A third of students who enrolled in year 11 earth and environmental science in 2025 have dropped the subject in year 12, with the decline in interest forcing some schools to scrap the discipline altogether.
Just over 200 Queensland graduates are expected to have completed the subject this year, enrolment data from the state assessment authority indicates.
The state has also seen a 13 per cent drop in year 12 English enrolments.
First-year University of Queensland student Oscar Weatherstone was among a 21-strong year 12 cohort studying earth and environmental science at Brisbane Grammar School last year.
“It’s an ever-growing field, it’s everything from your smartphones to building materials – they’re all going to come out of the ground somehow,” he said.
The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority released its latest school-by-school enrolment figures for each senior subject at the start of June, measuring from units one to four, which typically correspond with the four semesters across years 11 and 12.
Brisbane Times analysis revealed earth and environmental science enrolments for unit one this year – corresponding to current year 11 students – had dropped by 25.4 per cent.
Projected year 11 enrolments for the subject in semester one next year declined by another 30 per cent to about 175 students.
The trend, industry bodies said, was mirrored in universities, where fewer geoscience and climate science undergraduates were completing their degrees.
Lachlan Maier graduated from Brisbane’s Anglican Church Grammar School in 2025 as its top student in earth and environmental science, but said many of his peers did not see the subject through to the end of year 12.
“A lot of people thought it was going to be quite different to what it was … the environmental science side came more towards the back half of year 11 and year 12,” he said.
“You start with your geology, like ‘what’s a sedimentary rock?’, ‘what’s a metamorphic rock?’, that kind of thing. I think a lot of people didn’t realise there would be an element of that and found that quite boring.”
Now studying accounting and property economics at the Queensland University of Technology, Maier hoped his knowledge from earth and environmental science and geography combined would help him make more earth-conscious and balanced business decisions in his career
Weatherstone said peers following a similar path into geosciences at university had not necessarily studied the subject in school, and might instead have studied geography, which had 2993 year 12 enrolments last year.
Weatherstone’s passion for the subject came from his own wonder about the natural landscapes where he had lived, including the Rocky Mountains in Canada, the Glasshouse Mountains, and the Scenic Rim.
However, he said it was no secret the subject scaled poorly.
Maier said despite his high earth and environmental science grades, the subject was still his weakest when it came to calculating his ATAR.
This year, 15 schools across the state offered the subject, seven of which were within Greater Brisbane – including Mansfield, Kedron, and The Gap state high schools, Brisbane Grammar and Churchie.
In 2025, 20 schools taught the subject statewide, while between 2020 and 2023 that number fluctuated between about 22 and 25 schools.
Mansfield State High School taught the most students, with 27 expected to graduate this year, but it was one of two schools where enrolments dropped to zero for both year 11 and 12 next year.
The number of earth and environmental science students expected to graduate from Churchie dropped from 11 last year to just five by the end of this year, and Brisbane Grammar enrolments also halved, despite Deputy Headmaster for Teaching and Learning Steve Uscinski saying the school was dedicated to the subject.
“We have made an intentional decision to give it equal status along with chemistry, physics, and biology as a foundational science, particularly for younger students,” Uscinski said.
“The school has a long history of valuing earth science, geology, and environmental science, so we continue to invest in that, and those opportunities for students, because we believe it’s a really important career pathway.”
The school’s new $80 million STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) building – completed in late 2023 – features dedicated laboratory spaces for the subject, including a small museum of minerals donated to the school.
Uscinski said the school also went out of its way to engage younger students.
Across all Queensland subjects, the largest drop in enrolments between year 11 last year and year 12 this year was in English, amounting to about 4000 places.
This constituted about 13 per cent of all enrolments for the subject.
A satisfactory achievement level in an English and mathematics subject is required to obtain a Queensland Certificate of Education, which can include extension and specialist, general, or applied subjects, or a short course program spanning several weeks.
Behind general English, the largest subject enrolment decreases among the current year 12 cohort were in biology (3188), mathematical methods (2924), general mathematics (2647), and chemistry (1623).
These drops translated to between 10.9 and 18.9 per cent of total enrolments for each subject.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
