Sir, – I welcome Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris’s thoughts on Leaving Certificate reform, and the need to teach children about climate change (“Leaving Cert system ‘does not prepare student for life beyond education’”, November 2nd).
Climate change is already addressed in the Leaving Certificate geography course. However, this is a “choice” subject so not all students take it.
Climate change is also written into the Junior Cycle geography specification.
However, the Association of Geography Teachers of Ireland regularly gets messages from teachers who say that geography is being made optional in their school and what can they do about it. Some teachers have reported geography not even being offered as a choice.
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This has happened because of two decisions. One, the decision by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to make most subjects optional at Junior Cycle. And two, the decision by former minister for education Joe McHugh to place history in the core.
Regardless of the merits of these decisions, the effect is that students are already missing out on their entitlement to a geographical education that includes a holistic understanding of climate change.
The endless rehashed mantra from department officials, in replies to numerous letters, appears to ignore the reality on the ground; schools have started to drop geography from their programmes.
If the Government is serious about climate change, I fully expect to hear that the decision has been made to return geography to the core curriculum of the Junior Cycle.
Anything else is just hot air.
– Yours, etc,
PETER LYDON,
President,
Association of
Geography Teachers
of Ireland, Dublin 22