Written evidence submitted by the Field Studies Council (COM0019)
Introduction
The Field Studies Council (FSC) is an education charity committed to bringing environmental understanding to all. FSC provides informative and enjoyable opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to discover, explore, be inspired by and understand the natural and built environment.
We currently welcome 165,000 visitors every year on courses to our UK network of 20 Field Centres. These include groups from nearly 3,000 schools, colleges who come learn outside the classroom or to study curriculum based courses in science and geography. Universities (including many of the Russell Group universities) study with us on specialist courses relating to science and geography degree subjects.
With over 70 years of experience, FSC is internationally respected for our education centres. FSC is the UK’s leading provider of biodiversity and ecology related training courses for adult learners, with career development for professionals involved in ecology, natural history and landscape related disciplines. FSC also trains individuals to become expert biological recorders through a suite of courses with Manchester Metropolitan University.
FSC is also engaged in citizen science projects to encourage members of the public including school children to get involved with collecting scientific data. We run Bioblitzes to encourage community participation in discovering what lives in an area. Other projects have included the recent FSC cuckoo watch, http://www.field-studies-council.org/cuckoos.aspx, the production of all the recording and identification materials for the OPAL surveys http://www.opalexplorenature.org and most recently the resources for the UK Polli:Nation project in partnership with Learning through Landscapes. http://www.ltl.org.uk/pollination.
FSC welcomes this inquiry into science communication and offers the following responses and recommendations.
1 The trends in attitudes to science and public engagement with science.
1.1 A school residential field course, particularly in a novel and inspiring location, has been the experience which has 'tipped' many scientists into choosing a STEM degree and subsequently into a STEM career including Tom Tew former Chief Scientist for Natural England, RSPB Chair Prof Steve Ormerod and geneticist Prof Steve Jones. Some of their stories are detailed on the FSC website .
1.2 Learning outside the classroom is an opportunity to put classroom theory into practice and a science subject into context. It exposes learners to the difficulties of dealing with ‘messy’, real world data and also provides an opportunity to integrate new technologies such as augmented reality or ‘virtual’ fieldwork to enhance their experience and understanding of science. It provides that vital spark to engage learners in a science subject and there is a risk that these opportunities are lost as field trips are shortened or abandoned altogether.
1.3 FSC has found that field courses, particularly residential courses, have indeed become much shorter over recent years. For the first time in over 70 years of FSC's existence, 2015 saw geography A level field courses that were longer than biology field courses. This reduces the time for students to reflect on, explore and carry out genuine scientific inquiry in an out-of-school and real world context, thus diminishing the opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of science. An important and well-proven route for inspiration and recruitment is, therefore, being lost.
1.4 FSC recommends that there is an expectation that all school children have the opportunity to take part in outdoor learning and residential fieldwork courses as part of their science education.
1.5 FSC recommends that changes in the STEM curriculum and assessment of practicals should strike a balance which encourages, enables and supports STEM education activities such as residential field courses and other 'deep enrichment' activities. These should be protected and extended.
1.6 Through providing opportunities for environmental understanding for all, the FSC is also aware of the need to engage with learners from all ages. Through judicious use of external project funding FSC adds to its normal provision for adult learners– in itself over this 400 courses per annum. This has encouraged those with little experience to become county experts in recording wildlife and making the data publically available. In the UK this data is mostly voluntarily contributed and adds to the invaluable national data base from which local government planning information and national state of the environment data are drawn.
1.7 Biological, geographical and other recording activity is now being classified by many as Citizen Science as it is carried out by skilled volunteers across a wide range of organisms and subjects. This wage free workforce is vital for the continued monitoring of our countryside. These people are highly skilled, often with a lifetime’s experience and their data is highly valuable. They contribute this information to national data sets through a variety of channels including recording societies, local record centres, the Meteorological Office and a variety of projects. These upload data to the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) and beyond this to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The UK is one of the leading countries contributing to this global data set and from this the government figures are drawn for:
1.8 These are examples of successful public engagement in science where volunteers have provided data has been used to inform important policy areas. Without this network of data collectors we would be much less informed and have less informed conversations with all those interested in our environment.
1.9 FSC recommends that this non-school and less ‘traditional’ route into science from general interest through to expert is also recognised as a valuable way in which members of the public can engage in science, to the benefit of the wider community.
1.10 The FSC urges more support for learning to engage even more people in collecting data and becoming interested in monitoring the health of our environment. Data is vital for all science – without it we run the risk of making ill-informed decisions – but through asking the public to help – we maximise the value of collective social responsibility, informed data, meaningful dialogue and effective policies.
2 The balance of effort needed to increase public engagement in science by 'new audiences' and by the 'already interested'.
2.1 Opportunities to study 'extra-curricular' science are not evenly spread across UK schools. FSC and other outdoor providers have created bursary and sponsorship schemes to allow disadvantaged students to attend courses, and this supplements interventions such as the government's pupil premium payments.
2.2 Some schools will not take part unless all members of the class can participate and whilst FSC can and does assist with our charitable activities, the cost of residential fieldwork can be a barrier to engaging people early on with real life, practical science activities that bring classroom learning to life. The number of FSC bursaries awarded to A level Biology and GSCE science students has risen from 49 bursaries with 7 schools in 2012 to 79 bursaries with 12 schools in 2015, demonstrating an increased demand for help.
2.3 FSC's experience in running the residential programme for London Challenge (which worked with 307 London secondary schools and nearly 35,000 students) showed that imaginative residential science courses such as mixing formal science with adventure education, had a very positive impact on students’ interest in science and their motivation to learn.
2.4 FSC is involved with the national schools programme for the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) project funded by the Big Lottery, publishing and distributing over 30,000 packs last year and working with partners in both urban and rural deprived areas. It is possible to recruit a greater proportion of disadvantaged young people to take part in the surveys compared to community based activities.
2.5 FSC has invested in launching Real Family Holidays, providing affordable opportunities for families to spend time together whilst learning more about the natural world and nurturing an interest in science. This is complimented by our publications which range from beginners fold out charts to specialist guides.
2.6 Students are a captive audience for most of their school careers whether they are new to science or already interested. The FSC strongly recommends that effort is put into enrichment opportunities for formal and informal science education in schools, especially outdoor learning and residential field trips. There should be a strategic focus for any STEM 'public' engagement and recruitment programme including creating and maintaining inspiring opportunities for young people of all backgrounds.
3 The communications strategies being taken to encourage young people to study stem subjects in higher and further education, and to encourage those people towards stem careers.
3.1 STEM recruitment should not begin and end in school science departments. A considerable proportion of the geography course content is STEM related for example, FSC sells large numbers of animal and plant identification charts to geography teachers.
3.2 FSC recommends that DfE and Ofsted should encourage and support cross-subject teaching and collaboration in secondary schools, raising awareness of different routes into STEM education and careers. This support should also include initial teacher education and CPD opportunities.
3.4 The State of Nature Report 2013 produced by a collaboration of 25 UK wildlife and conservation organisations states ‘It is clear that people need nature, but the reverse is also true – we need to inspire the next generation of conservationists to tackle the ongoing problems faced by wildlife. The only way to do this is to help people experience, explore and understand the natural world, because people won’t protect what they don’t know and love.’
3.4 FSC currently runs two initiatives to support and inspire young people to further their interest and involvement in the natural world – the Young Darwin Scholarship and specialist summer camps. FSC awards 15 Young Darwin Scholarships each year to support 16 and 17 year olds who have a passionate interest in the natural world – these are exceptional young people with specialist interests but because of these unique interests and passion often feel isolated from their peer group. In addition to an introductory residential these young people are offered further opportunities over a number of years.
3.5 In 2014 we piloted offering specialist ‘camps’ for 17-21 year olds during their summer holidays. As a result a marine science camp and a geology camp are offered each year. The Young Darwin Scholarship and the camps have shown us that there is a gap in opportunities to inspire and encourage young people to engage with the natural world at a time when they are making decisions regarding further study and careers.
3.6 FSC has been seeking funding to develop a project to bring together young people and employers in the environmental sector to develop appropriate and effective training programmes to bridge the skills gap between employers’ needs and employee skills leading to a more connected environmental sector. We wish to open young people’s eyes to the opportunities there are to engage with the natural world at all levels from informed members of the public through to a professional involvement. We wish to support the development of a competent and committed group of young people with the right skills and knowledge to be custodians of the natural environment and perhaps even become the environmental leaders of the future. To date we have been unsuccessful in finding a funder willing to support his initiative.
3.7 FSC recommends that this issue of the skills gap in the environmental sector is looked at again by government.
4 The strategies and actions being taken by government to foster public engagement and trust of science more widely, and high quality reporting of science in the media.
4.1 Due to shifting baselines in people’s understanding (including that of journalists and policy makers) of what ‘normal’ is, changes in our environment or biodiversity decline can often go unnoticed unless historical data collected over time is used. For example, FSC’s cuckoo survey work shows that many of today’s children have never heard a cuckoo. There is a wealth of good quality scientific data that can be used by government and the media to ably demonstrate how changes in the environment impact directly on our everyday life.
4.2 FSC recommends that more use is made of this high quality data by government and the media as a way to engage people in their understanding of science. FSC has demonstrated over 70 years that using the natural environment can inspire and encourage people of all ages to engage in science.
April 2016