Environmental Management

Environmental Management IGCSE is offered by CIE and is available to external candidates. This exam in very popular with home educating families in the UK.

Qualification ref for CIE is 0680.

Syllabus and further information from CIE

CAIE says

"Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management is concerned with education for sustainable development in a world where the security of resources and life-sustaining systems is endangered by human impact. The syllabus draws upon disciplines such as biology, earth science, geography, economics and anthropology.

It starts with the interdependence of the Earth's natural systems and how people use natural resources, and moves on to examine the impact of development on the environment. Issues such as environmental pollution and resource depletion are examined, but the view of them is forward looking, to see how we may change the nature of development towards future sustainability."

Comments from parents

A home educator comments: 'The ideal candidate for this course is someone with a good general knowledge and a keen interest in current affairs, especially environmental news. They need good reading and research skills and the ability to draw graphs/interpret tables etc, as this is a small part of the exam. They don’t need to be able to write in perfect grammatical English and the longest answers are just 6 marks each, the majority being 2 marks, so lots of short answers.

There is some overlap with Geography, Biology and even Economics, so if a student is also studying those subjects, they will find this very straightforward. There are two new textbooks to choose from which prepare students for the latest specification.

The subtitle for this exam is Sustainable Development and I think that’s actually a more fitting title. Great for anyone who cares about the world and those who inhabit it, especially its poorest people.' Dorothy Murphy

Another parent writes, "I would recommend the Cambridge University Press Coursebook by Gary Skinner et al. for this subject. It's very well written. There's an accompanying Workbook you can buy separately. We are using the workbook alongside the coursebook. It was a surprise to find that the answers are not in the back of the workbook, though! They're on the Teacher's CDROM, but, unwilling to pay £70 for that, I emailed the publisher, who sent them out by email. I've put them the Files section on the Facebook group (link below) so that others won't suffer the same dilemma."

Resources and Support

Textbooks

This textbook is endorsed by the exam board. Cambridge IGCSE® and O Level Environmental Management Coursebook (Cambridge International IGCSE) by Gary Skinner

There is an accompanying workbook.

This textbook is also available, but is not endorsed by the exam board. Environmental Management for Cambridge O Level & IGCSE Student Book by John Pallister

OUP publishes a revision guide. Environmental Management for Cambridge IGCSE® & O Level Revision Guide (Cie Igcse Complete)

Environmental Management for Home Ed - Facebook group for sharing resources. This group has been running since 2013 and has a wealth of experience among its members and many resources in the group's files.

Many home-educated students study this subject successfully using just the textbook and free online resources, but some find a distance learning course suits their family better, or want to use a tutor occasionally for marking essays or past papers. Course providers can be found on the Distance Learning Providers page.