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| Geology outside, and inside, the Scottish Parliament Building. Image © Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body – 2012. Licensed under the Open Scottish Parliament Licence v1.0. |
We are delighted to report that the issue of retaining geology and earth sciences in the Scottish curriculum was discussed at a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday 21st.
A number of the MSPs who attended a parliamentary lunch and presentation by sixth year pupils from Perth High on the 16th were impressed and added their voices to the call for geology to continue to be well represented in the curriculum.
The decision has been made by the SQA to stop offering Higher geology as an examinable subject. The replacement qualification, environmental science, does not have much earth science content.
Perth High pupils, supported by their teacher Rachel Hay, RSGS Education Officer Dr Joyce Gilbert, Professor Stuart Monro from Our Dynamic Earth, University of St Andrew's Dr Ruth Robinson, and RSGS President Professor Iain Stewart, presented their case for why they feel that geology should continue to feature strongly at senior level.
MSPs Liz Smith, Clare Adamson, Annabelle Ewing and Nanette Milne all referenced the presentation in a discussion about Public Science Engagement Initiatives.
After the page break please find extracts from the full meeting. The full text of the meeting can be found here. (45page pdf, discussion begins p7, geology p12)
