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NSC Home Page > EUAS Contents > National variations
EDUCATION
National variations: England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland
The funding for this report requires the study to concentrate upon England. In some cases, statistics solely confined to England are difficult to obtain.
There is obviously a potential for educational users from other parts of the United Kingdom to visit sites in England. However, this is likely to be confined largely to occasional use by those in the tertiary sector and it is more likely that students from English establishments will wish to visit sites elsewhere in the UK on account of the geological variety presented by such areas, especially in the context of general fieldwork, curriculum requirements, outdoor pursuits, etc.
The education system in Scotland differs considerably from that elsewhere in the UK in almost every respect, most notably in relation to examinations and school structures. The most relevant variation here is in respect of curriculum content. In summary, the range of subject matter prescribed in schools is narrower in terms of its relevance to the quarry industry. However, as the annual Scottish geology event illustrates, teachers, museums, the BGS, QPA and universities have demonstrated most ably, their ingenuity in overcoming an otherwise prescriptive interpretation of mandatory requirements. In the case of Northern Ireland and Scotland the curriculum perhaps surprisingly also contains very little if any Earth science, compared with those for England and Wales. The university system also differs in Scotland.
There also are small (but growing) differences between the National Curricula, governance of schools and examinations systems between England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Organisations promoting Earth science in Scotland and N. Ireland are the Scottish Earth Science Education Forum (SESEF) and E2K respectively and are useful initial contacts for those working in these two areas.