{"id":1205,"date":"2012-12-01T08:49:14","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T08:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2012-12-01T08:49:14","modified_gmt":"2012-12-01T08:49:14","slug":"government-changes-rules-to-require-free-schools-to-teach-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/2012\/12\/01\/government-changes-rules-to-require-free-schools-to-teach-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Government changes rules to require Free Schools to teach evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry, \/i know I have posted a lot of news articles recently, but\u00a0this one<\/a>\u00a0from the British Humanist Association has made me sooo happy:<\/p>\n

The Government has announced today that it has changed the rules governing Free Schools in order to require them to teach evolution. The British Humanist Association (BHA) organised the \u2018Teach evolution, not creationism<\/a>\u2019 campaign, which called for this change among others, and today welcomed the announcement.<\/p>\n

The change comes through the insertion of a new clause into the model funding agreement which governs what Free Schools can do, which states \u2018The Academy Trust shall make provision for the teaching of evolution as a comprehensive, coherent and extensively evidenced theory.\u2019 The clause will apply for all future Free Schools which open, and was also inserted into\u00a0Grindon Hall Christian School<\/a>\u2019s funding agreement just before it was signed.<\/p>\n

In September 2011, the BHA\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0the \u2018Teach evolution, not creationism<\/a>\u2019 campaign, supported by individuals such as Sir Paul Nurse, Sir David Attenborough\u00a0and Prof Michael Reiss, and organisations such as the British Science\u00a0Association and the Association for Science Education. The campaign called for new rules to prevent schools teaching creationism and intelligent design as scientifically valid, and for every school to be required to teach evolution, including Free Schools and primary schools.<\/p>\n

In subsequent correspondence with the Government, the BHA suggested an amendment to the Free Schools model funding agreement to preclude the teaching of pseudoscience, and in January, the Government\u00a0told the BHA<\/a>\u00a0it had made this precise change. In addition, in June the Government\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0its draft primary curriculum, including modules on evolution from age eight.<\/p>\n

However, in July, the BHA identified three schools which wish to teach creationism as a scientifically valid theory. These included Grindon Hall Christian School,\u00a0which had<\/a>\u00a0a \u2018Creation Policy<\/a>\u2019 statement on its website saying \u2018We will teach creation as a scientific theory and we will always affirm very clearly our position as Christians, i.e. that Christians believe that God\u2019s creation of the world is not just a theory but a fact with eternal consequences for our planet and for every person who has ever lived on it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the BHA, warmly welcomed\u00a0today\u2019s news: \u2018A requirement to teach evolution in Free Schools is an\u00a0excellent additional safeguard against state-funded creationist\u00a0schools and must be welcomed.\u00a0Combined with\u00a0their ban\u00a0on creationism\u00a0as science in the curriculum, and\u00a0their adding\u00a0evolution to the primary National Curriculum, the Government\u00a0has met almost all the aspirations of the ‘Teach evolution,\u00a0not creationism’ campaign.<\/p>\n

\u2018However, we continue to be concerned about the three Free Schools recently approved\u00a0which are\u00a0supportive\u00a0of teaching creationism as science and which we\u00a0must worry will continue to find ways to circumvent a ban in\u00a0practice.\u2019<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

For further comment or information, please contact\u00a0Andrew Copson<\/a>\u00a0on 07855 380 633.<\/p>\n

Read the \u2018Teach evolution, not creationism!\u2019 statement from scientists including Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins, Sir Paul Nurse and Professor Michael Reiss, the British Humanist Association, the Association for Science Education, the British Science Association, the Campaign for Science and Engineering and Ekklesia at\u00a0http:\/\/evolutionnotcreationism.org.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the press release at the launch of the \u2018Teach evolution, not creationism!\u2019 statement:http:\/\/www.humanism.org.uk\/news\/view\/895<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the BHA press release, \u2018Government changes Free School model funding agreement to ban creationist schools\u2019:\u00a0http:\/\/www.humanism.org.uk\/news\/view\/961<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the BHA press release, \u2018BHA welcomes plans to add evolution to primary curriculum\u2019:http:\/\/www.humanism.org.uk\/news\/view\/1048<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the BHA press release, \u2018Free School due to open in September 2012 \u201cteaches creation as a scientific theory\u201d\u2019:\u00a0http:\/\/www.humanism.org.uk\/news\/view\/1079<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more about the BHA\u2019s campaigns work on countering creationism:http:\/\/www.humanism.org.uk\/campaigns\/religion-and-schools\/countering-creationism<\/a><\/p>\n

The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry, \/i know I have posted a lot of news articles recently, but\u00a0this one\u00a0from the British Humanist Association has made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,239,7,21],"tags":[1746,1747,288],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creationism","category-education","category-evolution","category-science-and-religion","tag-creationism","tag-evolution","tag-free-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}