Queensland Education Minister describes outrage as nit-picking

However, state president Tammie Irons said they have almost given up hope of achieving that aim at present.

Slides from an Education Queensland PowerPoint that describe beef production as not sustainable have outraged parents given greater access to teaching resources since COVID-19 prevention measures mean more remote schooling is taking place.

Callide MP Colin Boyce slammed the material as political ideology that had no place in the curriculum but Education Minister Grace Grace has responded that the Sustainable Food material was developed in 2014 when the LNP was in government and published just weeks after the current government came to office.

It was republished by the Palaszczuk government in 2017.

"This is a non-mandatory resource that schools can use to support the implementation of the Australian Curriculum," she said. "It's ridiculous and unfair to pick one part of a resource without understanding the full context of the lesson plan which actually delivers a balanced approach."

She went on to criticise the LNP for "having time to waste to cherry pick through the resources our hardworking Queensland teachers are using to deliver quality, critical-thinking education" while a global pandemic was in progress.

"This is nit-picking at its finest," she said.

Agriculture Minister Mark Furner was quick to chime in, noting that the Palaszczuk government was a passionate and committed supporter of Queensland's beef industry.

"Beef remains a massive agricultural employer and an important contributor to the nation's food supplies," he said. "We invested massively to help the industry get back on its feet after last year's devastating monsoon event, and I will celebrate every much-deserved success of this iconic Queensland industry."

He didn't make comment on the contents of the slides upsetting numerous parents.

Ms Irons, who has had many years as a teacher in Queensland's state schools, said she had never seen the offensive slides.

However, she said there was no place for it in Queensland's Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C) materials.

"It's inflammatory, political and anti-primary production. Education shouldn't be about politics.

"If parents choose to believe this philosophy and share it in their home, we can't argue with that, but this goes beyond that."

ICPA conference papers have often contained motions calling for agricultural production to be a standard part of the curriculum, driven as much by distance education parents home tutoring their children as by parents at state schools.

Read more: Primary production curriculum call

Ms Irons said ICPA's state council had been banging its head up against a brick wall whenever councillors tried to bring it up at Education Department delegations.

"We are being told by parents, schools in cities say they can fulfil teaching needs by choosing strands," she said.

"For example, they can do environmental education instead of looking at beef production or cotton growing.

"There are choices but throughout their schooling, all areas should be touched on."

Despite this, concerns remained that there was not enough specific information around agricultural production, resulting in children who still think chickpeas come from chickens or that milk comes from a carton.

Related: Why our schools need ag science

Ms Irons said they had worked with AgForce, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, and the Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia to advance their lobby with Education Queensland and the answer was always the same - the material is there for teachers to choose.

"They say they can't tell their teachers the way the material should be taught, and that the obligations have been fulfilled," she said. "We say, we want agricultural production to be taught specifically."

By doing so, it would be explicitly taught rather than given lip service as part of a wider discussion, she said.

"Unfortunately I don't think this government will change anything."