CREATIONISM and evolution should be considered side by side in school science lessons, 30 scientists and academics have told Education Secretary Estelle Morris.

The group has urged her to ensure scientific objectivity in the national curriculum and pressed for lessons in secondary schools to present alternative theories, all of which should be critically appraised.

Their letter to Ms Morris opposes recent calls by eminent scientists and philosophers for changes to the national curriculum in the wake of the row over creationism in schools.

The group, which includes specialists in biology, physics, geology and chemistry, challenges the view that only one theory of life’s origins - evolution - should be taught in schools.

Its members include David Back, professor of pharmacology and therapeutics at Liverpool University, and Nigel Jones, consultant vascular surgeon at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

They call for objectivity in the curriculum and add: “We find it most inappropriate that some well-meaning scientists have given the impression that there can only be one scientific view concerning origins.”

Their spokesman Andy McIntosh, professor of thermodynamics and combustion theory at Leeds University, said: “Education should be analytical not dogmatic, particularly when dealing with science.

“I am surprised that other scientists would only support teaching and learning in Darwinian evolution. My colleagues and I want schools to teach children how to think - not what to think.”

The row over creationism blew up after Gateshead’s Emmanuel College hosted a conference on the theory last month.

Leading scientists such as Professor Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, objected, urging that the Office for Standards in Education re-inspect the city technology college.

It has yet to supply a full reply on its science teaching. Four key members of the school, including principal Nigel McQuod, support creationism.

Professor McIntosh said: “Creationism should not be immediately excluded, neither should evolution. The two need to be considered carefully.

“You have to have open discussion, whether it is equal discussion we are not saying. What we are saying is that there should be discussion in the classroom.

“You need to have an open mind and to consider the data carefully, and that doesn’t mean that you exclude philosophical views.

“The issue is to support critical thinking with credible argument - there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that evolution is not the best explanation.”

The curriculum requires that Darwinian evolution is put across as the dominant scientific theory, but states that “scientific controversies can result from different ways of interpreting data”.

Letters, 22-23