Former Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, has given her reaction to suggestions that plans for a Natural History GCSE have been shelved because it is “seen as a Conservative party initiative.” Caroline was one of the key drivers of the GCSE in the last parliament. She said:
“I very much hope that Labour will look at this again, and appreciate both the popularity of the proposed Natural History GCSE, and the urgency of its introduction. The GCSE enjoys huge support, including from WWF and the Wildlife Trusts through to the Natural History Museum, the Association of School and College Leaders, 17 universities and thousands of young people themselves.
“It was a privilege to work with author and former BBC producer Mary Colwell, who has spearheaded the campaign, to persuade the last Government to agree to it. The curriculum has been prepared over several years by the OCR exam board, and it’s close to being ready to roll out. Stalling at this point would be a disaster, doing a massive disservice to students who desperately want to learn more about the natural world; failing to equip them with the skills of the naturalist which have increasingly been lost, and making it harder for all of us to restore and protect nature.
“Over the last half century, the world has lost 60% of the mass of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles – our education system urgently needs to rise to the challenge of reversing this shocking scale of loss.”