The DfE is clear on the climate protests; children should be in school learning stuff. \u00a0Speaking on Radio 4\u2019s Today<\/i>, the ubiquitous reshuffle survivor Nick Gibb MP said that although the government shared young people\u2019s concern about climate change, ...<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think it should be at the expense of a child\u2019s education because what we want is for the next generation to be as well educated as possible to tackle these kinds of problem, and you don\u2019t do that by missing out on an education<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that even missing one day of school could affect examination results.<\/p>\n There is something in this argument, of course, and the DfE is consistent. \u00a0Not all Heads agree, and practice is varied to say the least. \u00a0One Head was very clear where she stood.<\/p>\n Sue Harte, the head of John Stainer Primary School in Brockley made it clear that no families would be challenged if they took children out of school to join the protest, and she went herself with the 16 members of the school council. \u00a0The Times quotes Ms Harte saying that\u00a0her pupils were \u201cvery passionate\u201d about climate change and that attending the protest \u201cseemed like a very good way of them exercising their right, and many many other children from the school wanted to come as well\u201d. \u00a0 About 100 students from the school had gone to the protest with their parents.<\/span><\/p>\n The interesting aspect of this is why Ms Harte allowed attendance. \u00a0There was no intention of learning anything about the climate. \u00a0Rather, as Ms Harte made clear:<\/p>\n \"I see it as parents wanting to educate their children about their democratic right, so it\u2019s part of the British values lessons. \u00a0It\u2019s a very good way of them doing that. \u00a0I think it\u2019s very positive that they are doing that. \u00a0Children feel very passionately about it. \u00a0In school we\u2019ve debated it. \u00a0They have a climate-change afterschool club that they can choose to join. \u00a0It\u2019s something that we\u2019ve woven into the curriculum. \u00a0It\u2019s a live and important topic that worries children<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n This is all very plausible, and goes some way to assuage concerns that there's not much to learn about climate \/ climate change \/ etc on the marches.<\/p>\n Of greater concern, maybe, is what Ms Harte also said:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that we give them facts but they are the Google generation so they see for themselves what\u2019s so concerning, so we are sometimes just having to help them to understand what\u2019s fact and what\u2019s not<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n