BET ROUNDTABLE EXPLORES HOW GREEN EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS COULD BE KEY TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE BOHUNT EDUCATION TRUST HOSTED A VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE FOR EXPERTS IN THE FIELD TO DISCUSS THE NEED FOR SCHOOLS TO FOCUS ON THE RURAL AND GREEN ECONOMY. Calls are growing for an improvement in the way that education is offered to the next generation, as significant skills gaps develop, the wellbeing of our young people declines and our country, environment, climate, economy, and communities all experience change. The meeting, which included several experts, explored how place-based curriculum within schools focused on the rural and green economy could be part of the solution. Chair Neil Carmichael, Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham and UCL (IoE), was joined by dignitaries within the field of education and green and rural economies including The RT Hon Lord Baker of Dorking, who is spearheading University Technical Colleges. Also on the panel were two students from Bohunt Sixth Form, who shared their views and recent experiences in the classroom. The discussion raised points including innovative ideas on how to embed education for a sustainable future, close the necessary green skills gaps, strive for social inclusion and address eco anxiety among young people. Lord Baker voiced his wants for the education system to replace GCSEs and Progress 8 with the “revival of the old SATs at 14 years old”, so students can go on to decide to study more of where their interests lie. He also highlighted the need to bring back more skills-specific subjects into schools such as computer science and green subjects by adopting a Progress 5 system. Lord Baker said: “Green is a multidisciplinary subject, which makes it difficult to handle in a school. The lessons from UTCs is that you have to change the basic curriculum to allow what we want to see – more skills training. That has been supported by the report by the select committee on Youth Unemployment. It has only been set up for a year and has some very radical proposals on the curriculum and skills.” Panellists agreed on the need for greater clarity around what the green and rural economy is and noted that rural skills can include green finance, environmental science, ecology, spatial science and environmental law – which go beyond land management, farming and working within the local rural areas. The importance of food providence was also discussed.
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Richard Goring said: “Understanding the potential that farming can bring both to biodiversity and our plates is a key part of our education.” Alice Barnard said: “We are in an amazing position in the UK to sustain ourselves, but we need to put more thought into how we are going to create our own labour market that will be able to lead to that food security, which is going to be critical in the next 20 years.”
“There is a lot of agreement emerging from this group about direction of travel, there is an understanding of what a rural economy is, there is an appetite to generate a new approach for education in schools encouraging schools to become more outward facing in the rural communities. There is a recognition in more involvement in the catchment to the communities in which people learn, live and work in.” The panel agreed on future actions and the need to push these ideas forward. Director of Education at BET, Phil Avery, said: “This was an exciting discussion by creative, passionate people whose organisations are already showing what is possible. It is that clear place-based curricula can strengthen the academic core, motivate students and support the local community, economy and environment. The enthusiasm of the group to take-on actions and meet again to further refine our approach gives me great hope that we will move from ideation to implementation.” Bohunt Sixth Form student Mary Skuodas said: “What we have heard is really encouraging; especially to hear all the panel have the same opinions and are supporting an agenda like this.” The group will meet again in March, to review actions from the meeting and discuss specific proposals for educational models and how they might be implemented.
Another popular idea amongst the group was to adopt a more thematic, project-based approach to learning, for example trips to a farm not just to learn farming or animal welfare, but taking art outdoors so students can engage with nature.
The panel •
The RT Hon Lord Baker of Dorking CH (Kenneth)
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Neil Carmichael, Honorary Nottingham, and UCL (IoE)
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Phil Avery, Director of Education, Bohunt Education Trust
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Georgette Ayling, Headteacher at Bohunt Horsham
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Alice Barnard, Chief Executive of the Edge Foundation
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Robert Barratt, Eden Project North Chair of Education and Engagement
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Steve Brace is Head of Education and Outdoor Learning at the Royal Geographical Society
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Evie Chapman, Year 13 student, Bohunt Sixth Form
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Richard Dunne, Director of Education for The Harmony Project
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Amanda Elmes, Learning, Outreach & Volunteer Strategy Lead, South Downs National Park
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Richard Goring, Wiston Estate
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Patrick Holden, Founding Director and Chief Executive of the Sustainable Food Trust
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Olly Newton, Executive Director of the Edge Foundation
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Luke Rake is CEO and Principal of Kingston Maurward College and Estate
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Stuart Roberts, farmer and NFU Deputy President
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Mary Skuodas, Year 13 student, Bohunt Sixth Form
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Luke Rake, Principal of Kingston Maurward College and Estate, said: “We get a different engagement that challenges different students regardless of their academic ability [is a positive]. It has to be inclusive. Project-based learning really works.” Bohunt Sixth Form student Evie Chapman said: “The thematic learning way of the blending of subjects inspired us. We participated in a project with the University of Bristol looking at air pollution’s health implications. So we took our chemistry, biology and geography and put them together. We still had access to the subject expert but used collaboratively to get to our outcome. We have seen first-hand how project learning works and feel much more motivated.” Another key point made was the need for better partnerships between all school settings both at a local and national level right through to the employers. Robert Barratt, Eden Project North Chair of Education and Engagement said: “Partnership is key. Bringing together our early years practitioners, primary, secondary schools regularly together to start having conversations and building relations has been really significant as the driver for establishing the understanding for how our education system works in our local area.” Neil Carmichael agreed: “This is a complex structure, but everything is linked. We need to recognise that a rural economy is evolving all the time, but its component parts all relate to each other.
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