...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?

Given the state of abortion law in the US at the moment, and debates surrounding euthanasia in the UK, I definitely think young people should have informed opinions about these issues. From what I remember about GCSE RE, half of it was ethics and debating those kind of subjects. I don't suppose that necessarily has to be within religious studies, though. It could be taught as part of philosophy.

Well that's a completely different discussion. But people who think that only STEM subjects lead to well paid jobs are wrong.

We need people who have skills in creative subjects and the humanities. It should be about STEAM, not STEM (with A = arts).

I am a big fan of the unpopular English baccalaureate as it requires a good spread of GCSE subjects across different areas.

No, it's a related discussion because RS is part of the humanities, along with history and geography.

I am sure you have been told many times that it is not actually like that. But you will insist it is from blind faith.

I am very close to a RE teacher. She's an atheist, brought up that way, and has a degree in philosophy.
Most of what she teaches is ethics, philosophy, and critical thinking. Finding different ways of looking at problems/dilemmas is an important life skill.
So it's not at all like Sunday school, learning Bible stories or other religions' equivalents.

Nothing is ever wasted, but if you want to study eg music and the option block is taken up with a subject you don't want to do, it's annoying. Same goes for triple science, in my school GCSE sciences were separate and you could choose to do one, two or three of them. I can't see why so much of the curriculum is taken up by science now, alongside Maths and English.

I'd say Maths (numeracy) and English (literacy) (and Welsh in Wales) and then one humanity, one foreign language, and one science. And then the rest could be optional.

Although I suspect if English literature were optional it would instead become the compulsory humanity and we'd be no better off. Also my son did better at English lit than he did at English language! But why do you get two GCSEs for English and only one for Maths when it takes up so much timetable space.

Sorry OP I've digressed a lot

I think the way we approach education is the problem. French teacher tried to convince DS that French GCSE was important for a career business - it's not (sorry I know that's controversial) I said how about he does French GCSE because he enjoys the subject and is interested in France, why isn't that enough? I didn't need to encourage my kids to work at RE - it wasn't compulsory, which helps and apparently atheists often find it easier as they are more open-minded (according to the RE teacher). One got a 9 and the other got an 8. I do think it's important to understand other people's religion - even and maybe especially if you don't agree with it.

I meant it was a different discussion because it is about the value of subjects for jobs, rather than whether RS should be taken seriously as a subject.

This government has done a good job of making everyone think the only subjects worth doing are Maths and Science (and English a necessary evil).

I do feel for you OP. I hated RS at school. I just found it pointless and boring. However, now I find it fascinating and love to learn about different religions. I definitely think it's one of those subjects that you find more interesting as you get older - like History! I know that doesn't help you for now, but I'm just making the point that it's not really a subject that kids find that interesting. I would happily learn from you though 😀

I think it's a valuable subject now, but I certainly didn't when I was 13 and it wouldn't really have mattered what my parents said. It was always a doss lesson.

I think it's one of those things where you need the life experience to appreciate it.

No I don’t believe RS is important if you aren’t religious yourself.

Knowing the basics of other peoples religion is one thing. Having to to in depth of all religions is another.

If my dc had to do RE for gcse (I didn’t), I would still encourage them to pass but it’s not an important one to me

There is a particular syllabus/option that Catholic schools take that is far less philosphy etc and much more based around the catholic religion.

I'm in Scotland and went to non religious school but the rule of thumb was we had to have 1 period a week as core. I took it as a standard grade (gsce) and higher (a level) I bloody loved the subject it's not all about religion which I don't think a lot of parents realise. If children are taking these subjects then they should put in the effort as much as the others. I'm really sorry OP if it's any consolation I loved it 😊

Whilst yes, RE is important to learn and have an understanding of, no it's not an important subject to sit exams for, so I would rather my child concentrate on other essential subjects.

The whole GCSE thing needs shaking up. A lot of countries don't even do important exams until A Level age. It's not fit for purpose, is inaccessible to lots of students, and they are forced to do so many exams in subjects they don't really need. Meanwhile schools are effectively forced to try and manipulate students into doing certain subjects because of the criteria on which the schools are judged.

I think state faith schools should be abolished, and I used to teach in a Catholic school. Everyone should do RS at least at KS3, but I absolutely don't think it should be compulsory at GCSE, whatever school you go to. It makes no sense. Surely you send your child to a Catholic school for the ethos, culture and extra-curricular churchy stuff, not so that your dc has to fill up an options block with RS instead of something that might be much more relevant to their career path?!

Interesting discussion.
I think it's an important and interesting subject and that it should be taught until the end of KS3.
The problem you have is that you are teaching in a Catholic school and therefore it is compulsory for GCSE. Even though parents know that it is a Catholic school when they sign up and presumably also know that GCSE RS is compulsory, when it comes down to it, many are not sending their children there to learn about the Catholic faith and other faiths, but because they perceive Catholic schools to provide a better education than non-Catholic schools (I am not saying that this is actual fact) and perhaps your school is the best performing school or parents think the behaviour is better.
When the children reach GCSE level they are forced to take a subject that many have no interest in and which is not essential for getting a good job/going to university etc, unlike other compulsory subjects such as English and Maths. If children are struggling with other subjects I think it is only natural that the parents would try to get them to focus on the more important subjects which they really need.
I think this is what they mean when they say "it's not an important subject".
It's not that the subject is not valuable or important, but that it's down the pecking order of subjects and it doesn't really matter if they fail, whereas a fail in Maths or English has a big impact.

This could be the problem on two counts:

1. If non-Catholic parents have the attitude that religion is so unimportant then they shouldn't send their child to a school with a specific demoninational focus then they won't want them studying religion.

2.For those who are believers, then they may find RS actually a bit challenging to faith formation, so they may not be too keen on it as an academic subject.

I would just tell them "well your parents may not care but it will form part of your university application and the universities care."

I enjoyed RE at school. some people seem to think it's just religious indoctrination but it's not, it's learning about different religions and philosophy and ethics. At least it was when I studied it. That said, it's also ok for people to have other interests so don't be disheartened if some people don't love it, it's the same across all subjects. So long as the kids do understand that a poor grade is a poor grade and the fact that they aren't interested in a subject doesn't change that.

I think if my child wasn't very academically able then I wouldn't spend vast amounts of time on revision for gcse RE - tbh it's madness it's compulsory. On the other hand I wouldn't send my child to a religious school were gcse re is compulsory

It’s important to learn about other religions but they cover that from yr7-9. RS should be an option at GCSE but I’d be very unhappy if my child was forced to sit the exam. At many schools they have to use 3 options for science and take a language on top of maths, english language and english lit. They have few choices left! I’d much rather they chose subjects they actually want to study.

I also used to teach a non compulsory subject until the end of key stage 3 where students could choose whether to drop it or not.
Their attitude towards it incredibly lacking if they were choosing not to continue with the subject.
I put it down to the benefits of cross curricular links and the active process of just learning and being disciplined enough to stick at something you don't particularly enjoy but is necessary at your school (like some aspects of jobs in the grown up world) not being push hard enough to parents.
It's the same thing here IMO.
You're not just learning the names of the disciples or the stories of the gospel.

You're learning to debate, learning to be tolerant of other people's point of view, learning to structure essays and arguments, using literacy skills, likely ICT skills, time management skills.

Tell me these aren't important life skills to practice AND get an extra GCSE in the end up (if you're really cynical!)

I'd absolutely of hated being forced to take RE as a GCSE. It's bound to push the average results down when people are being forced to take a subject they haven't chosen to and have no interest in. Having said that, thats my opinion because Im atheist and would never of even considered sending my children to Catholic School. I think parents who have should respect and expect a certain focus on religion within their children's education and should be encouraging them to do their best in any subject.

Our schools don't do just R.E anymore, it's RMPS - Religion, Moral and Philosophical Studies and its a far more engaging and interesting subject for the kids.

Not the point but I bloody loved RE GCSE!

I'm with the parents. Waste of time. Like a lot of things taught in school imo.

I think having it as a compulsory subject for years 7 and 8 is plenty of time to give everyone a broad understanding of the various faiths. Forcing it when they choose their options is unnecessary and it will just cause the problems you describe. If you make it a choice then you’ll end up with kids in the class who want to be there. I dropped it when I could because I valued other subjects more. Equally there will be kids that do choose it and will be engaged in the lessons.