Intelligent design in Free Schools

[cynicalsceptic]

Despite my long held atheist beliefs my child has ended up going to a Christian Free School. The Head assured me that Creationism would not be taught. Unfortunately Intelligent Design seems to be taught in Science (to the exclusion of anything else so far). I am livid and unsure of how to proceed. Should this be allowed?

icecream
You are tilting at windmills.
Teachers are very adept at just sidestepping such questions
At the primary school my oh so atheist DCs regularly picked up the god-botherer teacher and she spun it into the learning for all.
No hassle.

ID is a different level all together and luckily is not well entrenched in this country.

"You are tilting at windmills"

No I'm not. I'm challenging Prh's view that offering a theistic/atheistic opinion in an evolution lesson would be in breach of the new rules. I don't think it would, because the rules only apply to teaching non-scientific theories as fact - not as opinion.

You are right that many teachers are adept at avoiding those questions. However, not all will want to, especially not in faith schools. They will answer the above question something like this: "As Christians, we don't think it means there isn't a God, because [theistic evolution opinion]".

The legal position is not necessarily clear, as icecream says. There is no statute in England that would make teaching creationism illegal. Contravening its funding agreement maybe, but not doing anything unlawful.

Sorry that was in relation to academies.

but not doing anything unlawful

Contravening the funding agreement means the Secretary of State can close the school down or transfer it to a different operator. It also means Ofsted would come down on the school like a ton of bricks. It is not a trivial matter.

Nope, not a trivial matter at all. But not unlawful.

offering a theistic/atheistic opinion in an evolution lesson would be in breach of the new rules

I didn't say that. I said that they may not teach theistic creation, etc. Whether a teacher can give a personal view without breaching the school's funding agreement depends on exactly how it is given. But the teacher should not be offering an opinion unprompted and if asked the professional thing to do would be to dodge the question. The lesson is supposed to be about science. Asking the teacher about theistic evolution would be as relevant as asking who they want to win Strictly.

"I didn't say that"

Well that's ok then.

"Whether a teacher can give a personal view without breaching the school's funding agreement depends on exactly how it is given"

Exactly. Which is why I said it's unclear, and why I suggested that the OP should probe a bit more deeply about what has been said. Whatever the teacher is saying, if the child/parent doesn't have evidence, then Ofsted aren't going to be able to do anything about it. Even if they do inspect, there's no guarantee that the issue will be repeated during their brief visit, so unless there is written evidence they're probably going to find it difficult to challenge.

"Asking the teacher about theistic evolution would be as relevant as asking who they want to win Strictly."

I'm sure many teachers are also asked that .

My point really was that parents may find it difficult to enforce the terms of the 'contract' (e.g. the funding agreement) if the DfE or Ofsted didn't act. I think that is extremely unlikely. But technically it is correct to say the legal position is not 100% clear.

OP, this is not acceptable. You should complain, formally, to the school then - if the response is unsatisfactory- to the Education Funding Agency enclosing photographic evidence of your concerns.

No it is not unclear. A teacher may not teach intelligent design or creationism as fact. How much clearer does it need to be?

If they start giving their opinion on such things it may fall short of teaching but they need to be extremely careful. Even in response to a direct question in a lesson the safest thing for a teacher is to avoid expressing any views. If parents start to complain the school could be in trouble.

if the child/parent doesn't have evidence, then Ofsted aren't going to be able to do anything about it

Rubbish. Ofsted is not a court of law. And in civil matters even the law courts don't need absolute proof. All it would need is a few children or a few parents telling Ofsted that the teachers are overstepping the mark. If the stories were consistent and appeared to stack up Ofsted should take them seriously.

Prh: "A teacher may not teach intelligent design or creationism as fact"

I agree, that is clear.

"How much clearer does it need to be"

Given that we're going round in circles on this, it does need to be clearer.

"If the stories were consistent and appeared to stack up Ofsted should take them seriously."

The OP's story so far is that "Intelligent Design seems to be taught in Science". If that is the correct interpretation of what is being taught in class, and others have the same story, then yes, Ofsted will take it seriously.

However, my point all along has been that the OP's daughter may be hearing Theistic Evolution opinions (which is par for the course in any faith school, and isn't in breach of the rules), and wrongly interpreting it as ID.

I suggested that the OP should carefully explain the difference to her daughter, and, in the light of that, discuss with her exactly what has been said. If she is still convinced that Intelligent Design is being taught in science lessons then she should escalate it.

Its definitely not allowed.
I have debated intelligent design versus evolution with post 16 classes but if its being presented as fact then that is definitely not allowed. As others have said Gove brought in a ruling that all schools including free schools and academies that fail to teach evolution as natural selection would lose their funding.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20547195

Icecream given that it's a secondary school it'll have specific timetabled science lessons, plus the ops dc has been given a homework sheet, I think it should be pretty clear what is being taught! If it was an RE or pshe lesson that would be different, but it's not. It's a science lesson.

Even if theistic evolution is being taught in science lessons she should escalate it.

Argh. Please complain. Science must remain a faith-free zone.