...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?

@JazbayGrapes there's more to life than potential employment opportunities.

I want to share my opinion on this subject, without expecting anybody to agree with me. So consider it just a thought.
i think religion should stay out of schools. Religion is very personnel, you can live it in your heart and head, pray if you want to, celebrate it in the privacy of your home or in the places of worship your religion uses.
i.m.h.o. there is absolutely no need for religion whatsoever in a school curriculum.

Hi 5 @Sennelier1

I wouldn't even bother mentioning my art GCSE tbh in this situation!

9 GCSEs is fine!

@Sennelier1 yes but schools are teaching ABOUT religions and cultures - not telling children what to believe in.
It's mostly just facts.
X believes this.
Y believes that.
The same as how history is taught.
X happened in 1914.
Y happened in 1939.

It's not like the kids are being taken to a church every week and being told "this is true, you should be a Christian"🙄

They're being taught "this is what different people believe to be true" and things like ethics, philosophy etc.

They were when I was young.

I did RE GCSE

it was really interesting. Lots of critical thinking, putting forward arguments, backing up with evidence . Forming opinions etc

....so what?

It’s not that it’s not important to have a basic understanding but it’s not important at GCSE. It’s not an EBACC subject and it is not a subject that leads to significant ALevel courses. And yet they are being forced to do it. That’s the issue.
at least with art and drama they pick it and so it’s important to them and their future. If everyone was forced to take art then the outcome would be the same as your subject here.

They have 10 GcSE’s and have to prioritise the important ones. I would focus on english/maths/sciences and whatever they’ve chosen for A level and wouldn’t worry about RE.

No place or need for this in school too many other subjects that would better equip our children.

My advice to my son was to try your best but don't let it eat up too much revision time on your chosen subjects. But do try as it could push you through a door later that your other results on their own maybe would not quite do it. To get a GCSE in a subject you haven't chosen shows a certain determination (I'd probably even put I didn't choose it on an early college application).
It was the same when I went to school, kids saying 'when will I ever need to know that' was a reoccurring gripe to get under a teacher's skin (in days of corporal punishment not without it's danger👀)

i have not read the whole thread (some are so long) but, as a retired teacher,I think it would be a good idea to get your headteacher involved. He/she should visit at the beginning of a lesson and give a talk on how valuable the subject is, now any GCSE is an extra passport to jobs and further education etc etc.

As an experienced teacher of many years I have always found it extremely frustrating that a certain kind of parent( ie concrete thinkers) thinks that everything studied in school should relate to jobs and careers and they cannot see how education enriches life, viewpoints, our understanding of the world.

a good headteacher will get this message across.

Not read all post but I think rs as in rs, ethics and philosophy extremely important. DD is taking it as A levels. She learns about other religions ,discusses about abortions, euthanasia. She is due to start studying sciences at uni.
My other DC did A levels history. I found their narrow topic of learning about eg Vietnam war less relevant
Even GCSE and A levels reading and analysing shakespeare at neauseam pretty useless.
I'm not religious, in fact bordering anti religion. Learning about religion, yes absolutely.

are you joking?

My children go to a catholic school, we are not catholic but we chose to send them to this school for a variety of reasons. Both children are now atheist but they both do very well in RE. DS took his exam today. He should get a 7 or 8. School have been pushing revision for all exams but the RE department feel the most dedicated (they even did Sunday revision via teams last weekend).

Ireland and Wales I couldn’t advise

"Northern Ireland"

Ireland is a republic that is not part of the UK.

<misses point of thread>

My children aren’t christened. We chose not to because I had Catholicism forced on me from birth and forced to do the church thing until me and my dad revolted when I was 10 - I woke up. My dad was atheist and was cornered by the in laws. Looking back, it was underhand and creepy. Safeguarding flags all over the church service alone and it’s basically modern day grooming. I had my hands grabbed by randos, randos touching my hair, clothes (pulled my dresses down because the ladies said they should cover my knees and they were 2cms too short so they used to pull on them) and they would touch my shoulders and guide me to here there and everywhere away from my mum and nanna into back rooms to drink stuff and listen to mind washing crap and basically made to think I had to adopt their way of thinking, my views were invalid. We were released at the arse end of the service back to our flock.

My son goes to a non dom school because of this, we don’t believe or attend church. A church visit by the class the other month resorted to me flying down to the school afterwards after my son came home in tears after being rollocked by a group of old dears after they put him on the spot and questioned his beliefs. My son doesn’t believe, he is interested in all religions from a learning point of view which is totally fine and is only 9, he believes in Bat Man. He told them he doesn’t believe and doesn’t want to just yet and they shouted at him in front of his class and told him he was wrong and won’t have his sins forgiven. My son told them nicely to leave him alone, told the teacher they were scaring him and told them that nobody has the right to question his beliefs and we have to be respectful of each other. This is what we have always stressed to our kids growing up. Teacher shouted at him for being rude. I asked the school what had happened and they said there was an issue with a group of ladies and told me word for word what my son had said. I was fuming to the point I had it out with the head teacher and said this wasn’t acceptable. It did go further and the church was contacted.

Rant aside, I think children should be free to learn and educated in religion. They should also be free to come to their own conclusions. If children are attending a religious school then it is to be expected they have to take RE. Don’t send your kids to a religious school if this makes you unhappy. It is an important subject, not the most important, and if my kids decide to continue with it so be it but I’d ask them to prioritise core subjects mainly but they have made that choice. If they bin it, no issue.

I'm from the UK and honestly cannot recall learning anything about Judaism.

WW2 was one of my topics for GCSE history. I do not need to know the ins/outs of Judaism to understand that they endured a terrible genocide. The Jewish were the vast majority; disabled people, soviet prisoners, homosexuals, gypsy's, Polish and black people were also treated the same.

With what's happening in the Middle East, I do not need to know all about the main beliefs or celebrations in Judaism or Islam to understand how the events have unfolded, what religion has to do with it and why many countries are turning a blind eye to war crimes.

RE is not the only Mandatory GCSE. Some schools make children do a MFL - a language eg French or Spanish.

Are you being deliberately obtuse or…?

What would you replace RS with then?

@ttcat37 no I am curious.

But religious education is learning about other people’s beliefs and cultures. It is not religious instruction. If children don’t learn this they live in ignorance.