Creating a storm in the classroom

FOR two hot weeks in July 1925, the world's attention was focused on a small town in America. There, in a crowded courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee, the rumbling debate between evolution and creationism came to a head during the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial. John Scopes, a young high school science teacher, was found guilty of teaching evolutionary theories, forbidden under the Butler Act.

Yet, what may sound like historical American fundamentalism at its most absurd, is still bubbling away more than 75 years later. The issues surrounding the trial - creation versus evolution; curriculum control versus academic freedom - are as relevant today as they were then.

The debate stretches back to Charles Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species in 1859. His argument, that plants and animals originated without divine interference and by means of natural selection, did not initially cause a great stir in America. The reason was partly because evolution appeared such a ridiculous idea when creation was the prevalent belief. It would take Darwin's The Descent of Man in 1871, in which he wrote that humans and monkeys had common ancestors, for the flames to be fanned.

Today, Gallup polls show that nearly half of all adult Americans, and a quarter of all college graduates, continue to doubt Darwin's explanations for human origins.

In the North-East, the debate is raging along different lines at Emmanuel College in Gateshead. Teachers at the state-funded city technology college have been pilloried in the media for undermining scientific teaching of biology, in favour of supporting the literal version of the Bible.

The school's headteacher, Nigel McQuoid, and its governors, have found themselves caught up in something akin to the circus which descended on Daytona. And the storm shows no signs of abating.

Emmanuel College was established in 1990 as a city technology college with a Christian foundation. It achieves consistently outstanding academic results and has received two glowing Ofsted reports. The school was built with £2m of sponsorship from the Vardy Foundation, the charity headed by Sir Peter Vardy. Sir Peter, the multi-millionaire behind the Reg Vardy car dealerships based in Sunderland, is chairman of Emmanuel's board of directors. The foundation is also behind the £13m city academy being created in Middlesbrough to replace two secondary schools - Coulby Newham and Brackenhoe.

The maelstrom began when Emmanuel College was used as a base for a creationist conference last weekend. Reports soon followed of teachers at Emmanuel "showing the superiority" of creationist ideas. Extracts were printed from a lecture by science teacher Steven Layfield two years ago. He suggested that "science teachers may care to try the following:

'Remind classes of great scientists from the past who believed in God and the Bible; organise talks by specialist scientists who are able to provide authoritative pronouncements in favour of the biblical world-view; set up a forum in which topical items of science news are discussed within the school...

"Students and teachers must be shown that what is served up as science for popular consumption is frequently riddled with subtle atheistic propaganda."

The reports have sparked outrage among the academic world. Schools must teach evolution under the national curriculum, but they are not banned from teaching creationism. Eminent scientist Professor Richard Dawkins claims that pupils were being taught "ludicrous falsehoods".

Calling for school inspectors to re-examine the school, he says it had been told to question any reference in text books to durations of millions or billions of years, on the grounds that creationism suggested that the universe was no more than a few thousands of years old.

He says: "These people are teaching that the Earth is a mere thousands of years old. This is not a matter of one scientific position against another scientific position. There is no scientific position which states that the Earth is thousands of years old. Any bishop would say the same."

But headteacher Mr McQuoid has insisted his pupils are not being force-fed religion. He believes they are more able to make informed decisions having being presented with both sides of the argument.

"There is a big question over the scientific evidence in front of us, but the national curriculum says 'pupils should be taught how scientific controversies can arise,'" he says.

"We are accused of indoctrinating pupils, but I could take you to a school where 75 per cent of the teachers don't have a faith, or perhaps don't believe in a god. But would they be accused of indoctrinating pupils to believe that there isn't any real basis for this god business?

"What we have to help young people question is whether their faith is scientific nonsense or is it something which does have some scientific defence?"

The school stresses it welcomes pupils of all faiths and none, and follows the national curriculum. Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended the school and told MPs in the House of Commons that it made a valuable contribution to the diversity of Britain's education system.

But his vote of confidence will do little to still the voices of many who will argue that creationist teaching should be left to the churches. The debate is sure to rage on, no matter how many scientific advances are made. In the meantime, Mr Vardy is committed to investing £12m to build six more new schools in the North-East. A decision has yet to be taken on where the city academies will be built, but Teesside, Sunderland and Newcastle have emerged as firm favourites.

At the announcement of the plans for the six schools and the city academy at Middlesbrough, he spoke of his pleasure in putting something back into the North-East after the success of the Reg Vardy business.

He said: "As a Christian, I'm keen that people are given a good moral education, as well as a good academic education. We hope the community will share our enthusiasm."