A child who says, ‘I want to work with animals,’ may picture a veterinary clinic today, a wildlife research camp tomorrow, and a conservation project in another country next week. That is not a problem. Young people should be allowed to imagine more than one future. Our responsibility is to help them choose school subjects that keep those futures open.
My strongest advice is simple: take
Mathematics — often called pure or core Mathematics — and pass it in Grade 12.
You do not have to earn a distinction for the subject to be valuable. You do
need to stay with it, practise, ask for help when you are stuck, and learn how
to work through a problem instead of walking away from it.
Mathematics is not only about numbers on an
examination paper. It teaches discipline, analytical thinking, and
problem-solving. These skills matter throughout the wildlife field, whether you
are drawn to clinical animal care, technical fieldwork, ecology, conservation
management, rehabilitation, or research.
Choose subjects that keep more than one door open
A South African learner normally takes
seven subjects for the National Senior Certificate. Home Language, First
Additional Language, and Life Orientation form part of that package. If a
learner wants to keep a broad range of wildlife and conservation careers within
reach, this is the combination I recommend:
- Home Language
- English as First Additional Language
- Life Orientation
- Mathematics, not Mathematical Literacy
- Information Technology
- Physical Sciences
- Life Sciences
This is not the easiest subject
combination, and that is precisely why learners should begin preparing for it
early. It offers a strong base for far more than one career. Life Sciences
helps you understand living systems. Physical Sciences builds the foundation
for chemistry and physics. English matters because so much scientific
literature, international communication, and professional training takes place
in English. Your Home Language helps you communicate clearly with the people
and communities around you.
Why Mathematics matters in wildlife work
Wildlife work is practical, but practical
does not mean unthinking. A rehabilitator records weights and looks for
patterns in recovery. A field researcher compares populations over time. A
conservation manager works with budgets, distances, areas, and limited
resources. A veterinary team measures carefully and makes decisions from
evidence. Even planning an enclosure requires dimensions, quantities, and an
understanding of space.
The calculation itself may not be
complicated. The habit of thinking carefully is what matters. Mathematics
teaches you to slow down, identify what you know, work out what is missing, and
test whether your answer makes sense. When a living animal depends on the
quality of your decisions, guessing is not good enough.
I know that some learners decide they are
‘not maths people’. Often, what they really mean is that Mathematics takes
effort, or that they have lost confidence. That can change. A patient teacher,
regular practice, and the courage to ask one more question can make an enormous
difference. The goal is not perfection. The goal is to develop a mind that
stays with a difficult problem.
Information Technology: the unspoken language
Information Technology deserves its place
in this subject combination because modern conservation also speaks an unspoken
language: code. Wildlife researchers work with data. They map movement, study
population changes, manage records, and look for patterns that cannot be seen
in a single observation.
Programming languages such as R and Python,
and tools used for geographic information systems, are common in wildlife
research, population modelling, and conservation mapping. A school IT subject
may not teach every programme you will use later, but it introduces logic,
coding, and structured problem-solving. That gives a learner a meaningful head
start and makes future technical training less intimidating.
IT also gives you options outside wildlife.
That matters. Few fourteen-year-olds know exactly where their careers will
lead, and they should not have to know. A good subject choice should support
the dream they have now without trapping them inside it.
An eighth subject for an international career
If your school allows an eighth matric
subject, your workload is manageable, and you hope to build an international
career in wildlife conservation, ecology, or veterinary science, consider
adding another language. Choose it according to the part of the world that
interests you most.
An Oxford-led study using IUCN Red List
species-distribution data found that many biodiversity-rich regions are
associated with official languages including Spanish, English, Portuguese,
French, and Malay. English already forms part of the seven-subject combination
above. For a South African learner choosing one additional language, I would
place Spanish, French, and Portuguese at the top of the list.
Spanish
A strong all-round choice for Central and South America, including work connected to rainforest ecology, jaguars, marine conservation, and the Galápagos. Speaking Spanish helps you work with local teams and communities, and gives you access to knowledge that may never be translated into English.
French
Especially useful if your interests
lie in West or Central Africa, or Madagascar. It can help you communicate with
field teams working in some of the world’s most important primate, megafauna,
forest, and island-conservation landscapes. French is also widely used in
international organisations.
Portuguese
A valuable choice for Brazil,
Mozambique, and Angola. Brazil contains the largest share of the Amazon basin,
while Mozambique and Angola offer growing conservation opportunities closer to
home. The Oxford study also highlights the importance of Portuguese to global
biodiversity, despite its limited use in some international policy settings.
A language is more than a line on a school
report. It allows you to listen, build trust, understand local knowledge, and
participate fully in the place where you work. If you love animals and
international travel, a professional career or volunteer placement in wildlife
rehabilitation and conservation may allow you to do both. The people who can
communicate across cultures will always bring more to that work.
Start before high school
Parents do not need to wait for Grade 9
subject choices. If your primary-school child dreams of working with wildlife,
ask the school to register learners for the annual South African Mathematics Challenge from Grade 4. The Challenge is open to learners in Grades 4 to 7 and
encourages reasoning, creative thinking, and the use of mathematical knowledge
in unfamiliar situations.
From Grade 8, learners can continue with
the South African Mathematics Olympiad. These programmes are not only for the
child who finishes every class exercise first. Their real value lies in
teaching learners to approach an unfamiliar question, try more than one route,
and keep thinking when the answer is not immediately obvious. Those habits can
become a gateway to many different career paths.
Keep the dream broad
Working with wildlife is not one job. It
includes veterinary science, rehabilitation, ecology, animal behaviour,
conservation technology, environmental education, law, tourism, data analysis,
communication, and many roles we have not yet imagined. The child who dreams of
treating an injured bird may eventually design tracking software, manage a
protected area, study disease, lead a field team, or build a conservation
organisation.
That is why I recommend a demanding but
versatile subject combination. Mathematics sits at the centre because it
teaches far more than calculation. Add the sciences, English, a strong Home
Language, Information Technology, and, where possible, a strategically chosen
eighth language. Then support the learner as they grow into their own
interests.
Young people are allowed to change their minds. Our task is to make sure that, when they do, they still have choices. Give them the strongest foundation you can, and the world really can be their oyster.
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