A PARENT has called for action to be taken by a school after a teacher allegedly told a science class evolution was "not proven".
Adrian Smales says he was shocked when his daughter told him the assertion was made during an S3 physics class at Lasswade High School in Midlothian.
During a discussion on the Big Bang - the scientific theory explaining the origins of the universe - pupils were also said to have been told by teacher Leonard Rogers that people must stop putting their faith in things that cannot be proven.
When Smales complained to the school, a response from the headteacher confirmed that Rogers "did state he held strong creationist opinions to [the] class".
Education chiefs launched an investigation earlier this month after it emerged that members of a US pro-creationist Christian religious sect, the West Mains Church of Christ, had been working as classroom assistants for eight years at Kirktonholme Primary in East Kilbride.
Smales said: "I have no problem if they discuss [creationism] as part of candid religious dialogue to say these are other views in the world. But in a physics class he is supposed to be teaching mainstream education. It is not based in true, verifiable fact, which is what you are supposed to teach at S3 level."
When Smales, 44, a PhD researcher in biomedical informatics who formerly headed the Natural History Museum's IT department, complained to the school earlier this month, he was sent a response by headteacher Alan Williamson.
The email, seen by the Sunday Herald, notes that "rather bizarrely Mr Rogers did state that he was a Christian and held strong creationist opinions to [the daughter's] class".
Williamson added: "I'm dismayed that this is the case."
He went on to write that Rogers would be told he should not be discussing these matters with pupils and should be teaching from an impartial viewpoint. However, Smales, who is due to meet with the headteacher tomorrow to discuss the issue, said he was unhappy that further action had not been taken.
He wants an investigation into the extent to which Rogers, who has worked at the school for 27 years, may have been discussing creationist views in other science classes.
"My daughter has also been given no remedial education to correct what they have been told," he added.
"So the school has left the situation whereby all of these impressionable youngsters have taken on board the erroneous material he has told them and the school is doing nothing to correct it."
Midlothian Council said there had been no previous complaints or concerns raised about the issue. However, Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian, said: "I do think it's an issue that needs properly looked at by all the relevant authorities, otherwise trust in our school system risks being eroded."
Caroline Lynch, chair of the Scottish Secular Society, said: "Matters of religious belief should not be discussed outside a religious observance or education context - it has no place in a science class."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article