Climate change cut from Great Britan's national curriculum for children up to 14

[Vergent]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/17/climate-change-cut-national-curriculum

I wonder if B.P. had anything to do with this.

[StuartC]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/17/climate-change-cut-national-curriculum

I wonder if B.P. had anything to do with this.

I don't know about BP, but I think it's likely that our Education Secretary Michael Gove - a well known right winger - may have been influenced by his pals at the so-called Global Warming Policy Foundation, the UK's very own climate change deniers' think tank, founded by arch-tory Lord Nigel Lawson:

http://www.desmogblog.com/will-global-warming-policy-foundation-s-seed-funder-be-revealed

The idea of dropping climate change from the National Curriculum for children up to the age of 14 is an incredibly cynical move on the part of Gove and his cronies. They are simply pandering to the fake-sceptics who have managed to establish themselves in British politics with help from the GWPF.  It's our children more than anyone else who will be affected by climate change, so it's essential they should all have the opportunity to learn about the problems they're going to face later in their lives.  The Guardian has three new articles about this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/18/climate-change-schools-backlash

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/19/climate-change-sin-of-omission

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/mar/19/geography-climate-change-unjust

Two petitions have now been started protesting about this, and I'm sure they'd appreciate some international support in addition to our own English efforts:

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/michael-gove-keep-climate-change-in-the-curriculum

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/michael-gove-don-t-scrap-climate-change-education-2

[sofouuk]

sent my email yesterday, not that i expect the 'protest' to achieve anything in the slightest. clearly the conservative top brass have decided that climate change is inconvenient, and therefore either an untruth or something that we had better not worry about until later. and well, if it was real and really scary, all the more reason not to make the children worry about it

[dorlomin]

Tories are low in the polls and know they are vulnerable to their left to allegations of being a UK tea party, ultra Thatcherite etc etc. At the moment they are trying to bang a right wing drum but have been horribly beaten in previous elections when they went right.

Giving this issue air time and getting behind it, helps paint them into a corner they don’t want to be in. Already they have reinstated Mary Seacole back into the history curriculum after dropping her created a fuss made about them being racist.

Teaching climate change costs nothing, so all we need is enough of a fuss and people talking about tea party UK and we could get it back in.

[silkman]

Yet more evidence that Cameron's "greenest government ever" has totally lost the plot!

My experience via charity work in Primary Schools in the UK is that the kids really get it. I suspect that Mr Gove and his denialist mentor Nigel Lawson will get a bloody nose on this one.

I do hope so!

[Jim Hunt]

I suspect that Mr Gove and his denialist mentor Nigel Lawson will get a bloody nose on this one.

I do hope so!

Your wish has been granted!

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/michael-gove-keep-climate-change-in-the-curriculum

This week Education Secretary, Michael Gove, announced he was abandoning his plans to drop climate change as a subject in the Key Stage 3 curriculum.

[silkman]

Result!

It's all very parochial of course but in my experience as a Trustee of the Primary Science Teaching Trust (www.pstt.org.uk) 5-11 year olds taught science well, especially in outdoor classrooms, really get the importance of the environment to their futures.

But all too often their enthusiasm is dampened by the didactic approach to education so beloved by Mr Gove. But as St Francis Is reputed to have said "give me the child and I'll give you the man".

The youngsters are the key to our future in more ways than one.

[dorlomin]

I suspect that Mr Gove and his denialist mentor Nigel Lawson will get a bloody nose on this one.

I do hope so!

Your wish has been granted!

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/michael-gove-keep-climate-change-in-the-curriculum

This week Education Secretary, Michael Gove, announced he was abandoning his plans to drop climate change as a subject in the Key Stage 3 curriculum.

As I said he was very vulnerable to the left and center on this issue. It costs nothing and gets one small set of bad headlines out of the way.

In all likely hood it was nothing to do with weather he believed in climate change or not but part of his rolling back the curriculum to some 50s ideal where everything was all facts and no application, climate was more on the applied side of science.