Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have made to address (1) the collapse of provision of plant science education in the UK, and (2) the broader lack of nature literacy, as identified by the Scottish Government.

The government believes it is vital that young people are taught a broad and balanced curriculum, including about plants and nature, biodiversity, and our impact on the environment.

At COP26, the department announced its commitment to develop a primary science model curriculum with a focus on nature. On 9 January, the department published its ‘Plant biosecurity strategy for Great Britain (2023 to 2028)’, which sets out a commitment to protecting plant biosecurity in Great Britain, including raising awareness of the importance of healthy plants and trees.

These commitments support the existing requirements in the national curriculum for science and geography, that pupils are taught about plants through a range of topics including the requirements of plants for life and growth, how they vary from plant to plant, how to identify how plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways, and that adaptation may lead to evolution. In secondary science, within biology, pupils study plants in more depth including their importance in an ecosystem, positive and negative human interactions with ecosystems and the importance of biodiversity more broadly.

In geography pupils are taught about nature, including how systems interlink and how we affect our surroundings, natural environments, as well as a deep understanding of the Earth’s physical processes. A key aim of GCSE geography is to ensure young people become environmentally informed. It requires pupils to understand the interactions between people and environments, global ecosystems and biodiversity, and human interaction with ecosystems and environments. Fieldwork also forms an important part of this GCSE.

The department has also announced the development of a new GCSE in natural history, to be taught from 2025, which will include opportunities for students to gain a deeper knowledge of the natural world around them.