Quality Assurance
Ensuring the content and pedagogical quality of National Education Nature Park Resources
To support educators in making confident decisions when choosing resources for teaching and learning, the following principles guide the selection and creation of National Education Nature Park resources:
National Curriculum aligned
- Appropriate pitch and progression of knowledge and skills to avoid misconceptions and cognitive overload
- Aligned with National Curriculum in England statutory programmes of study and attainment descriptors for each age group
Accurate and impartial
As part of a pilot to ensure that materials have accurate and up-to-date climate science information, all resources with climate change content will undergo a climate science review and receive the Royal Meteorological Society quality-mark if they meet the following criteria:
- Links to climate change are explicit
- References given and sources used are reputable, reliable and up to date
- Information is conveyed from primary sources without error (using the latest IPCC report and similar for authoritative reference)
- Climate information, terms, graphs and maps are well explained
- Meets required political guidance to schools
Climate pedagogy best practice
In line with the latest education research in climate pedagogy we have selected resources and designed sequences to link them that have as many of the following features as possible:
- Where appropriate, outdoor learning is encouraged
- Activities support mental health and wellbeing, for example by providing opportunities for learners to share their feelings about climate change and their fears and hopes for the future
- An enquiry-based approach that supports autonomy through activities such as observations, interviews, secondary research, projects and investigations
- A Science Capital approach that ensures learners have a voice; valuing all viewpoints and experiences and promoting a broad representation of individuals and groups to make learning relevant
- Interdisciplinary resources that support the delivery of statutory subject outcomes while making relevant connections with other disciplines
Accessible and up to date
- We are hosting resources from a range of organisations and have made agreements with each to ensure that the copies we make available for use are as up to date as possible
- All resources created by the Nature Park or hosted by us from other organisations will always be free
- Adaptation and extension options are included within our resources
- Please see our accessibility statement for more information about the website
Learning resources may not fulfil all the listed pedagogical criteria but will contribute to an evidence-based pedagogical approach to climate and biodiversity education.