Ocean Conservation Trust

Aims

This partnership builds on a long-standing relationship between the Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) and the Plymouth Institute of Education (PIoE) that is oriented towards supporting research and practice related to ocean literacy and marine citizenship.

Particular emphasis is placed on Plymouth. Students from the PIoE undertake study visits to the National Marine Aquarium (NMA), the NMA being a flagship initiative of the OCT. Here students learn from OCT staff about environmental communication in an informal context. Colleagues from the PIoE support the OCT with advice on appropriate research and evaluation strategies. Together, the partners are developing joint projects, including the development of ocean literacy materials that are available through the UPPScale website and the CPD module described below.

Current activity

Through their UPPScale partnership, the University of Plymouth lecturer Dr Alun Morgan and OCT have been granted funding to develop a course entitled ‘Experiencing Ocean Literacy for Educators and Communicators’. This project will develop a multi-day experiential outdoor programme of training and associated materials for educators and communicators in ocean literacy (OL). It will cover subject knowledge, logistical planning and risk assessments, together with local knowledge of sites.

The project will develop (February–July 2021) an educational intervention aimed at addressing barriers to OL by professionally developing educators/communicators in OL through experientially based outdoor learning (‘teaching the teachers; training the trainers’). It is anticipated that the course will be structured in three packages or modules to be delivered on separate days, either as a discrete day-based or residential programme. The intended audience (initially, at least) will be PIoE Undergraduate students on the BEd and BA programmes, although input and participation by postgraduate students on PGCE, MA and Doctoral programmes will be encouraged. Thus, the course will seek to address – but not be limited by – considerations of formal schooling (such as curriculum and off-site visit logistics). It will extend its relevance into learning outside formal education, potentially widening its appeal beyond education and the PIoE to undergraduate and postgraduate students from Geography, Earth and Environmental Science or Marine Science disciplines interested in public engagement, outreach and science communication.