Twenty-nine percent of teachers in the United Kingdom believe that creationism and intelligent design should be taught as science, according to an online survey of attitudes to teaching evolution.
Nearly 50% of the respondents said they believed that excluding alternatives to evolution was counter-productive and would alienate pupils from science.
The survey, by the website and TV station Teachers TV, also found strong support for the views of Professor Michael Reiss, the former director of education at the Royal Society, the independent academy of science in the UK, who resigned in September over comments about including creationism in science lessons.
Nearly nine out of 10 respondents agreed with him that teachers should engage with pupils who raise creationism or intelligent design in science lessons. Reiss said at the time that creationism is not science and he did not advocate giving it equal time alongside evolution, but he was forced to step down after furious reactions to his comments in the media from some Royal Society fellows.
“This poll data confirms that the debate on whether there is a place for the teaching of creationism in the classroom is still fierce,” said Andrew Bethell, chief executive of Teachers TV. Teachers TV emailed 10 600 education professionals, of which 1 210 responded. Because the sample is self-selecting, only those teachers with the strongest views might have replied.
Most controversially, 29% said they either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the government’s guidelines on teaching evolution, which states that “creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science national curriculum programmes of study and should not be taught as science”. Fifty-three percent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.
Thirty-one percent of respondents and 18% of the 248 science teachers in the sample said they thought creationism or intelligent design should be given the same status as evolution in the classroom, although this question did not specify whether it was referring to science lessons or the curriculum in general.
Twenty-two respondents said they had been pressured to teach creationism or intelligent design by their school.
In September Reiss advocated a pragmatic approach to tackling creationism in science classes. “I feel that creationism is best seen by science teachers not as a misconception but as a world view.” He said that teachers should not dismiss pupils with creationist views, but engage with them.
But senior Royal Society fellows disagreed with his position. “I think it is outrageous that this man is suggesting creationism should be discussed in a science classroom,” said Sir Richard Roberts, winner of the 1993 Nobel prize for Medicine. – Guardian News & Media Ltd 2008