Headteachers who brainwash children with green propaganda are breaking the law, Michael Gove has suggested.
Headteachers who brainwash children with green propaganda are breaking the law, Michael Gove has suggested
The Education Secretary has read ‘with concern’ a report which accused ‘activist’ teaching staff of trying to turn pupils into ‘foot soldiers of the green movement’.
It found the marks children were awarded in exams depended on ‘parroting’ the green agenda. And many widely-used textbooks included inaccurate examples.
A spokesman for Mr Gove said: ‘The Secretary of State read this report with concern.
‘Schools should not teach that a particular political or ideological point of view is right – indeed it is against the law for them to do so.’
The study, by a think-tank set up by former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson, warned that ‘eco-activists’ in the education system were urging children to use ‘pester power’ to ensure parents are forced to adopt lifestyle choices dictated in schools.
‘We find instances of eco-activism being given a free rein within schools and at the events schools encourage their pupils to attend,’ it said.
‘In every case of concern, the slant is on scares, on raising fears, followed by the promotion of detailed guidance on how pupils should live, as well as on what they should think.’
The Global Warming Policy Foundation report, by Andrew Montford and John Shade, described the teaching of climate science in British schools as ‘disturbing’.
Mr Montford said: ‘The brainwashing of our children for political ends is shameful. Those responsible for education in the UK need to take action and take it quickly.’
The report found that teaching on ‘sustainability’ and green issues pervaded the whole curriculum, from French to religious education.
One RE exam asked children to ‘explain actions religious people might take to look after the planet’.
The marking scheme suggested answers such as: ‘avoid polluting the world’, ‘recycle’, ‘reduce carbon footprint’ – and even ‘protest when necessary’ and ‘join action groups such as Greenpeace’.
The report found inaccurate statements in popular geography textbooks, such as one saying there had been an ‘increase in the number and intensity of tropical storms’.
Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says there is ‘low confidence’ that any increase has taken place. Many schools are showing films such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, even though the report says it contains inaccuracies.