...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?

telling a kid not to bother trying at all all and it doesn't matter if they fail is poor parenting. Yanbu to expect any subject to be taken seriously.

But I can completely understand why parents tell kids to focus on (in order)
A - key subjects they need to pass for future employment (maths, English etc)
B - subjects they want to take for a level or that link to their chosen career
C - subjects they are interested in

If your subject doesn't come under any of these I can understand parents thinking it's less important and should be prioritised accordingky. Still doesn't mean they shouldn't revise at all, but if the kid is refusing to revise or is panicking or has limited time or will or ability to revise for whatever reason, it would make sense to focus primarily on the essential subjects.

It's less that it doesn't matter as a subject but it's probably fair enough to say that failing RS will matter less in their future life than failing maths.

Also, from what I remember the Christian element of RE is pretty much just general knowledge if brought up in the UK, even if not religious, and even more so in a Catholic school. I mistakenly revised for the wrong exam and found out it was the re one literally when chatting with friends as we queued up - still got an a* in a normal not religious school and not from a religious background because all the questions were so straightforward and could answer from general experience-i.e. what is the purpose of a wedding, main elements etc. That's not to say RE is eas or irrelevant-I agree with you that it's useful generally but if kids have limited time and effort to revise they could at least chance a pass at it within minimum revision in a way you couldn't do with something like French or maths. P

World religions are responsible for much of how people think and how society operates. It's a big cultural cornerstone for many societies and has massive influence across the board - look at our art and literature for example. For me understanding different religions and the part that they play in society is integral to understanding how people think. It's a really important subject and I'm glad that my kids take it. Unfortunately it's currently popular to be critical of religion (or more to the point, critical of Christianity - other religions tend to be left alone) so RE is seen as a subject that's not worthwhile which is a shame.

My DC had to do RE at GCSE. My youngest is staunchly atheist but the teacher always liked their work because their argument was always enjoyable even if the teacher disagreed. They ended up with a B. As a Christian I am still supportive of their view.

Sorry, OP! As I read the thread heading I thought, “of course they should take it seriously, unless you teach something irrelevant like RE or PE…”

I don’t think religious education should be part of a state school education. For a religious school, it’s something people tolerate to get the other benefits of a well regarded secondary school.

Incorporating some religious education as part of the social sciences for context is very useful, but lots of other subjects not taught in schools would be useful too. RE is a hangover from having a state religion. Most civilised countries don’t have it.

If school policy means RE must be taken to GCSE, fair enough, I’d encourage my child to attend all classes and complete assignments in the same way I’d encourage them to be punctual.

My Ds didn’t take it as a GCSE subject - however the emphasis on passing maths and English was my priority subjects . These are the gateway subjects. I think the fact it is compulsory seems to make it harder to motivate children in the subject if they don’t want to do it

@CountingCrones Hey! I don't think PE is irrelevant at all! Given that most school kids are overweight and the UK has a health crisis due to so many being obese, getting kids to do more sports is invaluable. Although, the way they go about teaching PE GCSE is not ideal (I have 2 DCs doing this gcse).

I offered both my kids withdrawal from RE lessons, as is my legal right as a parent.
My son happily accepted, spent the time in the school library doing his homework and was the envy of his peers.
My daughter chose to keep going to the lessons as she enjoyed arguing with the teacher and with outside speakers.
I think RE lessons are an utter waste of time and funding.

@DataColour - PE is relevant as an activity, keeping young people exercising and fit. I’m all for exercise and activity at school.

As an actual subject? Not so much.

How does the old joke go?
Those who can, do.
Those who can’t, teach.
Those who can’t teach, teach PE.

My child is doing RE, (Y10 English) he absolutely hates it, I’ve had multiple meetings with the school as he had no option to take RE due to other subjects.

Big part of the reason he hates it is the way the teacher is teaching it, few have already left the class and others have completely checked out, ds is not failing and his points on disliking the subject are valid that even his HOY cannot argue with.

Im now passed the point of not supporting the teacher, so he’s putting in minimum effort and concentration on his other subjects,

At the end of the day it’s his education, he is not being disruptive or disrespectful he just finds that RE is not a worthwhile subject.

This is probably why they don't see it as very important - they go to a catholic school and it focuses on catholicism! It's hardly adding loads of value in terms of "learning about other religions" is it - it's just the school pushing more catholicism on them.

I say this as someone who went to a Catholic school and was in the same position. Did half an RE GCSE and thought it was a total waste of time because most of the focus was on catholicism which was already forced down my throat enough. I would have been much more interested in learning about religions that were more different like being sikh or buddhist. Even Islam or Judaism would be better although the non-monotheistic religions always seemed more interesting to study in terms of really getting a different view on the world.

It's important and relevant. We only had to sit the short course exam, but I have actually used RS in my work more than a lot of my other GCSEs. I'm not convinced it's necessary to sit an exam in it, but if you actually study for it it is IMO a relatively easy exam to do well in, particularly if you've been brought up in one faith and therefore are able to answer questions about that without revising specifically for an entire religion and can concentrate on areas where you get good comparators for answering questions. It's a shame that they are not taking it seriously having been entered for the exam- it's another chance at a good grade whatever your aspirations are. My teacher was an atheist, which in some ways I think made it more interesting, as she was teaching everything from very much an observational standpoint.

I think it's a bit of a shame that you picked Judaism for the other long-course religion to study, when the Torah and the Old Testament overlap so fundamentally. It may have been more interesting/inspiring to compare and contrast something with completely different roots and rules, like Sikhism or Hinduism, for example.

I thought all state schools have to teach RE to GCSE level? Has that changed?

But anyway I think it's an important and interesting subject and should be taken seriously,

I did it as compulsory GCSE. I loved it. I chose it for A level and the new head of homilies chose philosophy and ethics. It became the opposite if what I loved about RS and it just wasn't about religion at all in the end.

That has never been the case.

They have to provide it to Key Stage 3 students but it doesn't have to be examined. The 3 different schools my children attended chose to incorporate it into a wide PHSE lesson. Dd had a weekly 45 min class. Ds had half an hour a week in tutor time supplemented with a termly drop down day.

It's only compulsory in state funded schools. It's not part of the national curriculum.

It was 20 years ago but I did RS for GCSE (as I thought it was an easy subject) and it has been of absolutely no benefit to my life in any way.

We only studied 2 religions - Islam and Christianity.

Not a single educational institution or employer has given 2 shits about my RS GCSE. Maths, English and whatever subjects you intend to pursue are the only things worth focusing on.

You say that it’s important to learn about other cultures, but a qualification and exams isn’t the best way to do this. What I learnt at school didn’t prepare me in any way for how some religious people have acted towards me. There are much better uses of time.

The whole curriculum needs revising though tbh.

@DataColour it's good that you picked up differences between religions and what festivals etc they have just through "life" but many many people don't and they are often very very ignorant on the basics - which does lead to hatred and discrimination.
Nothing in RS should be taught as "fact" but as "this is what X religion teaches and it's followers believe".
You said you didn't like what the lesson on parts of Islam said - saying it's old fashioned.
Well to you - it is. To those who follow the faith they will believe that.
The lesson shouldn't be saying "this is what you should believe".

Well it's compulsory (by law) to learn RE until 16 so they might as well get a qualification from it. Being tested also forces (most of) them to engage meaningfully with the syllabus.

Not in England!

Scotland I don’t also believe it’s compulsory however RC schools do have it on their timetables until they leave.

Ireland and Wales I couldn’t advise.

I think we'd do much better in many aspects if it became part of Philosophy and taught from year 7 as a whole.

In what way is it handy?

My children are still at primary school, but it is Catholic, and I have definitely got feelings about how religion is taught in a Catholic school.
For background, we are a secular family, and I would never have considered a Catholic school had I had a choice.
I had no idea that RE in a faith school could basically focus on one religion. I assumed that it would cover all religions, ethics, basically a rounded education of the world's religions, and the Catholic elements would appear in assembly, church services etc.
My KS2 child already hates this subject. She is bright and engaged at school, but Catholicism is so dry and totally irrelevant to her, and she already sees this.
If her secondary school made it compulsory to continue, I would have a very hard time encouraging her, and I say that as an involved parent who supports schoolwork at home.
Our catchment secondary school is mixed Catholic and CofE, so it's not always a choice as such as to whether to send your child to a religious school either.

Wholeheartedly agree with #1. I wouldn’t expect anyone to prioritise it but do expect respect and minimum efforts (work handed in on time with some standards, etc). In real life most people don’t enjoy every single aspect of their jobs but they get on with it - unless / until they have a choice. Great life skills.

Whether or not this subject is appropriate as a GCSE subject is an entirely different issue.

Whether you agree with the 'fact' or not, it is a fact of Islam and Muslim beliefs. It's not opinion.

I think it's an interesting subject but mine didn't do it for GCSE, and wouldn't have chosen to go to a religious school anyway. I would be annoyed in your position about the parents, as they presumably pretended to be catholics in order for their child to get a place at the school, then once they were in couldn't care less about religion. For proper catholics, it would surely be an easy GCSE as they would already know most of the Christian content from all their religious instruction.