Climate change is scaring Aussie kids - should it be pulled from the school curriculum?

In a controversial report published by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), psychologist Clare Rowe argues climate change should not be taught to primary school children.

Video transcript

Climate change is said to be scaring young children in Australia, so a leading expert has come up with a radical solution.

Don’t tell them about it.

In a controversial report published by the Institute of Public Affairs, psychologist Claire Rowe argues climate change should not be taught to primary school children.

However, in response to the report, 150 experts in mental health, medicine and education published an open letter rejecting the claim, arguing that what’s actually scaring children is their lived experience of environmental disasters, the failure of the government to act, and adults not listening to their concerns.

One of the signatories of the open letter, Doctor Chloe Lucas argues kids don’t live in a vacuum and regularly absorb information from social media, the news, and their peers, so they need to have access to fact-based educators so they feel empowered.

She said, climate change is part of public discourse.

I don’t think they can hide from it.

Children will experience seven times more extreme weather events on average than their grandparents.

We’re living in a different world and it’s getting worse.

But Rowe argues, when we’re talking about six, seven and eight year olds, it’s what they’re taught at school that’s making them alarmed.

They’re not getting it elsewhere, not at that age.

She claims a primary reason for their distress is that the problem appears beyond their control, adding, if we want to solve the issue of climate change, we are not creating young people who are motivated to do it.

They are anxious and they are paralysed by despair.

With children of that age, it is appropriate to shield them from that information.

Other experts agree that climate education needs to be improved, but they argue safe teaching is necessary and can be gradually introduced during primary and secondary school.

The open letter stated, Yes, climate change is confronting, but so are topics like death or illness, and we don’t shield children from those.

There is strong evidence that children, even in primary school, are capable of engaging with complex topics when supported by honest, developmentally appropriate teaching.

What do you think?