To think this is not an activity in primary school

The fashion industry is one of the most resource intensive industries out there. Buying a T-shirt that probably involves labour and/or production abroad, doing the project then never wearing the garment again is very wasteful.

Kids should learn about climate change but inadvertently contributing to it by learning like this isn’t helpful. Bring in an old T-shirt-fine but many will buy new.

OP says they were designing a t.shirt for a protest. OP doesn't say how that lesson was given so we don't actually know if the teacher was impartial.

The climate is changing. Even i can agree with that. It's a fact. What's making it change is up for argument. But even then is recycling things, not wasting water/energy, walking rather than driving etc etc a bad thing to teach kids.

I don't believe in man made climate change, even if it is our contribution in the uk is minimal compared with China and India. But i am the ecological person I know. Battery and solar panels for example....it all saves ME money. So teaching your kid to turn off lights if they ain't in the room is good for your pocket too

I assume it was climate awareness rather than protest. I can't imagine a bunch of primary kids marching through the streets.

YANBU.

I'm an environmentalist, ex Green Party, and consider climate change probably the biggest issue facing humanity.

Schools should not be taking politically partisan stances.

Learn about climate change, sure, learn about activism, sure, but actually organising political activism crosses a line.

It’s a much better idea than just your average (file in the bin) poster activity. Discuss the issues (science, citizenship and geography), look at slogans, language used to catch attention (literacy), how this can be used to best effect (media), actually designing the T-shirt (art) with possibly a bit of tie dye/batik thrown in (design technology).

Plus, schools need to be very careful not to terrify children with messages about climate change.

It's potentially a very scary subject. Needs to be handled carefully.

But… sorry what? they are not going on a protest. They are making t shirts imagining a protest (valid form of expression) about an environmental change that will affect them directly. That they need to know about. So they are being taught about the fact of climate change and the fact that people protest about gov inaction. Tick and tick.

If they were making t shirts about nuclear chain reactions, it’s not unsafe just because nuclear chain reactions are unsafe? They are safely in their primary classroom learning about the world.

Maybe if they split the class into climate change deniers and environmentalists and had both sides research and argue.

Protesting while wearing a t.shirt publicly expresses an opinion on an issue, with the aim of influencing public opinion. I'd say that's a political action.

I think it’s a useful activity because it’s about using persuasive language, which draws across the curriculum from English.

But it’s stupidly counterintuitive because it’s basically using fast fashion to do a climate change project. When fast fashion itself is such a huge issue! I’d push back with that critique because it’s stupidly wasteful in an era of climate change. Everyone can bring a bit of cardboard box to make a sign that can be recycled later.

I don't think anyone thinks they went to an actual protest, OP says the t.shirts were designed for a protest - so all the preparation steps, just not actually going.

I'm sure OP knows what her son said.

They did this at my local primary, seen kids wearing them since and those who wished to wear them at the monthly beach clean which all the schools heavily support. My local school supplied t shirts cheaply that the local print shop supplied at cost, they were sprayed and “cured” so they were washable.

Only read the first page - lots of "they won't actually protest".... our local school DID stand on the street with their posters. Nobody ever said anything negative about it though, and I don't see the problem.

now a beach clean is fantastic.

We did something similar at my primary school 30 years ago (except it was called global warming back then). We also put on a small play for the rest of the school about things like littering, the ozone layer, etc.

It was all tied in with science lessons I seem to remember. Pretty normal I think, and not actually political really, unless you think there's any doubt that humans are causing this kind of damage to the planet.

Now before people start, yes I think the climate is important and yes we all need to do our bit for the world. However I think there is a time and place and I don't think a primary school geography class is that place for the teacher to put it upon the children.

So do you teach your kids about climate change and environmental impact at home?

The point is it should not be normal to get parents to spend money on a tshirt that is not needed, to protest against climate change which has no agreed solutions, and terrify kids about the death of the planet at school.

People that try and explain that school should not be about creating a generation of protestors rather than problem solvers are told they are tin hat wearing reactionaries. And yet this is exactly what is going on.

This.

Is the protest a school trip?!

I'm in the minority but I would be annoyed by this. It's not up to the school to be designing protest t-shirts about any issue.

Well if they're going to wear them in school bring them home fine. If it was a public protest I'd say no

I’d complain based on the waste alone! They could have designed a T-shirt on a piece of paper rather than wasting a T-shirt that is more than likely destined for the bin! It’s the such a bizarrely wasteful activity that shows the teacher doesn’t actually have any idea of what they are teaching!

I remember one of my teacher's brought in a tape player and played us anti-apartheid songs. No doubt she'd be in trouble for it now, but at that time, teachers had more freedom to teach the curriculum as they saw fit.

I think it would be hard to talk about geography without talking about seas and land masses changing, some of which is due to climate change. A discussion on climate change involves what it is and what can be done about it, which includes peaceful protests, neatly leading onto a bit of art and an enjoyable lesson. I don't agree with asking you to send in a t-shirt for them to ruin (regardless of how good their design is, they're never going to wear it), as it's an expense many families can't afford. It would have been better if they'd done posters or a massive wall collage they'd all contributed to.

As for politics, schools shouldn't dictate certain things, like which party their parents should vote for, or suggest one choice is wrong and one is right. But they should teach critical thinking and encourage an interest in the world around them, which means being aware of politics and the laws of the land they live in.

Very common for this type of activity to be done in school. It is a memorable experience for them and therefore the children will remember more of what they discussed whilst doing it. Sometimes schools are working towards a particular award and these types of activities are sometimes expected to gain the award. I do understand your concern though, I wouldn’t raise this unless it becomes a habit of theirs to deviate from curriculum. I am a teacher and even I think some things we do are daft. This one I would let slide.

Your beliefs on whether or not the government are handling it sufficiently are personal. If I believe the government aren’t doing enough it’s still a potentially unsafe environment to attend a protest on it. I am not arguing about climate change.