NSW school students instructed to study Greta Thunberg material

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is teaching kids about the environment in NSW schools after the education department encouraged students to study her speeches, but Education Minister Sarah Mitchell says it “wasn’t approved”.

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Lesson plans instructing students as young as eight to study Greta Thunberg’s speeches and then spread her message on climate change have been removed from the state’s education department website as an urgent review is carried out into how they were published.

The class activities about “energy use and efficiency” were targeted at primary school children between Year 3 and Year 5 and remained on the NSW Department of Education’s website for nine months until The Daily Telegraph made inquiries last week.

A spokesman said they would be reviewing how the Thunberg material had been published as it had not been approved.

Speeches made by Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg were on the website of the NSW Education Department.. Picture: Kenzo Triboulliard/AFP

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“This web page was published without approval. We will have the web page taken down and reviewed,” he said.

The lesson plan asked students to watch a speech by the teenage Swedish climate crusader and learn her “communication strategies”.

They were then asked to conduct an energy audit of their own school and outline what needed to change.

“Read about Greta and the transcript of her speech … What is the key message? What techniques does Greta use … Can you now state what needs to change and why?” the plan asked.

Asked about the material on Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she wasn’t aware of how the lesson plans asking children to study the Swedish activist’s speeches were uploaded.

“But I’m extremely relieved that it’s since been taken down,” she said.

SElf-confessed Greta “fan” Lachie Walther at home. Picture: Damian Shaw

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the lesson plan was uploaded to “an internal site that teachers use to share resources at particular schools”.

“It wasn’t approved and therefore that’s why it’s been taken down.

“It will be reviewed, I think that’s appropriate and I’ve asked to be updated as that process is underway,” she said.

An accompanying guidebook on energy audits tells students school airconditioning resulted in an additional 20,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year.

Education researcher Kevin Donnelly said teachers should use scientists rather than activists like Thunberg when teaching about climate change.

“The great shame is education is no longer about being impartial or objective … it is about indoctrinating students.”

Lachie Walther, 10, is a Greta Thunberg fan and said he felt his classmates would enjoy learning about her because she was “younger and more relatable” than other famous faces. “I definitely look up to her more than someone who is 20 or 30, it’s good other students will learn more about a role model who’s 17,” he said.

His mum Kate Parker said she felt learning more about Thunberg would encourage kids to “think for themselves”.

Originally published as NSW school students instructed to study Greta Thunberg material