Teaching Creationism as Science now Banned in UK Schools

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Teaching Creationism As Science Now Banned In All UK Public Schools

In what's being heralded as a secular triumph, the UK government has banned the teaching of creationism as science in all existing and future academies and free schools.

The new clauses, which arrived with very little fanfare last week, state that the...

...requirement for every academy and free school to provide a broad and balanced curriculum in any case prevents the teaching of creationism as evidence based theory in any academy or free school.

So, if an academy or free school teaches creationism as scientifically valid, it's breaking the funding agreement to provide a "broad and balanced curriculum."

In the UK, state-funded academies are basically equivalent to charter schools in the United States, and are primarily comprised of high schools. Free schools, which were introduced in 2010, are non-profit making, independent, state-funded schools which are not controlled by a local authority, but are subject to the School Admissions Code. Free schools make it possible for parents, teachers, charities, and business to set up their own schools.

In addition to the new clauses, the UK government clarified the meaning of creationism, reminding everyone that it's a minority view even within the Church of England and the Catholic Church.

Back in 2012, the UK government banned all future free schools from teaching creationism as science, requiring them to teach natural selection. At the time, however, it didn't extend those requirement to academies, nor did the changes apply to existing free schools. The new verbiage changes this, precluding all public-funded schools — present or future — from teaching creationism as evidence-based theory.

The new church academies clauses require that "pupils are taught about the theory of evolution, and prevent academy trusts from teaching 'creationism' as scientific fact."

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and on from there... http://io9.com/teaching-creationism-as-science-now-banned-in-all-uk-pu-1592549647

Edited June 18, 2014 by OnMyWayID

[JohnR! 5,495]

Well done UK! Separation of science and fiction.

Edited June 18, 2014 by Gegel

[Jacque67 7,328]

Great!

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Made my day.. Homeopathy getting the boot, Chiropractics on trial.. England should get a do-over against Italy.

[Pooky 3,855]

Go UK.

[GandD 5,966]