Farmers start curriculum petition

Federated Farmers has launched a petition asking the Ministry of Education to change its new climate change teaching resource.

The resource, which was launched earlier this month, was designed for year 7 to 10 pupils, and schools could include it in their curriculums this year.

The farmer lobby group says the resource, ‘‘Climate Change: Prepare today, live well tomorrow’’, was not appropriate for use by teachers in classrooms in its current form.

Federated Farmers climate change spokesman Andrew Hoggard said there were a number of mistakes in the resource that the ministry needed to review before it was given to teachers, because it supported misinformation about New Zealand agriculture’s contribution to global warming.

‘‘We’re not denying climate change. We’re just saying some of the facts are wrong.’’

The petition said the resource had information missing that would provide context about emissions, made food choice recommendations that were not supported from a health perspective, referred students and teachers to websites that were not intended for primary school age students, and encouraged activism.

‘‘The petition will show them that there are parents and other members of society that aren’t happy with this resource and want it changed,’’ Hoggard said.

The Ministry of Education’s deputy secretary of early learning and student achievement, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, said the messages in the resource were not new to the community and there was nothing in the resource that said it did not support the farming industry.

Messages in the teaching resource reflected existing advice, such as being mindful of food consumption among many other things including recycling and travel. These messages were not inconsistent with the ministry’s Eating and Activity Guidelines for adults and its Food and Nutrition Guidelines for young people, she said.

‘‘Awareness of the environment and our place in it is one part of the New Zealand curriculum. Nutrition is covered in a different part on the curriculum.’’

Beef and Lamb New Zealand also has concerns about the resource, because it makes recommendations to eat less meat and dairy.

Beef and Lamb NZ head of nutrition Fiona Windle said the recommendation to reduce meat and dairy consumption came with no framework as to what represented a healthy diet.

‘‘We ask the Ministry of Education: What should our children reduce their meat consumption to and what is the actual impact of doing so? There is no reference to the Ministry of Health eating guidelines, which recommend consumption of both meat and dairy and no caveat as to the nutritional benefits animal-based foods offer.’’

She also questioned why the resource used a United States website for meat-free recipe ideas instead of using Kiwi organisations such as 5+A Day or vegetables.co.nz that could provide local, seasonal advice to New Zealanders.

The ministry expected schools to consult with their community when deciding how they would deliver the curriculum. The resource was not a compulsory part of the curriculum, MacGregor-Reid said.

‘‘We appreciate that when complex issues are written in simple language it may seem too simple for some audiences. As with all teaching resources this will continue to be refined.’’

The new resource was trialled and further developed based on feedback from teachers and students.

It had input from a number of sources to ensure that it was able to be used in classrooms and schools with students. The Ministry for the Environment, US space agency Nasa, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), the Institute of Environment Science and Research, the Christchurch City Council, MetService and Stats NZ were all consulted in the resource’s development, MacGregor-Reid said.

It was piloted at South New Brighton School in Christchurch in 2018.

‘‘We’re not denying climate change. We’re just saying some of the facts are wrong . . . There are parents and other members of society that aren’t happy with this resource and want it changed.’’ Andrew Hoggard Federated Farmers climate change spokesman