Creationism in Free Schools

John Freeman
Wednesday, March 23, 2011

While there have been criticisms of the Secretary of State on policy issues, no-one, so far as I know, has called into question Michael Gove’s grasp of the English language. So we may assume that what he means, he says, and what he says, he means.

So when he says that he is “crystal clear that teaching creationism is at odds with scientific fact” we may be sure that this is his, Michael Gove’s view. What he does not say is that proposed Free Schools will not be approved if they teach creationism. Instead a DfE spokesman said that free schools will be vetted for “strong education aims” and “high curriculum standards”; not the same thing at all. And as neither academies nor free schools are compelled to follow the National Curriculum, we may be sure that there will be some murky practices developing.

Michael Gove has said that regulations will be devised to exclude extremist groups. But it doesn’t take long to find the flaws in this argument; anyone wanting to open a Free School will find ways of jumping through the hoops. Even if a Free School has a generally acceptable curriculum at opening, I can see no safeguards if the curriculum changes. Ofsted, for example, won’t be able to criticise a free school or an academy if the National Curriculum is not followed; you can’t criticise an institution for not following a non-compulsory curriculum.

Creationism in Free Schools

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