to be disturbed that my DD was shown this anti-abortion video

[Tanga]

DD (15) came home saying that she'd been shown a video of 'the baby's view of abortion' in her RE class today. She was pretty horrified (both for herself and on behalf of one of her friends who has had an abortion)which I'd guess would be a fairly typical response, but she went on to make some wildly innacurate comments about the proceedure (some very graphic so I'll spare you) so I asked her what it was she'd actually been shown.

It's called 'The Silent Scream' (written in Hammer horror style lettering) and I've googled it and am fairly appalled. It's (IMO) an anti-abortion piece of propaganda made in the '80's and is riddled with innaccuracies.

Is this a normal video to show a class of teenagers? It was presented as fact, BTW, and as 'the most humane method of abortion' by the RE teacher.

I would question why this was shown in a Religious Education class!

Gracie, I knew you weren't in support of the teacher. Sometimes I forget that tone of voice doesn't come over on a forum! I didn't suggest that girls simply be given contraceptives at all, but I think your example of your 11 year-old illustrates what I was trying to say. I think we're coming from the same place entirely!

What you describe is precisely what a well-delivered PSHE education programme seeks to provide. Unfortunately PSHE ed is all too often badly delivered (because teachers aren't trained to deliver the range of sensitivities it covers), or not delivered at all as it's not statutory. So all that some kids get is the biological facts and, it seems in some cases, emotional blackmail in RE lessons (and yes, why an RE class if this isn't a religious school? Or even then?)

Tanga - was just wondering - how did your appointment with head go?

MissM, I might be picking you up wrongly but are you saying you don't understand why an RE class would address a moral issue like abortion?

Saw the head, who was really lovely, very upfront and honest. I felt that he really listened to what I was saying. Although he hadn't seen the vid, he said he would watch it and get back to me. He didn't make it a pro or anti issue at all, simply a question of appropriate material for children of this age to see.

Are you intending to speak with the head?

I would be furious, in fact I do feel furious and its not my daughter

sounds reasonable for him to watch the film. Wonder what his response will be.

and good going Tanga on getting this sorted out. What do the other parents think on the class?

Tanga thats fantastic progress

Well done Tanga. I'd be interested to know the head's thoughts on the film - something tells me he won't be best pleased!

TANGA pleas eupdate asap!

Will be very interesting to see what the head thinks once he has watched it - let us know Tanga.
Agree the subject should be discussed but this video is not up to date, non-biased or sensitive enough for this age group.

Glad the head was so much more approachable. Hopefully this won't be a recurring incident then.

Sorry your DD had to go through it

Iggi - not at all. Of course a moral/religious beliefs debate can be had in RE about issues that are often closely related to religious beliefs. (Personally I don't think abortion is a 'moral' issue but I'm not religious). But I would seriously question such an issue being addressed in such an emotive way in RE, especially in a school which has no religious views on abortion or otherwise. In addition a film like this should be shown to the headteacher and parents before the students, which would happen if it was part of a sex and relationships education programme, but not, it seems, if part of a RE programme.

I was trying to say was that ideally it should also be covered in PSHE education and citizenship lessons where relevant, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. I say 'ideally' because i know that this is often impossible for schools to do (don't want this to become a 'schools should teach...' argument).

Sorry for being a bit inarticulate. I've had an operation and I'm a bit wooozy.

tanga did you hear from the head today?

Just bookmarking to see what the head says. Am really interested.

Discussions about ethics don't need emotive and inaccurate videos to go with them. Unless the ethical discussion is about the use of propaganda - perhaps this should be part of the RE syllabus, but I doubt it is.

Head left a message to say he had spoken to the teacher and that he had called the senior advisor for humanities to come and discuss it with the teacher - he will know whether it is common practice or not etc. He didn't say if he'd seen it but did say it would take a few days to sort out. So we shall see.

tanga - good that you're sorting this out. The head seems to be taking it seriously - good luck

Tanga, I'm really glad you're taking steps to find out why on earth the RE teacher saw fit to show this to 15 year olds. Keep us posted!

To those who keep on saying 'Well, show me a nice way of describing/making a film about abortion' - you are being very simplistic. Abortion isn't 'nice', it isn't pretty, it's a horrible decision for anyone to make, even when that decision is often the right one. There are lots of other medical procedures that are also deeply unpleasant and entail painful choices. It doesn't mean they shouldn't be discussed in a balanced manner. A more balanced film about abortion shouldn't seek to be 'nice', but it should definitely be factually accurate and balanced, and not work on the guilt and emotions of vunerable teenagers.

I can't understand why abortion is on the RE syllabus rather than on Social Education (or whatever it's called at the moment - t'was Social Ed when I was at secondary school!). Or why on earth this sort of blatantly propagandistic material is being shown in an RE lesson at, above all, a non-faith school.

Complain and keep on complaining until the RE teacher is disciplined and you have an assurance that it won't happen in any other classes, because this sounds like s/he's taken matters into their own hands and decided to show their pupils material that reflects their own biases.

I've just read the script and that was bad enough

Your poor DD. We covered abortion in RE, but we just talked about it, that was enough!

YANBU to complain AT ALL.

If not a Catholic school then YANBU
If a Catholic school then YABVU.

RE was probably one of the most interesting subjects I did at school, massively popular at GCSE and loads of us went on to do it at A-level. "Religious education" is probably a misnomer but at GCSE we discussed all sorts of fascinating things like addiction, the death sentence, meditation, I remember one lesson spent subverting cigarette ads though not quite sure why now! This was a non-faith private school which was a bit prim and proper so there was no such thing as sex ed and this was the only chance we really got to discuss real life issues. We learned a little about different faiths but not a huge amount as I recall. At A-level, the syllabus was 50% Hinduism and 50% philosophy, again extremely interesting.

Just marking my place really, but just wanted to respond to people asking why it was shown in an RE class

I have no problem with it being discussed in RE - there are some fascinating arguments about when life starts in all the major world religions. I'm always surprised by how disinterested DD and her friends are (and they are quite a smart group) but perhaps I'm getting a clue about why!

Lollipopviolet - can you tell me where you found the script? It might be useful.