Field Studies Council Explained

Field Studies Council
Founding Location:	Natural History Museum, London, England
Registration Id:	313364
Status:	Charity
Purpose:	First Hand experience in the Outdoors
Headquarters:	Shrewsbury, England
Owners:	-->

Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK, which offers opportunities for people to learn about and engage with the outdoors.

History

It was established as the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies in 1943^[1] to provide opportunities for school children to study plants and animals in their natural environment.^[2] It subsequently became a nationwide provider of outdoor education, and has established a network of field centres providing facilities for people wanting to study natural history, ecology and the environment.^{[1] [3]}

Activities

Field Studies Council provides outdoor educational residential or day visits from the organisation's centres, and other outreach areas, including London parks.

The centres include:

• Amersham Field Centre, Buckinghamshire^[4]
• Bishops Wood, Worcestershire^[5]
• Blencathra, Cumbria^[6]
• Castle Head, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
• Dale Fort, Pembrokeshire^[7]
• Epping Forest, Essex ^[8]
• Flatford Mill, Colchester^[9]
• Juniper Hall, Surrey
• London Parks: Bushy Park, Greenwich Park and Regent's Park^[10]
• Margam Park, Neath Port Talbot^[11]
• Millport, Island of Great Cumbrae, North Ayrshire^[12]
• Nettlecombe Court, Somerset^[13]
• Preston Montford, Shropshire^[14]
• Rhyd-y-creuau, Conwy ^[15]
• Slapton Ley, Devon ^[16]

The Field Studies Council creates a programme covering a wide variety of outdoor education, including fieldwork opportunities in geography and biology, providing fieldwork opportunities to allow students to investigative practical skills and to be given the chance to evaluate and analyse data they collect themselves, and data already held by the organisation.^[17]

The Field Studies Council also publishes fold-out charts and guides.^{[18] [19]} BioLinks South East and BioLinks West Midlands are lottery funded schemes set up to strengthen UK biological recording.^[20]

With the goal of promoting and improving geography fieldwork, the Field Studies Council has entered into a partnership with The Geographical Association. Together, they work towards creating cases for geography and fieldwork within policy, and creating resources for education and career development.^[21]

Partnerships projects include:

• Forgotten Places: Greening Coastal Towns and Cities^[22]
• The Generation Green project Access Unlimited^[23]
• Mission:Invertebrate^[24]
• Our Bright Future^[25]
• Nature Friendly Schools^[26]
• Work to change policy within education to include environmental studies to school and college students^[27]

Notes and References

1. Miyake . Shiho . Nogami . Tomoyuki . The History of the Field Studies Council (FSC) in Britain : The Creation Period as the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies (C.P.F.S.) (1943-1955) . Journal of Science Education in Japan . September 2005 . 29 . 3 . 196–212 . 10.14935/jssej.29.196.
2. Barrett, John H. The Field Studies Council: how it all began. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 32. 1. September 1987. 31–41. 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1987.tb00408.x.
3. Web site: About the Field Studies Council. The Seashore. 15 July 2020.
4. Web site: Classroom. Countryside. FSC Amersham Field Centre. 2021-09-22. www.countrysideclassroom.org.uk. en.
5. Web site: Bishops Wood Centre - An Organisation in Stourport-on-Severn. 2021-09-22. Stourport Town. en-GB.
6. Web site: New Blencathra base for Mountain Heritage Trust. 2022-01-04. www.thebmc.co.uk.
7. Web site: 03 – Dale Fort – Dale Peninsula. 2021-08-09. en-GB.
8. Web site: Loughton. Paul's Nursery Road High Beach Loughton. Kingdom. Essex IG10 United. Permaculture Association. 2021-10-06. www.permaculture.org.uk. en.
9. Web site: Flatford Mill. 2021-08-09. National Trust. en.
10. Web site: Partner organisations. 2021-10-06. The Royal Parks. en.
11. Web site: Margam Discovery Centre. 2021-08-09. www.margamcountrypark.co.uk.
12. Web site: Millport – Field Studies Council.
13. Web site: Field Studies Council Nettlecombe Court Somerset Wildlife Trust. 2022-01-04. www.somersetwildlife.org.
14. Web site: Scagell. Robin. 2018-06-02. Preston Montford Field Centre. 2022-01-21. Society for Popular Astronomy. en-GB.
15. Sankey . John . 9 July 2006 . Outdoor Education for All . 16 December 2022 . European Journal of Science Education. 1 . 4 . 449–450 . 10.1080/0140528790010408 .
16. Web site: Slapton Ley Field Centre . 16 December 2022. By The Dart . en-us.
17. Web site: Collaboration with the Field Studies Council. 2021-08-25. Discover the World. en-GB.
18. Web site: Royal Geographical Society - Geography resources for teachers. 2021-07-27. www.rgs.org.
19. Web site: Partner organisations. 2021-07-27. The Royal Parks. en.
20. Web site: New opportunities for 'citizen scientists' The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 2021-07-27. www.heritagefund.org.uk.
21. Web site: Strategic partnerships. 2021-08-06. www.geography.org.uk.
22. Web site: 2022-02-15 . Forgotten Places: Greening Coastal Towns and Cities . 2022-12-22 . Trees for Cities . en.
23. Web site: YHA. 4 November 2021. Generation Green.
24. Web site: Project partners. 2021-11-04. The Royal Parks. en.
25. Web site: Maggs. Anna. Growing Confidence. 2021-11-04. Our Bright Future. en-US.
26. Web site: Our Partners Nature Friendly Schools. 2021-11-04. www.naturefriendlyschools.co.uk.
27. Glackin . Melissa . Greer . Kate . Making the case for A-level biology residential fieldwork: what has nature got to do with it? . School Science Review . June 2021 . 102 . 381 . 21–26 . Association for Science Education . 0036-6811.