Is climate education in primary schools doing more harm than good? |
There was a really interesting report released last week which you probably didn't read about because it was produced by the Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank that doesn't seem to get much of a go in our mainstream media. But it was worth a read.
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The IPA research report, Climate Change Anxiety in Pre-Adolescent Children: A Neuroscientific and Psychological Perspective, revealed "an alarming rise in climate anxiety among pre-adolescent children in Australia".
And it recommended that climate education be delayed until at least secondary school when older students are better able to digest the information before them.
Clare Rowe, educational psychologist and adjunct fellow at the institute, wrote the report and didn't hold back. She examined "the psychological and developmental impact of climate change education on primary school-aged children, arguing that the current approach within the Australian curriculum is cognitively inappropriate and ethically questionable".
The paper didn't take a position on the science of climate change but rather the "developmental appropriateness of introducing such material to young children, particularly when the teaching often leans towards urgency, fear, and catastrophic scenarios rather than a balanced, contextualised view".
"As a clinician, to see children as young as five are experiencing fear, hopelessness and a sense of impending doom related to what they are taught at school about climate change is alarming. Parents need to understand the psychological burden being placed on their children," Ms Rowe said.
"The emotional toll on children is being........