The Nature Premium Campaign

Alistair Bryce-CleggUncategorized3 Comments

A guest post by Connor – a Nature Premium youth ambassador. 

Tiptoeing out of a pandemic, we all know now just how valuable time in nature is for our physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Although we now have a greater sense of freedom, access to nature and playing outdoors is still limited and not equally accessible. This inaccessibility is especially true for our children and those of disadvantaged and marginalised communities. However, a Nature Premium could see this change.

I was lucky to have somewhat of a nature premium growing up. My mum and grandparents passed on old wildlife and natural history books, I would watch documentaries and go to zoos, aquariums, farms, and green and blue spaces in and outside of London where I explored nature.

These resources and activities embedded a life-long love and fascination for the natural world. I now pursue a career in wildlife conservation with my masters and degree in zoology. But living on a council estate in East London, this was a rarity and is reflected by the fact that the environmental sector is the second least diverse sector after farming and agriculture. There is a clear disconnect between minority ethnicities and nature.

The Nature Premium combined with the Natural History GCSE could see this change completely and provide children in disadvantaged communities with the experiences, knowledge, and inspiration I was lucky to have growing up.

The Nature Premium campaign calls on the UK government for additional funding and support to guarantee regular access to nature for all children across the UK. Backed by over 40 organisations, numerous advocates and the public, there is a clear desire for a Nature Premium.

A plea for a transformation of our education systems towards one where children from an early age are encouraged to try and understand the infinitely beautiful tapestry of processes and forms that is Nature

Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta in his interim report of the Treasury commissioned report The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review (April 2020).

 

The Nature Premium will provide the much-needed financial support for early years practitioners (and all schoolteachers) to access training, resources, and any further support needed to facilitate more outdoor play and learning, and engagement with nature. An example of this training could include the Forest Kindergarten Level 3, mentioned by Marina Robb in ABCDoes’ last blog post. From there, children can explore and discover the natural world for themselves in a safe and supportive space, facilitated by confident and educated practitioners.

And this discovery doesn’t stop at the age of five. The Nature Premium will guarantee regular access to nature and outdoor learning up until they leave secondary. The benefits of this access to nature for children will ripple through their lifetime, those that they interact with, and society as a whole – both in the short and long term; from improving children and young people’s mental and physical well-being to developing skills, interests and career pathways in support of the green economy and a sustainable future.

We are living through an age of monumental and potentially catastrophic environmental change. So, it is important, more than ever, that we and our children understand the world we live in. In doing so, we’ll be able to make the necessary changes in society to reverse current environmental trends.

 

“No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced”

David Attenborough.

 

But ‘right now’, our little ones need to catch up on time and freedom lost to the confinement of an ongoing pandemic. Freedom and time to explore the world around them; to learn for themselves, and to be inspired by nature’s infinity and beyond. And offline too, out in the real world.

In the age of technology, we are becoming rapidly detached from nature and our experiences within it. This includes early years. I’ve seen my 2-year-old nephew, eyes glued to the TV, hands latching on to his tablet, and now addicted to all four ice age films – he’s moved on from Baby Shark now! Even so, he’ll do anything to get outdoors.

But even prior to the pandemic there had been a gradual shift in how much time children and young people were spending outdoors. A recent study found that children in England are playing outside independently many years later than their parents did1. There are many reasons for this, but technology is likely a key player.

The Nature Premium can combat this dependence on screens that the youth possess, and will encourage healthier alternative habits to time spent on electronic devices whilst improving children’s physical and mental wellbeing.

As an early years practitioner or parent, I’m sure you will see the benefits of your children spending time outdoors and feel them too. You can learn more about the Nature Premium campaign and how you can support and follow the campaign here.

3 Comments on “The Nature Premium Campaign”

  1. Please can you change this article – it keeps referring to UK, when in fact it should say England. Education is a devolved matter, led at a policy level by the 4 home nations governments.
    Wales and Scotland have significant policies and funding around outdoor play, learning for sustainability and expectations about outdoor learning for all children. While not perfect, we do not need this extra layer confusing the work and policies in place already.

  2. I am very interested in this as we have started to develop our gardening/ nature aspect of our outdoor provision in our nursery/ reception classes using funds from our PTA.
    If there is any premium funding we are able to apply for to support this project further this was be of interest. We are so commited and excited by this project for all of the above reasons.
    I look forward to hearing from you

  3. Excellent campaign. I’m an independent ecologist running a pilot project to help a local secondary school become sustainable. This includes working out with the school how to better manage their grounds for nature and collecting the evidence that more nature is using the school grounds as a result. Student Para- taxonomists will be sorting insects caught in standard insect traps and comparing species numbers in mown and wild areas of the grounds. We will also be relating the results to soil carbon. We think the wild areas store more carbon than the heavily mown areas. We are funded by Western Power Distribution. If our pilot is successful WPD is be interested in scaling-up the project to other schools in their operational area (a belt from Cornwall to Lincolnshire, taking in South Wales). If this of interest, please let me know. I’m not sure we can wait for the government. Partnering with businesses sincerely trying to be greener might work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.