UK Government says “no” to creationism/ID in science classes
A petition on the 10 Downing St web site has elicited a response from the Government regarding the teaching of creationism/ID. The petition read:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to prevent the use of creationist and other pseudo-scientific propaganda in Government-funded schools.
The Prime Minister has recently spoken about the importance of science education in the UK. Creationism & Intelligent design are greatly featured in the media and are being used disingenuously to portray science & the theory or evolution as being in crisis when they are not. Moreover groups such as Truth in Science are targeting our nation’s children and their science education with material that is not only non-scientific but have been rejected by the scientific community. These ideas therefore do not constitute science, cannot be considered scientific education and therefore do not belong in the nation’s science classrooms.
The Government has since responded (with my emphasis):
The Government remains committed ensuring that young people have an understanding of the importance of science and the world around them.
Science is a core subject of the National Curriculum throughout every Key Stage. The National Curriculum secures for all pupils, irrespective of background and ability, an entitlement to a range of areas of learning. Its aim is to develop the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes necessary for each pupil’s self-fulfilment and development as an active and responsible citizen. It makes expectations for learning and attainment explicit to pupils, parents, teachers, governors, employers and the public, and establishes national standards for the performance of all pupils. All materials that support the teaching, learning and assessment of primary and secondary education, can be found on the National Curriculum website.
The Government is aware that a number of concerns have been raised in the media and elsewhere as to whether creationism and intelligent design have a place in science lessons. The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science National Curriculum programmes of study and should not be taught as science. The science programmes of study set out the legal requirements of the science National Curriculum. They focus on the nature of science as a subject discipline, including what constitutes scientific evidence and how this is established. Students learn about scientific theories as established bodies of scientific knowledge with extensive supporting evidence, and how evidence can form the basis for experimentation to test hypotheses. In this context, the Government would expect teachers to answer pupils’ questions about creationism, intelligent design, and other religious beliefs within this scientific framework.
We will be publishing guidance for schools, on the way creationism and intelligent design relate to science teaching. It will be possible to ensure that the weight of scientific opinion is properly presented. The guidance will be available on the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority website in due course.
Hurrah!
There are two separate issues here that I’m going to mention:
I’m glad that they don’t single out evolution as the reason for this, but encompass the entirety of science as that which is to be supported. This is a Good Thing™. However, the very specific language (The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science National Curriculum programmes of study and should not be taught as science
rather than what I personally would like to have seen: “The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not science and should not be taught as science”) is perhaps quite telling. I guess this can be a fight for another day. I’m happy for this small victory of sanity and reality over superstition and political correctness.
I’m also glad to see that they haven’t banned it completely from discussion. This allows (good) science teachers to be able to put creationism/ID in context to science (i.e. it’s a load of sky-hooked hokum) without having to “teach” it to placate those who, bizarrely, still think like bronze-age nomads.
Now, if we can just get the Scottish Executive to convince the muppets at the SQA to do the same… *sigh* Devolved government was never supposed to mean we had to put up with this shit twice.
June 21st, 2007 at 4:31 pm
What’s the situation in “faith schools?”
June 21st, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Unfortunately, Blair supports them and thinks that they’re a great idea. Thankfully he has less than a week left in office, so perhaps things might start to change for the better after he’s fucked off to the USA[1] to be Bush’s personal pet proper.
There’s still plenty of campaigning going on to try stop any new ones being created, but only time will tell.
[1] This is at once both a guess, and a hope.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 am
Do faith schools have to abide by National Curriculum standards?
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:47 am
To AV, as far as I can tell no. I believe they come under the definition of being a private school, and can thus teach whatever they like. So you get people like Peter Vardy teaching absolute rubbish like creationism, at the taxpayers’ expense! This is because though some of the original money is paid by a benefactor, like Vardy, the actual maintenace and running costs are paid by the Government, thus meaning state sponsored creationism.
I’m pretty sure that’s how it works, but if anyone notices a mistake feel free to correct me.
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:35 am
AV: As far as I can tell from the Education Act 1996 (which applies to only England and Wales) any school which comes under the control of a local authority is compelled to adhere to the national curriculum, “faith” school or not.
Of course, Blair with his wonderful academy nonsense that XanderG mentions above may have special ‘get out’ rules for such schools that I’m not aware of. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Hi,
The vast majority of faith schools - which make up a huge proportion of all schools in the UK - are local authority controlled and so do have to abide by the National Curriculum. Academy schools do also have to abide by it in theory as the get inspected by govt inspectors, but they have been caught out supporting ID in practice (never by inspectors) and with rather extreme positions regarding gays.
The problem with academies is that £2m gets you £20m odd from public funds to run your school and non mainstream faith groups have been helping themselves.
The Vardy Foundation and the “Emmanuel Schools Foundation” are worth a google.
Regards,