Today, Wednesday 8 December 2021, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), in collaboration with the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, has launched a new resource for GCSE Agriculture and Land Use.
Designed to support both teachers and students, the ‘Sustainable Farming’ resource will help to reinforce student knowledge and understanding of key agricultural practices, such as hedge management, use of energy on the farm and efficient use of concentrates. This important resource, aims to help students to understand more about sustainable farming on a local scale, while aligning their learning outcomes to CCEA’s GCSE Agriculture and Land Use specification.Amanda Swann, CCEA’s Temporary Director of Examinations, said:
‘CCEA is delighted to have worked alongside the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland to develop our ‘Sustainable Farming’ resource. Sustainability is such an important aspect of Northern Ireland’s agricultural industry and the topics explored help to raise awareness of sustainable practices on our local farms.
This invaluable resource will also support students of GCSE Agriculture and Land Use in their studies and help them to build upon their cross–curricular skills in areas such as Communication, Using ICT and Using Mathematics.’
The online resource focuses on case studies from diary enterprises and industry leaders across Northern Ireland. Each video is supported with teacher notes and cross–curricular activities to engage pupils during class. Dr Mike Johnston MBE, Chief Executive of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland commented:
‘We have been pleased to collaborate with CCEA through this project, and we hope schools throughout Northern Ireland will find it of value in helping pupils gain a greater understanding of the activities being undertaken throughout the dairy supply chain, and especially on farms, to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity. The range of resources that have been developed will allow pupils to explore many aspects of sustainability based on examples from Northern Ireland dairy farms.’
The Sustainable Farming resource can be accessed here.