Why is earth and environmental science not offered in many schools? (1 Viewer)

[icycledough]

I took a look at the exam and it seems similar to bio, since there’s isn’t many teachers for it, could it be considered in demand?

Also does another know any schools that teach every single science in the hsc?

Could be a few reasons:

• Not in demand by students (less students opting for a subject = no necessity to get teachers to teach it), possibly because it isn't considered as one of the '3 big sciences' (Bio, Chem, Phys)
• As you said, not many teachers (not enough with qualifications to teach it)

 

[jimmysmith560]

There were 2394 enrolments in HSC Earth and Environmental Science in 2021, which is significantly lower than the 19028 enrolments in HSC Biology for 2021. This suggests that the demand for Earth and Environmental Science is on the lower end of the spectrum, especially when compared to other subjects, such as Biology. Generally speaking, not all subjects will be offered at all schools. This could be impacted by both the number of teachers who are capable of teaching this subject and the student demand for this subject.

Having taken the Earth and Environmental Science Preliminary course, I felt that it was an unnecessarily difficult subject, which combined elements from more than one science, including geology, physics and chemistry. This was reflected in my results, which were not as high as I wanted them to be, resulting in me dropping this subject at the end of year 11. The difficulty of this subject could be a reason as to why it has considerably lower demand when compared to more popular subjects.

I hope this helps!

 

[jimmysmith560]

How does it scale

As far as I'm aware, it does not scale great, unlike Physics/Chemistry/Biology. In terms of 2020 data, 6% of students who took Earth and Environmental Science received a band 6 as their HSC mark in this subject.

 

[wizzkids]

A big part of the problem is shortage of qualified teachers, so schools shy away from resourcing this subject and they don't encourage students to consider it. I think it is an engaging subject for both City students and Country students, with excellent career prospects.
Decades ago, this subject was called Geology, and there was a mining boom, and qualified geologists were earning megabucks in mining, so it was impossible to attract geologists into teaching. Then there was a mining bust, and the geologists found themselves driving taxis. The subject got a bad name as an unstable career option.
Then Geology merged with Ecology and became Earth and Environmental Science (E&ES). To teach E&ES properly, you needed a qualification in Biology and Geology, so the pool of qualified teachers shrank even more. You get this chicken-and-egg problem, without good Geology teachers you don't attract a critical mass of students into Geology as a career.
In every school I have worked in, there was no Science teacher with a qualification in Geology, but there are heaps with a qualification in Biology. If E&ES is offered, it is mostly taught by Biology teachers teaching out of their field of expertise, which is sad because as I said, the career prospects in E&ES have never looked brighter.