A UK Education adviser has proposed that climate change should no longer form part of the national curriculum for schools. It may come as a surprise to some that it is in fact a government requirement that children should have to learn about something which is still controversial, rather than basic underlying science. But this is simply part of a trend in recent years to teach about social issues rather than impart the core knowledge of the science behind them.
The story was first reported in the Guardian (Climate change should be excluded from curriculum, says adviser) but taken up by a variety of other sources. Tim Oates, the adviser in question, is the director of research at Cambridge Assessment, one of the organisations which sets GCSE and A-Level exams in the England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He was charged by the coalition government with reviewing the entire 500 page national curriculum, which defines what children from 5 to 16 should be taught. Originally introduced following the Education Reform Act of 1988, the national curriculum was intended to define the core knowledge in key subjects which all state school pupils should be taught (the private sector does not have to abide by the same rule). However, from such sensible-sounding beginnings, it has now grown into the all-encompassing hydra we see today.
A review is certainly needed. The range of prescriptive teaching means that non-core activities such as music and team games have suffered and teachers complain of the lack of flexibility available to them. There is no evidence that pupils at private schools suffer because their teachers have greater freedom to plan lessons appropriately. After all, many parents are prepared to endure a certain amount of financial hardship to pay for their children to be taught in this way.