Teacher told my child that child is not a Muslim

Goodness, I am quite shocked by that teacher's response. She may well believe it personally but its not something she should be articulating to the children in her care. OP, I think you should talk to the Head about this. You are obviously a sensible balanced thinker but a more emotion driven parent might cause serious problems for the school if their child came home and said this. I used to work in health and many of my patients had beliefs about aspects of life that were not mine and which i disagreed with. It was no part of my role to challenge those beliefs and I think its no part of this teacher's role either.

Jeez, I’m as atheist as they come, and tbh I basically agree with her that young children cannot really have the understanding to be properly thought of as religious. But I wouldn’t be such an arsehole as to go around telling a child “you aren’t a Muslim/Christian”. Especially if I was an important person in that child’s life, which I think is the case for primary school class teachers.

Was she apologetic when you spoke to her? If not, I probably would take it further tbh.

I suspect if she feels at liberty to say something so inappropriate to a Muslim child, she would no doubt say the same to an Orthodox Jewish child or a Catholic.
She shouldn't say it at all, that's the point. It should be followed up, as most of us are saying.

Whoah! I really think this one needs to be taken straight to the head. That’s completely unacceptable. How dare she? I wouldn’t be backwards in saying how unsettling your child found it too.

I wondered if it was something like that. I don't honestly think the teacher should have said that but what she meant, ie that your daughter comes from a Muslim parent or parents but one cannot make a mature decision about religion until older, is a bit complicated. She would have done better to keep quiet, it hardly affects her and I doubt you are brainwashing your child. Would she have said the same to an Orthodox Jew or even a Catholic, I wonder?

I hope from now on she realises that some things do not need to be said to young children.

Well done to you for speaking to her, it needed to be said and hopefully will give the teacher food for thought.

😂
I think this is going to be another "cancel the cheque"!

The teacher admitted to saying it. Read the thread.

The teacher admitted to saying it. Read the thread.

This happens all the time. Child has misunderstood something. Parent flies off the handle. Speak to the teacher.

I would agree with you, it's very odd and goes against all the training and guidance. I can't think why she would risk her career like this. I know HTs who would definitely go down the disciplinary route.

Write down the date and time in case there’s further issues. But you do need a one to one in which you point out that she’s using concepts that are much too advanced for a four year old. Your poor child has barely reached the stage of ‘other people believe different things’. Philosophical opinions on whether children can have a religion is just completely over her head (and actually upset her).

There’s a reason an RE curriculum develops concepts according to age and a good teacher should be aware of that.

Ok, 37 years as a teacher, 20 as SLT and I've not come across this attitude, but I'm secondary, so maybe that's why?
I'm sorry that you've encountered this.

I also believe that children are born without any religion. But, as with language skills and gender roles, parents will choose what their children are told and what they learn as infants.

But! I would have been much more diplomatic and asked are your parents Muslim/Jewish/Catholic as appropriate. If they said yes I would say 'Then yes you are'. If they were older, say secondary school, I would add that some people will choose to change their religion or to have no religion at all once they become an adult.

Abrahamic religions have a very strong patriarchal core. They seek to control 'their' women and girls to keep them from having power or freedom over their own life choices.

I believe that Islam is, by far, the worst of the three Abrahamic religions in terms of how it treats women and girls. But people can and should decide this for themselves.

I would recommend reading the Quran to determine its 'true values'. It is available for free to download, as is the Bible and Torah, on Kindle.

Sounds like the teacher used language your child doesn’t understand, ask for clarification.

Pretty much all adults impose beliefs in a child to encourage good behaviour, that includes scaring the child with negative consequences.

'he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good so...'

I know you don’t want to take it further but you really should mention it to the SLT, it’s not ok for a teacher to give their opinions on other peoples religion/religious practices.

So what the hell is a baptism then? All these Christian children - are they not Christians? Teacher is an idiot and unqualified to talk about religion. I’d also question the teacher’s suitability for the role of teacher.

The Muslim children who attend the CofE school I work at opt out of the Christian assemblies so they most certainly DO have a religion and individual adjustments are made for that. Absolutely bizarre to claim otherwise and I wouldn’t be happy at all in your position.

I'm as atheist as they come but I think this absolutely needs reporting to the HT. It is completely unacceptable for her to say this in the classroom to a young child.

I'm struggling to envisage a situation where a teacher would not only tell a child they weren't Muslim but openly admit it to the parent and state they didn't believe children could have a religion.

It's such a bizarre thing for a teacher to say, Absolute professional suicide. Are they an ECT? Because I cannot imagine what their training was like if they think this is ok.

It certainly needs raising with HT.

Teacher was definitely inappropriate and shouldn't be voicing her opinion on such topics. Imagaine if she'd said your child isn't a girl because she doesn't believe children should have genders? The majority of people would be advising you report it. I don't see the difference between that or insulting your religion here.

I'd report it and let the school decide if her conduct is appropriate. If she's done nothing wrong there's nothing to worry about. If she's so willing to voice her opinion to your DC on this who knows what other opinions/influence she is having?

Religion is NOT just about your beliefs. Especially if you follow a minority religion, there is a huge amount of cultural context these children will be participating in within their community and family.

The teacher may well agree or have similar opinions to Richard Dawkins about children not being of a particular faith

but her opinions in regards to this should not shared with the children she teaches given they are so young

@Jkam24 thats absolutely outrageous. I would find that really really dehumanising. My religion is a huge part of the culture of my kids’ family lives. We go to synagogue, we follow certain dietary restrictions, we celebrate religious festivals, sing religious songs, wear religious clothing (at times). It’s a key part of the map of who my children are. Who would a teacher be to come and say “no you are not Jewish!!!!!”. I would be really really cross and be following that up. You’re being very calm!!

Love this 😂😂