Sparking STEM - Online STEM

Please help me to make the Natural History GCSE accessible outside mainstream education

The new Natural History GCSE looks fantastic but I'm concerned that the current proposal means it will be impossible for home educators to access.

I've joined the Insight Panel of educators (Cambridge OCR) to help shape the final stages of the qualification design, and want to offer constructive alternatives that will make this qualification accessible to home-educators and those unable to access mainstream education.

How can I help?

Please continue to share your views with me so that I can represent you.

In the survey you'll find a summary of the situation and links to the relevant information so you can find out more about it, as well as a link to the public consultation so you can add your voice individually if you would like to.

I have now submitted my input to the public consultation and represented the views captured so far in my survey.
I will continue to represent the views captured by the survey in my ongoing communications with DfE, OFQUAL and Cambridge OCR, so please continue to submit your views to the survey so that I can represent you as fully as possible.
Please share the survey far and wide! Thank you.

Please complete the DfE public consultation to share your views.
The consultation closes on 4th September 2026.

This is our opportunity to let the Department for Education know how important this is. The more people they hear this from, the more powerful the message.

Here are some suggested points you may wish to personalise and include in your submission:

The Natural History GCSE Equality Impact Assessment is entirely focused on those in mainstream education and gives no consideration to young people unable to access mainstream education.
There appear to be two main barriers to those outside mainstream education: The qualification is currently proposed only for students enrolled with a registered educational provider, and the requirement to have 20 hours of field work signed off by their registered centre.
For those outside mainstream education, access to this qualification is likely to depend upon exam centres choosing to offer the option of field work to private candidates. Realistically, this results in few centres being able to offer this and it would be prohibitively expensive and therefore inaccessible to the majority of those who would benefit from it (anything you can do to personalise this with your experience could be powerful)
Broadening the options for evidencing the fieldwork component to allow more choice and flexibility would allow those with SEND and others who are unable to access mainstream education, greater access to this qualification.

Latest updates (August 2026)

421 home educators have completed my survey to share their views. Thank you so much for this fantastic response.
You've helped me to feel like more than one little voice and even more determined to do everything I can to move this forward.

I have now submitted my input to the public consultation and represented the views captured so far in my survey. Please add your voice too if you can!

I will continue to represent the views captured by the survey in my ongoing communications with DfE, OFQUAL and Cambridge OCR, so please continue to submit your views to the survey so that I can represent you as fully as possible.

I met with a curriculum advisor from Cambridge OCR in July and gained helpful advice to effectively take this further. They were very supportive.

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Credentials
✅ Winner of the STEAM Impact awards 2026 - "Outstanding Impact"
✅ Qualified Teacher Status (QTS: PGCE Science)
✅ Postgraduate level Science: MSc.
✅ Certified in "Autism Awareness in Education"
✅ Certified in "PDA for Educators" (PDA Society)
✅ Certified in "ADHD Awareness" (TES)
✅ Certified in "Working with children with disabilities and learning difficulties"
✅ Safeguarding certified (Level 3 DSL)
✅ Enhanced DBS
✅ Paediatric first aid qualification (OFQAL certified Level 3)
✅ Over fourteen years' experience teaching at exam level
✅ Experienced at teaching IGCSE (Edexcel and Cambridge), AQA & Edexcel.
✅ Over eight years' experience working closely with the home-educating community.
✅ Diverse experience teaching children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
✅ Nine years of experience working in biological research
✅ Comprehensive public liability insurance