...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?

i was just coming to comment about that. Surely if you send your children to a Catholic school you have to accept that religion is going to be a bigger part of the curriculum than a non faith school?

Even though I don't think RE GCSE should be compulsory for my kids as it's not even a religious school and I'm not a fan of it, I will still encourage them to do their best in it and get the best grade they can so they have a good set of GCSE results. But, if I'd known that it was a compulsory subject at this school, I would have considered other options. Wish it was a question I asked at the open day, but didn't even occur to me that a non-religious school would have RE as compulsory for GCSEs.

At any school there will be things you like and things you don't. Choosing to send your child to a Catholic school doesn't mean you have to subscribe to everything they do.

I do think if parents are sending their children to a faith school then encouraging their child to IGNORE lessons about faith demonstrates a waste of a (state funded) place. Why did they choose a school so disparate from their world view? My children attend secular schools because I'm uncomfortable with an environment focusing on one set of values.

Our school is just bog standard secondary. I thought RE was part of a nationwide curriculum.

I could have pushed and got my daughter in to a Catholic primary, but knowing some of the curriculum would sicken me, I chose not to.

In some areas there are only faith schools.

I think if you can't see the benefit in having an additional qualification, I can't help you.

@DataColour but your children would be learning the subject any - GCSE or not.

But that qualification could take away from actual qualifications a young person needs to progress.

I attended a Catholic school and though we studied the subject, it wasn’t compulsory to take the exam so I wouldn’t necessarily expect that to be the case and I don’t agree that children should have to take it unless they want to do so. Other subjects may be more beneficial for them.

Genuinely if you have enough other GCSEs to progress to A Levels etc, or other paths, and the GCSEs are already the useful ones like maths/english/ones you want to study further, how is an extra one in RS useful? Literally no one gave a shit about my RS GCSE.

Fabulous. I'm so glad. Enjoy.

It could even be detrimental, studying an extra GCSE could mean you don't perform so well on your others.

My son already struggled with English & English Literature. Adding another essay subject into the mix would have meant he did even worse.

This is the issue when the student is forced to take the subject rather than opts to knowing there are children round the country who don't have to take it. It isn't like Maths and English.

The bright kids will want to do well because they won't want to ruin their string of 7s and above. Those wanting to pursue it at A level will want to do well for their A level. The less able, those with SEN who struggle with essay subjects such as RS, or those struggling elsewhere with other subjects that are more important to them will choose to concentrate their efforts there to ensure they get the grades they need rather than a subject foisted on them and which they (and their parents) perceive to be a waste of time.

I guess it depends if your child is struggling. If it's a choice between putting the effort they would have spent on RS into passing English or Maths or Science then I can't see why anyone could possibly argue that studying for RS is more important.

My son did the short course GCSE in year 10, some carried on to do the full course in year 11. However as DS is already doing 10 GCSE's, and his chosen sixth form base their offers on the top 8 GCSE results, it seemed like an unnecessary additional to his workload.

Personally I'd rather RS was rebranded as Morals and Ethics and expanded to look more widely at society, but I guess that's straying from the current legislative requirement.

I agree to an extent op. Especially in a faith school, of course RS is likely to be included to gcse level. I find enforcing a language at gcse much more annoying. I’d never tell my dc not to bother at all though, it’s disrespectful of the teacher and their time. The only thing I will say is that if you have a child who is not particularly academic and the focus is on getting gcse passes, rather than high grades, english, maths and science would be the priority ( because those are the subjects that facilitate level 3 study, acceptance on to apprenticeships, employers often ask for them etc).

You are the best performing school and parents want their children their because of this. The school has a Catholic ethos which forms the basis for this school and part of that is participating in RE and being examined in it. That is how the school sees it. But parents don't want their children to participate in what the school sees as an important part of educating children because they have other views. Best to change the ethos to the same as every other school and it will end up the same as every other school.

It was compulsory at my school as well. I’d much rather spend my time focusing on subjects that helped me land my chosen career.

My children attend integrated schools. My DS had to take the short course/half RE GCSE as a compulsory subject and it's a total waste of his time and energy. We as a family make sure to introduce him to the various religions and belief structures there are in the world despite not having faith ourselves, he has friends from a range of religious backgrounds and truthfully being expected to study religious education to this age is pointless. There's no benefit, academic or otherwise to him,

I did RE by choice as a GCSE, it wasn't something I considered important to my actual grades but I liked the subject, ours was all about the concept of religion as opposed to learning all about a specific religion, it was very interesting all about human nature and psychology really.

I think RE as a forced GCSE is going to be treated as a pointless grade, they're not interested in the subject and it doesn't affect their future. There are more important subjects to study for. I told my drama teacher as much really. It may be important to you but it's not to them. You'd probably get better grades and engagement by making it optional.

@DataColour sorry - did you mean it's compulsory to take as a GCSE at your children's school or compulsory as a subject?

My children went to a school where RS was compulsory.

My take on it - any compulsory subject has problems with motivation and getting kids to do the work.

In England year 9 (just before the students start GCSEs) is notorious for this - "why should I do this I'm dropping this subject for gcse anyway".

I taught maths for many years and although parents and the school are constantly on about how important passing maths and English are there are always plenty of students who do no homework and you virtually have to sit over to get them to do any work in the lesson,

When the year 10s moved up into year 11 we used to split the lower groups in half - one teacher took the half who would work and pushed them hard (because they were capable of doing better) and one teacher took the half who never did homework and didn't do much in lesson and tried to get them the best marks possible.

From a parent's point of view, if a kid needs to pass maths and English for their next steps ultimately everything else is disposable. As the school is measured on progress 8 they usually want the kids to do at least 8 GCSEs but you do sometimes get to the point where it's better that they pass fewer than fail the lot.

Obviously I'm not talking about the clutch of 9's and going on to a level crowd here.

I think it's a useful subject because it has overlap with so many other topics - certainly the humanities in general but also in the development of scientific thinking, some elements of psychology and just simply in understanding the thinking of those who adhere to different schools of thought than ourselves. Religion permeates society in ways people aren't even aware of sometimes e.g. I only exist because my mother's parents were part of a religious sect and wouldn't have considered marrying outside it (look up the two by twos also known as Church with No Name if it interests you OP)

However I wouldn't be entirely happy if my DC HAD to do a GCSE in it whether they like it or not but I certainly wouldn't discourage them from trying to do well and as with every subject I'd try to help them find the positives of studying it

Fellow teacher here. I think we are seeing a decline in appreciation of the humanities generally, since as the economy changes and universities become so much more expensive, parents are more focused on subjects that will lead to well paid jobs. I can see their point.

As it is a Catholic school, students must take RS at GCSE

I agree this is the issue. It shouldn't be compulsory and take up one of the options when students might want to do something else. But I take the pp's point that it's a Catholic school so something you sign up to.

I did A level RE but I didn't do it for GCSE. My A level course was basically Old Testament and New Testament but I think the new A level is a lot better with a mix of religion(s) and philosophy.