Case Study Report 05

1. Context: education is a licence condition, not a bolt-on

 

For licensed collections in Great Britain, education is a statutory obligation. The Zoo Licensing Act 1981 requires licensed zoos to promote public education and awareness in relation to biodiversity conservation, and the Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice covers education explicitly alongside animal welfare, public safety and conservation. Collections should note that the 2012 standards remain in force until 23 May 2027, with the new Great Britain standards taking effect from 24 May 2027 (Defra, 2026), a package BIAZA has characterised as the biggest change in zoo regulation in decades.

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The professional expectation runs further than the statutory minimum. BIAZA's Conservation Education Policy sets out the sector's position on what effective conservation education involves, and the international framework is reflected in WAZA's guidance on effective environmental education.

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The gap between obligation and practice is where this project sat. Many collections satisfy the education requirement with signage, a talks schedule and a booking form for schools. That is defensible at inspection but it is not a programme, and it does not produce measurable learning. The schools in this case were explicit that they wanted more.

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2. What the research says about zoo learning

 

Designing an education programme without reference to the evidence base is designing on instinct, and instinct in this area is often wrong. The literature offers several findings that directly shaped the design.

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Learning outcomes in zoo and aquarium conservation education have been reviewed systematically, and the body of work shows that outcomes vary widely with how the experience is structured rather than being an automatic product of visiting (Learning outcomes measured in zoo and aquarium conservation education). Research into environmental education in zoos and the impact of guided programmes indicates that guided, structured provision outperforms unstructured visiting. Work on the conservation education impacts of animal ambassadors supports the value of close, well-managed animal encounters as an engagement mechanism. And evaluation of zoo education examining attitudes and learning reinforces that measurement needs to address both knowledge and affect.

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Exhibit design research is relevant too, because it governs whether pupils engage at all. Studies of immersive exhibit design at Chester Zoo found measurable effects on visitor behaviour and learning, and dwell-time research across Central European zoos identified specific design features that increase the time visitors spend attending to animals (Kohut and Katona, 2022). A pupil who walks past an exhibit in four seconds has learned nothing from it, however good the accompanying worksheet.

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Two design conclusions followed. First, structure beats exposure: guided, sequenced sessions with clear objectives outperform free-roaming visits. Second, affect drives retention: the memorable encounter is the anchor to which factual content attaches, which means the emotional experience and the curriculum content must be deliberately linked rather than delivered separately.

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3. Approach

 

3.1 Age-banded session design

Sessions were designed in age bands rather than delivered as a single script at varying speeds. Cognitive stage determines what can be taught, what vocabulary is available, and what kind of activity sustains attention. Younger primary groups worked with concrete, sensory, observation-led content — what the animal is, what it eats, where it lives, what it feels like to be near it. Upper primary moved into classification, habitat, adaptation and food webs, mapping onto KS2 science. Secondary groups engaged with ecology, conservation biology, human impact, ethical questions about captivity, and the science of population management.

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Three content strands ran across all bands, differentiated by depth. Animal encounters provided the experiential anchor. Conservation provided the intellectual content and the reason the encounter matters. Careers provided the pathway — the strand most often omitted from zoo education and, on the evidence of this programme's outcomes, among the most valuable.

 

3.2 Curriculum alignment

Sessions were mapped explicitly to KS2 and KS3 science content. This is a commercial as much as a pedagogical decision. A teacher justifying a trip to a head teacher and to parents needs to demonstrate curriculum linkage; a visit that maps to units the class is already covering is straightforward to approve, and one that does not is a discretionary expense in a constrained budget. Explicit alignment is the single most effective driver of school bookings.

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3.3 Teacher packs: pre-visit, on-the-day, follow-up

Three-phase teacher packs were the core deliverable, and they are what distinguishes this programme from a standard schools offer.

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Pre-visit materials prepared pupils with vocabulary, the species they would meet, the questions the day would answer, and behavioural expectations. Preparation converts arrival from novelty-overload into anticipation, and pupils who arrive already holding the vocabulary can spend the day using it rather than encountering it.

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On-the-day materials supported rather than displaced the experience. Recording sheets and observation tasks were designed to be light-touch and to direct attention toward the animals. Worksheet-heavy days produce pupils looking at paper while standing in front of a rainforest.

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Follow-up materials were the highest-value component. They allowed the class teacher to build the visit into subsequent lessons — data from observation tasks feeding into science work, species research extending into literacy, conservation issues supporting discussion and debate. This is the mechanism by which a single day becomes a curriculum unit, and it is the reason the retention outcomes were achieved.

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3.4 Delivery team training

The delivery team was trained across three areas.

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Safeguarding. Any programme working with children requires appropriate safeguarding training, clear supervision ratios, understanding of the school's and provider's respective responsibilities, and defined reporting routes.

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Risk assessment. Animal encounters with children carry genuine risk — bites and scratches, zoonoses, allergies, slips and trips, and the behaviour of large groups near enclosures. Written assessments were produced per session and per species, alongside hand-hygiene protocols and clear rules on which species are appropriate for close contact with which age groups. Zoonotic risk management and hygiene provision fall within the public-safety expectations inspectors examine, and the underlying duties arise under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. This is the same discipline applied in the consultancy's Health & Safety in the Workplace service line.

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Accessible language. Presenters were trained to pitch content without jargon and without condescension, and to accommodate pupils with additional needs, EAL learners and mixed-ability groups. Technical vocabulary was introduced deliberately and defined, rather than assumed or avoided.

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3.5 Using the technical estate as teaching content

One asset consistently overlooked in zoo education is the technical infrastructure itself. Pupils are routinely taught about animals and almost never about the engineering that keeps them alive, yet that engineering is vivid, tangible STEM content sitting on site already.

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Sessions for upper primary and secondary groups therefore included the option of life support and water management content. Reverse osmosis is an excellent teaching vehicle: it demonstrates semi-permeable membranes, osmosis and diffusion, and dissolved solids in a form pupils can see and measure, and it connects directly to KS3 chemistry and biology. Handing a group a TDS or conductivity meter and letting them compare untreated mains water, RO permeate and remineralised water produces a genuine, hands-on data-collection exercise with a real answer at the end of it.

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The welfare framing is what makes it land. Pupils grasp quickly why an animal that breathes and drinks through its skin cannot simply be given tap water, and why chlorine, chloramine and dissolved copper have to be removed — then why minerals must be deliberately added back, because water that is "too pure" is its own problem. That single sequence teaches osmosis, water treatment, toxicity, physiology and the precautionary care of living things in one narrative arc.

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It also feeds the careers strand directly. Life support systems operation is a real, skilled and under-publicised profession — professionally represented by bodies such as the Aquatic Animal Life Support Operators association — and pupils who enjoy practical science but assume zoo work means only animal handling are frequently surprised to find an engineering pathway into the sector.

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3.6 Interpretation and signage

Signage was treated as part of the education infrastructure rather than as decoration, consistent with the consultancy's signage service line. Effective interpretation is layered — a headline readable in seconds, a short paragraph for the interested, and detail for the committed — so that the same sign serves a Year 2 pupil, a Year 10 pupil and an adult. Signage developed within this workstream has been independently well received, with zoological artist Cameron Parkes noting award-winning signage work that impressed zoo inspectors.

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4. Outcome

 

• Strong post-visit teacher feedback, with pupils retaining species knowledge and conservation concepts beyond the day itself — the specific outcome the brief demanded and the one general visits fail to deliver.

• Repeat bookings across multiple academic years. For a schools programme this is the definitive quality metric: teachers rebook what demonstrably works and quietly drop what does not.

• Career pathway influence. A number of pupils were inspired to pursue zoo-keeping and conservation pathways. Given the sector's need for skilled entrants, this is a genuine conservation outcome in its own right.

• Demonstrable licence compliance. The programme provides documented, evidenced education delivery of the kind inspectors look for under the Standards of Modern Zoo Practice.

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​5. Transferable recommendations

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Map every session explicitly to curriculum content, and publish that mapping in booking materials — it is the strongest driver of school bookings.

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Invest in the pre-visit and follow-up packs. They cost little, and they are where learning retention is actually produced.

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Band sessions by age and differentiate genuinely, rather than delivering one script at different speeds.

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Include a careers strand. It is inexpensive, distinctive, and it produces the outcomes that matter most to the sector's future.

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Keep on-the-day paperwork minimal so that pupils look at animals rather than worksheets.

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Train delivery staff in safeguarding, risk assessment and accessible language, and document that training as part of the inspection record.

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Treat signage as layered interpretation serving several audiences from a single panel.

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And measure outcomes — collect structured teacher feedback and track rebooking, because that evidence supports both licence compliance and the commercial case for continued investment.

 

References

 

Zoo Licensing Act 1981. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/37

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Defra (2026) Standards of Modern Zoo Practice. GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/secretary-of-state-sstandards-of-modern-zoo-practice

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Defra (2026) Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain (in force 24 May 2027). Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/697393b8d345446f8ce71ea5/Standards_of_modern_zoo_practice.pdf

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BIAZA (2023) Conservation Education Policy. Available at: https://biaza.org.uk/downloader/2528

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BIAZA (2025) Charity welcomes biggest changes in zoo regulations in decades. Available at: https://biaza.org.uk/news/detail/charity-welcomesbiggest-changes-in-zoo-regulations-in-decades

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Aquatic Animal Life Support Operators (AALSO). Available at: https://www.aalso.org

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WAZA, Towards Effective Environmental Education, WAZA Magazine 15. Available at: https://www.waza.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/02/WAZA_Magazine_151.pdf

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'Learning outcomes measured in zoo and aquarium conservation education'. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35171535

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'Environmental Education in Zoos — Exploring the Impact of Guided Zoo Tours', Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5636/3/1/5

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'Conservation Education Impacts of Animal Ambassadors in Zoos', Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5636/3/1/1

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'Evaluation of zoo education: an analysis of attitudes and learning', Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research. Available at: https://www.jzar.org/jzar/article/view/439

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The Impact of Immersive Exhibit Design on Visitor Behaviour and Learning at Chester Zoo, UK, Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research. Available at: https://jzar.org/jzar/article/view/524

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Kohut, A.I. and Katona, K. (2022) 'The impact of exhibit design on zoo visitor dwell time', Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 10(2), pp. 59– 65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.19227/jzar.v10i2.574

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Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents