NAEE President, Bill Scott, met Dhaval Patel from the Voluntary Nature Conservancy, VNC, last week to talk about environmental education in India and the UK. VNC is based in Vallabh Vidhyanagar in Gujarat, and began its work as a charitable foundation in 1988. Its activities are wide-ranging, including: Nature Education Camps An Outdoor Experiential Educational Programme Observational Outing on Sunday Mornings A Reptile…
NAEE has published its new journal, Environmental Education Vol 109, for its members. Its contents include a number of regular features such as the President’s Column, and reports from NAEE-sponsored field work by schools. Feature articles this time include: Investigating soils in the primary classroom – Tracy Atkinson Discover Superworm in your local forest – Rachel Giles Soil…
Butterfly Conservation News says this, about one of our most common (and dazzling) butterflies … “The Small Tortoiseshell is a common garden species but you are most likely to find this butterfly amongst the weeds and wild areas than in the formal flowerbeds. Females lay their eggs on nettles and at night both sexes…
As we noted the other day, 1582 parks and green spaces have received a 2015 Green Flag Award from Keep Britain Tidy. These awards recognise the best parks and green spaces across the country, and a green flag is a sign to the public that the highest possible standards are adhered to. NAEE is very pleased that…
From this September, a new Ofsted inspection framework will apply to the following four stages of education: early years settings, schools, and the FE / skills sector. This is the framework. To download an inspection handbook for each of these four stages, just click on these links: early years maintained schools and academies non-association independent schools further education and skills And this is Ofsted’s…
Here is a video of a recent lecture at the University of the West of England (Bristol) by Jonathon Porritt on Sustainability and the Conservative Administration. Porritt has been a key figure in UK sustainable development for the last 40 years. He’s a former director of Friends of the Earth, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, and founder director…
The Journal of Curriculum Studies has developed a Virtual Special Issue [VSI] on curriculum challenges related to environmental education. The VSI draws on the work of the Journal on curriculum and environmental education since the early 1970s, and offers a ‘long view’ on key issues and challenges. Alan Reid’s Introduction, says that editors delved into the Journal’s back…
In June 2015, York Consulting published its evaluation of the Learning Away residentials project, identifying the impacts of overnight stays on young people. Learning Away set out to support schools enhancement of young people’s learning, achievement and wellbeing by using innovative residential experiences as an integral part of the curriculum. The initiative was funded by the Paul Hamlyn…
Volume 109 (Summer 2015) of NAEE’s journal, Environmental Education, has been mailed to members this week, and will be available as a pdf on the member pages of this website from Monday. Volume 109 contains case studies and feature articles about how EE and ESD can be used to make learning and the curriculum come alive.…
The Countryside Classroom is a new initiative from FACE: Farming and Countryside Education. This is their website – although it is still being developed. You can become a Partner, a Contributor, or a Sponsor: details are here. Why get involved? FACE says: Countryside Classroom is the largest ever partnership of organisations committed to helping children learn about food,…
Last May, the Countryside Jobs Service magazine had a special focus on environmental and outdoor education which included a lead article by NAEE. This included extracts from teachers’ reports of pupil visits to two outdoor learning centres that were made possible by NAEE’s Kenrick bursaries. One teacher reported: It’s been a delight to see pupils who struggle with academic…
What do they talk about? Well, climate change, conservation, wildlife on TV, … Did you miss it? For many it was the TV event of June; others we know were disappointed. The Guardian has a short clip here, and the full 30 minute programme is available on BBC iPlayer. See what you think. NB, Barack…