Striking pupils praised by education expert

Pupils who missed school to join the climate strike and campaign for environmental action should be applauded, an education expert who advises the Scottish Government has said.

Millions of students across the world missed school on Friday to join marches and protests demanding action to tackle the climate emergency in what a government education adviser has described as “a very promising and very hopeful thing”.

Professor Pasi Sahlberg, who sits on the International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA), has argued that the protesting students are demonstrating “concrete signs” of the skills being taught in schools.

The Finnish education scholar, who was at the Scottish Parliament to advise the government on education policy, said going on strike from school “is what active learning looks like”.

Prof Sahlberg said: “I think the strikes are a very positive thing when they are done in a respectful and responsible way.

“It’s a huge opportunity for schools and children to learn how to exercise this basic civil right that everybody has – to speak their minds – so it’s a good thing.”

Dismissing critics who claim children should not be missing school, Prof Sahlberg added: “We close schools for many other purposes, we keep our children away from schools for completely useless purposes, so I think anybody who says that children should not strike and should go to school hasn’t done enough thinking about it.”

The ICEA was established in 2016 to advise Scottish Government ministers on the education system.