A PARENT has called for action to be taken by a school after a teacher allegedly told a science class evolution was "not proven".
Adrian Smales says he was shocked when his daughter told him the assertion was made during an S3 physics class at Lasswade High School in Midlothian.
During a discussion on the Big Bang - the scientific theory explaining the origins of the universe - pupils were also said to have been told by teacher Leonard Rogers that people must stop putting their faith in things that cannot be proven.
When Mr Smales, a PhD researcher in biomedical informatics who formerly headed the Natural History Museum's IT department, complained to the school, a response from the headteacher said Mr Rogers "did state he held strong creationist opinions to [the] class".
Mr Smales said: "I have no problem if they discuss [creationism] as part of candid religious dialogue to say these are other views in the world. But in a physics class he is supposed to be teaching mainstream education. It is not based in true, verifiable fact, which is what you are supposed to teach at S3 level."
The email from headteacher Alan Williamson notes that "rather bizarrely Mr Rogers did state that he was a Christian and held strong creationist opinions to [the daughter's] class".
Mr Williamson added: "I'm dismayed that this is the case."
However, Mr Smales, who is due to meet the headteacher today to discuss the issue, wants an investigation into the extent to which Rogers, who has worked at the school for 27 years, may have been discussing creationist views in other science classes.
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