Scottish Greens say SQA teaching benefits of climate change
- Published
Young people have staged a series of protests demanding more action on climate change
Scotland's exams body is under fire from the Scottish Greens for asking pupils to give explanations on the "positive" effects of climate change.
The party says it is "deeply inappropriate" for the SQA to specify that the pros and cons of the issue should be given "equal consideration".
The instruction is in the National 5 Geography course specification, external.
The SQA said: "Analysing and evaluating a variety of views is essential to critical thinking."
The geography course document provides examples of the alleged benefits of climate change such as "increased tourism to more northerly latitudes" and "improved crop yields".
Ross Greer, the Scottish Greens' education spokesman, said all reputable climate science warned that increased crop failures and widespread famines are an inevitable consequence of the climate emergency.
He said the climate emergency was "the single most challenging crisis we are ever going to face as a species".
Ross Greer said the impact of the climate crisis was colossal
There might be what appear to be short-term benefits, he said, but they pale in comparison to the colossal crises that we will face.
Mr Greer said Scotland will not see climate change benefitting tourism but rather millions of refugees are going to need a safe home in cooler northerly latitudes because large chunks of the world are going to uninhabitable within his lifetime.
'False equivalence'
He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "It would not be remotely appropriate if the history course specification said that pupils need to give 'equal consideration' to the economic benefits that came from the Second World War.
"There were some huge advances and benefits to humanity but you would never claim that you should give that equal consideration to the horrors of the Second World War."
"False equivalence is not critical thinking," Mr Greer said.
The MSP said it would have been appropriate to say there will be things that appear to benefits but they will be quickly eliminated by the huge challenges that we face as a result.
"There are no benefits that are anything close to equal to the colossal disadvantages that come from the crisis we face," he said.
A spokesperson for SQA said: "SQA has worked with a wide range of external partners as part of its commitment to embedding learning for sustainability across all its qualifications.
"In preparing students for the wider world it is important that they develop and employ critical skills. Analysing and evaluating a variety of views is essential to critical thinking."
Negative and positive
The row comes after criticism of the BBC Bitesize revision service.
Its climate change page for GCSE students noted that evidence shows the Earth's temperature is rising due to increasing greenhouse gases, and that this will lead to a "number of negative and positive effects".
It listed positive impacts with benefits like "new tourist destinations becoming available" and frozen regions being able to grow crops.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: "We have reviewed the page and are amending the content to be in line with current curricula."
- Published24 June 2021
