...to expect students and parents to take my subject seriously?

[TeacherAnonymous123]

Issue coming from another thread I posted, so thought I would ask for people's opinions.

I teach Religious Studies at a Catholic Secondary School. As it is my subject, I am clearly biased, but I believe that students learning about other religions and cultures is extremely important for their development and attitude towards the world and other people.

As it is a Catholic school, students must take RS at GCSE. Their first exam in it is tomorrow morning and some of them are still apathetic, telling me that parents have said not to bother trying as it isn't an important subject and it doesn't matter if they fail.

Obviously this leads to a battle in lesson which I cannot win as I do not have support from parents.

So parents - do you think RS is an important and relevant subject? If not, why not?

It is no more important than knowing that in different countries people eat different food. And that some people spend their time knitting while others prefer crocheting. And some people read novels but other prefer popular science, while some other read fairy tales and think that it's the most important thing in the world.

I think it’s important that kids have an understanding of religion, but I wouldn’t support DD doing an RS GSCE unless it was something she wanted to do (she doesn’t). Other subjects are much more important to the career she wants to follow.

Saying that, she is not at a faith school. If parents choose for their children to attend a faith school (assuming they had a choice and its not just the local catchment school) then they should expect more teaching in RS studies.

I used to love RS is school, I think it's an important subject. I didn't just learn about different religions. We were taught about euthanasia, the impacts on murder, ethics, life and death. I really enjoyed the lessons. My son goes to a catholic school, and I'm not religious, but I definitely think it's important for him to be open about the possibility there's more to the after life.

If my child had to take it for GCSE, I would want them to do well in it. I wouldn’t want them to have a bad grade on their record if they were capable of doing well. If I had an hold who struggled academically, it would be less of a priority than their chosen subjects, but I would still expect them to make an effort. That said, I don’t agree with it being a compulsory subject to exam level.

It was a compulsory gcse at my secondary school, we did aqa and the course was incredibly boring and apart from christianity nothing was indepth. Some of the stuff in the syllabus about islam and sikhism was also completely incorrect.

Everyone will think they’re subject is important, but unless a child wants to study it or they need it for college its common sense that many children won’t think its important.

If it’s anything like my secondary school, it was the best/most strict school (violent nuns) which made it a hit with parents, not whether or not they believed. Now that was the 80’s and I have a gcse in it but we were never ever taught about other religions as far as I recall so did they have a special Catholic one in 1988. If not how did I pass it?

I have no up to date experience of GCSE RS but if it encourages comparative and critical thinking then it would be helpful to students going onto study humanity subjects at a higher level.

Not sure how I'd feel about it taking up a precious options though as in my view these should be 'passion' subjects. At my friend's son's selective CofE school they took it as an additional GCSE, so didn't effect the number of options, and it was taken seriously.

And I have to agree with PP, if you pick a faith school then you should really expect it to have a role in the curriculum.

We only seemed to cover Christianity at my school, which was basically billed as the one true way, you must participate, you must believe - not fun, not interesting, sexist, outdated and one step away from teaching us to dedicate our lives to child rearing and keeping a man happy

It used to be. I remember we used to have optional mass on a Wednesday morning. One week my friends and I opted not to go. The absolute bollocking we got, the screaming and shouting the personal insults. Bless the nuns!

I am actually shocked by the "it's not important" comments.
There is currently a war happening in the Middle East which is essentially one religion vs another religion. Hatred in this country (the UK) towards asylum seekers is shocking and a lot of that is down to ignorance and myths/untruths about people's faith and beliefs.
The comments on Facebook adverts for products like food and clothes sold at shops like M+S etc for Eid were shocking, embarrassing and frankly quite scary. Shocking and scary because so many believe so much racist crap. Embarrassing because people don't seem to know basics.
People were actually saying "I'm never shopping there again" because they advertised children's clothes for Eid celebrations.
I mean why? Just why?
Many adults in this country really do seem to think that there are conspiracies to turn the UK into a Muslim country. They believe that events like St George's Day have been banned.
In my hometown planning permission for a Sikh temple was turned down because so many people were against it. But apparently some of the objections were things like "I don't want to hear the call to prayer" 🙄 (wrong religion...).
It is important....so very important to learn and understand the different faiths. If we don't know and understand - how can we respect each other and live together?

My son takes his tomorrow morning. It's compulsory to take the subject up to Y11 at his school (state secondary), but they don't have to sit the GCSE. He had the option to do fasttrack and is taking it as a Y10. The teacher has been amazing giving them extra lessons to fit the syllabus into a shorter time, she is generous with her time and all the goodies she feeds them! As far as I'm concerned if he chose to take it, he has to take it seriously.

As a teenager, I don't think anything could have made me take RE seriously. We had to do a half GCSE in it and I got A* despite giving no shits about what various religious people believe or the holidays they celebrate. At my school at least you couldn't say much for the academic rigour of the RE half GCSE.

Not sure I agree with you. One of my DC has dyslexia, so writing and understanding lengthy paragraphs is not a strength. To help with GCSEs we removed some subjects from their curriculum. The RE was dropped to the half/ short course precisely for many of the reasons discussed above. Ie trying to communicate about values, other religious choices etc. So not a total drop. DC got a 5, cluster of 4's elsewhere. I think their 5 was due to perhaps a smaller exam cohort. I must say the revision was watching videos on YouTube! We are not religious but I work at a faith school. So RE is also compulsory. We have a cohort of approximately 200 students tomorrow taking RE.it seems so early this year.

I couldn't care less what people choose to believe in (although I would absolutely question the intelligence of anyone religious), but perhaps people feel like this because none of it actually exists?

I've been misinformed then. Seems better including it under different subjects and mixing it up a bit. Probably less complaining!

I am also surprised by the amount of people saying their schools only taught about Christianity.
I went to an ordinary state non religious primary school in the 80s and remember learning about Dwali and Native American beliefs as part of Topic work.
We did the typical hymns and prayers in assembly (all schools did) but we weren't actually taught anything about it.
No one explained what the prayers meant or anything.
At secondary (1986 was when I started) - a not especially great ordinary comprehensive - we learned about all the main religions and what followers believe and the events/celebrations/rituals happened.
As in the 80s American teen novels like Judy Blume were hugely popular so we all read about Bat and Bar Mitzvah celebrations.

@WalkingonWheels the problem is so many people do "care" about what others believe - because if they didn't why are the majority of wars about religion.
We (society) need to learn and understand. Learn what to respect, what should be questioned, what maybe does need encouragement to change. We need to learn what connects us all rather than divide us.

I think it's an important subject, but equally they aren't wrong to say it doesn't matter if they fail the GCSE in it.

Learning about other people's religions is important - the grade is not. No one has ever cared that I got an A in mine. I don't think it's a great attitude to say "meh who cares", but it's not factually incorrect to say it doesn't matter if you fail.

Yes of course. But I'm an RE teacher too. What can be more important in the current times than a subject that teaches reasoning, critical thinking, empathy etc

they do study religion in American schools.
It will come under titles like "World Religions" or "Comparative Religions" - I believe they are optional (an "Elective") in High School.
In Elementary and Middle schools (up to age 14) it will come under Social Studies.

Yes, I recall learning about other religions under social studies in elementary and junior high and World History in High School. Three years of history class was mandatory to graduate.

Kids think lots of subjects are pointless.
I teach English. Many kids don't see why they should have to something they're already expert in (except, they're really not). EAL students often outperform them.

They don't see the point in Literature.

I went to a church school. Hated RE. Got an A, because if you'd grown up Catholic and had opinions you could ace it. And a gcse in the bag is still a gcse.

My kids have to do Welsh GCSE. We're Welsh, but live in a very English area. Most people work in England. I'm torn. I'm not sure making Welsh compulsory at gcse does anything to improve levels of Welsh speaking in the area, much as my gcse French gets me further than asking for a green shirt in France. As a teacher, I want them to do well for their Welsh teacher. As a parent, I don't want them to waste a gcse if they're not going to do well in it.

I do think in recent years there are many more students choosing which gcses they will bother with and which they won't.

YABU I went to a high church C of E direct grant school in the 60's We took RE which was both comparative religion and bible study and were expected to be practicing members of a religion but even then, the RE O level was optional to take and could be dropped before we focussed on our exam subjects. There is a difference between knowing about and practicing your chosen religion and passing exams in it.

No, I don’t think it’s important at all and I think it’s a disgrace that children are forced into it at the expense of something they might actually be interested in.

Where I grew up there was one sixth form in the whole town so if you wanted to go there you had to do RE and I treated it with the same distain your students and parents did. It’s just not important as an obligatory academic subject past year 9.

OP is teaching RE in a Catholic secondary school. Why would you send your child to such a school and then show no respect for how it teaches.

It’s a very valuable subject to study and a respected qualification. It teaches critical thinking, discursive writing, cultural awareness, and (since you are at a Catholic school) a deep understanding of Christianity and Judaism. There is plenty of usable and transferable knowledge here which will be valuable in a variety of future study and work, and to enrich living. I am very sorry you have parents who disregard it as it’s miserable as a teacher giving your all to a subject which parents don’t value. Your school and diocese, however, will not undervalue RS, which is seen as the ‘core of the core’. Good luck to your pupils.