Suzanne Welch

My guest today is Suzanne Welch, Education Partnership Manager at the RSPB, the UK’s largest nature conservation charity with over a million members, and in this episode she explores what it would mean to make nature a right in education and why it’s time to rethink the purpose.

Suzanne has spent decades in outdoor learning - from taking inner-city children to the Thames foreshore, where subjects like science, history and geography came alive, to now convening national partnerships and influencing education policy. Her work is driven by a vision that every child should have access to high-quality learning in, with and for nature.

With over 30 years of experience in project and delivery management within the natural environment sector, Suzanne Welch is currently the National Education Partnership Manager at the RSPB. In this senior specialist role, she provides strategic leadership for the RSPB’s Education and Families work, driving a partnership-based approach that supports, enhances, and creates meaningful impact for teachers across the UK’s education systems.

Her work focuses on:

• Building cross-sector partnerships to empower teachers to deliver nature-based learning and experiences directly to their pupils - enhancing teacher confidence and competence in teaching in, through, about, and for nature through CPD and tailored resource support.
• Co-developing qualifications that enable educators to deliver high-quality, practical nature-related education.
• Collaborating with leading coalitions in each of the four UK nations, as well as UK-wide initiatives, to support systemic change in education.

Suzanne has dedicated most of her career to facilitating personal and social development for children and young people - from early years to university level - and has trained teachers across Great Britain and internationally in using the environment as a powerful tool for learning.