Shrewsbury-based charity’s online environmental fieldwork lessons attract global audience

The new #fieldworklive lessons are being run by UK leading outdoor education charity the Field Studies Council, which has its headquarters in Shrewsbury, in partnership with global learning provider Encounter Edu.

They started on Monday and the lessons will be delivered by expert tutors via YouTube Live.

They will run until May 1 and there will be lessons suitable for primary children, secondary school children, GCSE/National 4/5 level students and those undertaking A Levels/Highers.

More than 255,000 school children have been registered by thousands of teachers to take part in the lessons.

The majority are based in the UK but the FSC says the sessions are also attracting interest from as far afield as the USA, Tanzania, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Vietnam and Switzerland.

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FSC chief executive Mark Castle said: “It’s magnificent to see such a positive response to these new online fieldwork lessons.

"It demonstrates that many teachers and young people are both committed and curious about the environment, which is terrific.

“This is a challenging time for everybody and not least teachers, parents and schoolchildren.

“We would usually be heading into the busiest period of the year welcoming hundreds of schools to our field study centres for a range of environmental courses but with centres closed we have devised these lessons so we can continue to support pupils, teachers, schools and parents.

“The widespread interest in them signals what we believe is a very strong willingness for continued learning about the environment.

"It also shows a continued commitment from schools and teachers to support the learning of students by providing and signposting remote learning opportunities such as #fieldworklive to their students.”

The #fieldworklive sessions aim to provide fun, interactive and immersive fieldwork opportunities in geography and science-related subjects and they will bring learning to life to support young people explore the world around the them.

For primary children, the fieldwork lessons will focus on soil, habitat and creative exploration.

Secondary school sessions will look at weather, climate and freshwater ecosystems whilst GCSE/National 4/5 students will investigate quality of life in urban areas and coastal management.

For students progressing between GCSE/National 4/5 studies and A-Levels/Highers the live fieldwork lessons will look at rocky shore ecology, hydrology and flooding, as well as investigating places.

The online lessons are being supported by resource packs which teachers can use to help prepare students, and follow-up webinars will also be available for teaching staff.

The FSC, which operates a network of residential field study centres around the UK, closed its doors in March in line with Government guidance on the Covid-19 outbreak.

Further details about the new online lessons can be found on the FSC website at www.field-studies-council.org/2020/03/31/fsc-fieldworklive and via the FSC YouTube channel youtube.com/user/FieldStudiesCouncil