qualification that gives youngsters insight into our impact on nature
A CLIMATE change GCSE on the importance of the natural world and how to “conserve the planet” is to be launched this week.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, will on Thursday announce a new GCSE in natural history, which will be available to students from 2025.
It is one of the first new qualifications to be announced since the reform of the exam system in 2017, which heralded the arrival of new courses, including economics and geology.
The Department for Education (DfE) said the natural history course would “enable young people to explore the world by learning about organisms and environments, environmental and sustainability issues, and gain a deeper knowledge of the natural world around them”.
Pupils already learn about changes to landscapes and urbanisation in geography, and about habitats in science, but the new course will cover the evolution of species over time and the “impact of life on our natural environments”.
It is understood that climate change will be a key focus of the course, which is designed to help pupils “carve a future career in the natural world”.
Mr Zahawi said: “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.”
While the broad outline of the course has already been drawn up in Whitehall, officials will now work with exam boards and the exams regulator, Ofqual, to design a full curriculum and examinable topics for pupils that choose to take it.
It comes after the introduction of the GCSE in environmental science and the inclusion of more climate topics in other subjects.
A 2021 global survey found that 60 per cent of young people between the ages of 16 and 25 have “climate anxiety” and feel worried or extremely worried about it.
Over half of respondents in a poll across 10 countries said they thought that humanity was doomed, while many said they felt betrayed by politicians and adults.
The study’s authors, from the University of Bath, said fears about the environment were “profoundly affecting huge numbers of young people” and causing mental and physical health problems.
On Thursday, Mr Zahawi will also launch a wider Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for the DfE, which the department said would “help young people develop excellent knowledge of STEM and practical opportunities to improve biodiversity and climate resilience”.
Speaking at the Cop26 climate conference last year, Mr Zahawi laid out a vision for “all children to be taught about the importance of conserving and protecting our planet” through a new science curriculum to be in place by 2023.
The department is establishing a new virtual “National Education Nature Park”, and children will be encouraged to enter a new “Climate Award” modelled on the Duke of Edinburgh Award, with bronze, silver and gold levels.
In the meantime, schools, colleges and nurseries have been encouraged to take “small steps” towards increasing biodiversity, such as by installing bird feeders in playgrounds.
‘The new GCSE will offer young people a chance to develop a deeper knowledge of this amazing planet and how to conserve it’