...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?

Were a totally non religious family but DD took it at GCSE and lived the subject. She was interested in all religion.

She said it really helped her to better understand the role of religion in many people life. She is now in a profession where this is especially important.

As a parent, I was a bit surprised with her interest but fully supportive.

The wide range of opinions is eye opening for me!

I'm not a Catholic and fully believe that the Catholic syllabus and GCSE are dry. However, the school is directed on what to teach by the diocese, so we have no control over the content (my very Catholic Head of Department also thinks the syllabus is dry - a classic example of the diocese being out of touch with children and education).

RS does not take up and option space, it is alongside 3 option choices.

For those of you giving very sweeping statements about religion and belief - maybe RS would have been helpful to you at school.

It is the law in England. Lots of schools get around it by doing 'drop down' days instead of teaching it as a separate subject.

I think this highlights an issue. GCSE RS didn’t go in-depth enough for me to be meaningful or useful. It was very matter-if-fact ‘this religion believes in these gods and practice xyz’.

My muslim friend was telling me that the Quran says he is not supposed to pay interest on anything. So he had to question his Imam about how this applies to modern day society with student loans and mortgages.

It is the law in England for all students between the ages of 5 and 18 to be taught Religious Studies. It is its own subject, and is part of the legal responsibility of the school towards a student's moral, cultural and spiritual development. (Parliamentary Report, 2019)

I think this is a good example of how RS can help people develop critical thinking and debate skills. Being able to write about something, or give two sides of an argument and then a conclusion can help with other studies and life in general.

I think it's important but I'm a practicing Catholic so could be seen as biased...

I just feel people should have something of a propose in their life and for us it's our faith.

I think if you send your child to a Catholic school then it's very important they follow the criteria.
I don't understand why you wouldn't... It's a religious school the whole basis is to learn and teach through faith.

House of Lords library 2024 states "1. It is compulsory for all state-funded schools in England to teach religious education (RE).[1] However, it is not part of the national curriculum, and parents have a legal right to withdraw their children for all or part of the lessons. Pupils can choose to withdraw themselves once they are 18 years old." (https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/quality-of-religious-education-in-schools-in-england/#:~:text=education%20in%20schools.-,1.,or%20part%20of%20the%20lessons.)

@TeacherAnonymous123 - can you provide a link to your source from 2019?

Also this: "Religious Education (RE) must be taught in all state-funded schools in England. However, RE has an unusual position on the curriculum being part of the basic curriculum but not the National Curriculum, and one of two subjects (along with sex and relationship education) where parents have a legal right to withdraw their children from class." (https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7167/CBP-7167.pdf"

Do the children/families have to attend church to get into the school, or does that only happen in primary?
I think if you are attending a religious school, the parents at least should take RS seriously as that was supposed to be the reason they chose it (and not because it was a good school).

One of mine chose it and the other didn’t.

I would never tell my kids not to bother with a gcse they were sitting. They worked at everything as they would have hated a low grade anyway.

Doesn’t oxford or Cambridge look at GCSEs? So one poor result could count against students?

Whilst my daughter finds it interesting (we are atheist), I've told her that I'd rather her time on Maths, English, Science and her true love Geography.
Similar with French. For some reason she doesn't enjoy it all, whereas I did French at Uni... I'd rather she gets a pass here and a higher pass elsewhere.
She's taught herself Spanish, which unfortunately the school doesn't have on it's curriculum.

So, yes... Unfortunately RS is a filler subject. Take what you can from it, get a pass, but spend your time better elsewhere.

@Playinwithfire " just feel people should have something of a propose in their life and for us it's our faith."

But that's not what RE/RS is all about. It's about philosophy and comparative religion, not personal faith.

RE is a very important subject to teach, but I don’t think it’s fair to have it as a compulsory GCSE

"So, yes... Unfortunately RS is a filler subject. Take what you can from it, get a pass, but spend your time better elsewhere."

A good grade in RS is as valuable as a good grade in any other subject.

History and geography are normally optional subjects so I’m not sure that argument holds weight?

RE at my school was terribly taught. I wasn’t even aware of what religions we were studying until exam day. Hopefully it’s better now and tests knowledge not just essay skills.

With the best will in the world my Daughter won't be attending Oxford or Cambridge.

She'll take her A-levels and go from there.

Precisely. My son didn;t choose history or Geography, instead he chose Computer Science. Dd didn;t either, she chose RS instead of those.

If we hadn't moved house then both of our local schools (the ones we actually stood a chance of getting a place at) were religious schools and I know that GCSE RS was compulsory in at least one of them. So it's not always a choice.

And whilst she finds it interesting and will get a pass, she needs Maths and Sciences more for what she wants to study in future. Hence it being a filler and pretty much bottom of the pile revision wise.

You'll have excuse me, I've got an ant in my bra!!!!!!!!!

Is it because they have so many other subjects and their parents give them permission to not prioritise one in order to give them the best chance of doing well in the others?

I presume that have assembly everyday too? Too much of the same?

Rs is one of those subjects that is so dry on paper and completely different in real life.

Maybe I've been out of school too long but absolutely no-one I went to school with would have had this attitude that it was ok to fail anything. Both parents and pupils would have been utterly devastated and dismayed at the very prospect of getting less than the optimum score. I did attend a very academic school though and although not everyone could be brilliant at every subject, the prospect of failing on purpose because you couldn't be bothered was just a completely alien prospect. I accept life is different now than when I was doing exams (early noughties)

Failing any subject that you’re taking is a terrible attitude to have. And I don’t think it’s any more important than any others but you still learn a good range of skills from completing it.

It's history so yes is important and interesting if you have the right teacher.

Being perfectly honest I've told pupils who are struggling with the Welsh baccalaureate not to stress too much but concentrate on their core subjects.

Omg it was a little spider.

Yes, just hung the washing out.

I do see where you are coming from, but she's not naturally gifted - for instance back in the 90s I sailed through 10 GCSEs, but she'll have to put the work in, so best to do it towards subjects that will count to her chosen A levels.

My DD is having to do compulsory GCSE RE (non religious school) and tbh I don’t care if she passes or fails. It’s not going to help in any job she may want.

I don’t mind that it is on the curriculum but why does it need to be an exam? She wouldn’t have chosen it.

I will be encouraging her with maths, English, science - ie the ones that count.