Developing an OA Land and Sea Stewardship Curriculum
The Brief
Our brief is to develop an integrated, creative and inspiring Ocean Ambassadors Land and Sea Stewardship curriculum, suitable for all ages from Primary through to A-level or equivalent. As ‘stewards’ students become literate, articulate ambassadors for the environment, able to educate others to work with the seas to protect them, never to assume that humankind should control or impose on these fragile worlds. As the curriculum develops, we’ll be looking to form partnerships with existing education programmes, to allow wider uptake and to embed our approach across leading educational institutions.
The waves crashed
The otters wailed
And the diver discovered the undersea world
It’s alive…..seaweed (Year 4 Pupils)
Raison d'être
Ocean Ambassadors have set sail to chase the hearts and minds of young people across the UK (and further afield) through development and deployment of an OA Land and Sea Stewardship curriculum. It is an education initiative that seeks to facilitate a love for coastal and marine habitats, while providing the skills, perspectives and contacts that will allow students to follow a career that is in service to the marine environment.
Firmly connected to the national curriculum, the OA programme nevertheless departs from conventional education practice: the curriculum is designed purposefully to serve the marine environment. The oceans themselves inform our teaching; in responding to their plight, we must take our lead from them. Please see forthcoming blogpost, ‘Designing Marine Curriculum Sessions’ for examples of what this approach entails.
We now know, the oceans are facing real existential threat, and as a result, humans, too. True collaboration starts here, with each other, with other species, and with our wider, shared habitat environments. We still have a most marvellous opportunity to roll out progressive approaches to education, and in the workplace, and throughout all our post-industrial system designs. This is what Ocean Ambassadors Education aspires to acheive.