Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Field Studies Council (FSC)
Executive Summary
1. The Field Studies Council welcomes this focused follow up inquiry to the Great Teachers report. Our submission highlights the possible impact that Schools Direct and a College for Teaching may have on teachers’ competence, confidence and commitment to the teaching of fieldwork and outdoor learning.
Introduction
2. The Field Studies Council (FSC) is an education charity committed to bringing environmental understanding to all. We currently welcome 145,000 visitors every year on courses to our national network of 17 Field Centres. These include groups from nearly 3,000 schools, colleges and universities. Established in 1943, FSC has become internationally respected for our national network of education centres and is the UK’s leading provider of curriculum focused field courses.
3. 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 believe that the more we know about the environment, the more we can appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations. We feel that fieldwork should be a vital element of an imaginative and contemporary education.
Schools Direct
4. We believe that practical and “hands-on” training is the most effective way of learning how to teach outside the classroom. As such, we welcome a system which places schools at the heart of the teacher training programme. Our experience has shown that any reversal in the decline in fieldwork will have to be led by teachers. Teachers must have the knowledge, skills and experience to deliver effective fieldwork.
5. Our concern is that the UK is currently failing to produce sufficient numbers of teachers with the competence, confidence and commitment to meet the modern day challenges of teaching fieldwork to the next generation of children and young people. One of the main conclusions in the FSC/ASE Outdoor Science report (2012) underlined that revisions to statutory teacher training and CPD over the past decade has progressively weakened the level of outdoor teaching experience needed to become a qualified teacher. This means that the workforce capacity to lead fieldwork in subjects such as secondary science is being eroded.
6. This has important implications on teachers’ mentoring ability with regards to quality fieldwork and outdoor learning. Over 60% of science teachers responding to a recent national survey said that they didn’t have access to a pond (Resourcing Practical Science in Primary and Secondary Schools, SCORE 2013). With increased/better training, teachers would see that opportunities for fieldwork are everywhere (even in inner-city areas), including just outside the school gates.
7. School leadership and management are vital to the quality of teaching and learning, and the promotion of pupils’ learning and progress. Through the Schools Direct framework, school leaders and managers have an excellent opportunity to facilitate good teaching practices by encouraging outdoor learning within their trainee programme, and support teachers to overcome the bureaucratic barriers that can prevent them from taking their students outside the classroom.
Proposal for a Royal College of Teaching
8. We welcome the proposals to establish a Royal College of Teaching to promote the teaching profession and the quality of teaching, and look forward to contributing to its development, as appropriate.
Recommendations
9. Fieldwork training should be mandatory and trainee teachers should: attend, and have an active role in, a school visit as part of their training; plan and lead a lesson with pupils outside the classroom as part of their training; and receive at least 4 hours of training in out of classroom learning as part of their Initial Teacher Training—regardless of the trainee route they undertake.
July 2013