Teaching of religion in Australia

[TeenDivided]

Brit here.

I have just watched 'Bump' on iplayer. A story of a 15yo who has a baby without knowing she was pregnant, made and set in Australia.

Anyway, in one episode, when the little girl went to school the parents had to choose between 'Scripture' and 'Ethics'. Scripture seemed to be teaching Catholicism as fact (as opposed to some people believe) and Ethics appeared to be non religious. It didn't appear to be a 'religious' school iyswim?

So it got me to wondering whether this is usual/common/standard in Australian schools? In England in standard state schools (as opposed to specific religious ones) all the main religions are covered but with a 'some people believe' slant.

Yes, in public schools you have the choice of scripture, which can be Catholic, and.... another one which I can't remember... Anglican? Then if you are lucky, you may have the choice of ethics, but that depends on having someone to teach it, which in my experience, wasn't often. So you would then choose "non-scripture", which is basically just bumming around in a classroom, colouring in, watching movies etc.
There is a high school elective called studies of religion, and that covers several religions with general info, not indoctrination.

Then you've got your religious schools, which of course teach their religion as the one and only religion and you would attend mass etc.

Thank you @wandawaves Does that mean that at primary level children aren't taught anything about other religions? Our primary schools do quite a lot of awareness mainly based on the main festivals such as Diwali or Eid. Then in secondary school they go into more details.

The other things I noticed was the school in the TV programm had a large map on the wall showing all the aboriginal groups in NSW. So I wonder whether teaching about them is higher priority than teaching other world religions? Does Australia have much of a population of Muslims / Hindus etc?

It's been a few years since I've had primary aged kids, but no, I can't recall them learning about other religions. I'm not in a particularly multicultural area though. I think some schools who have a significant population of for eg Hindu students, they will have some Diwali celebrations. It depends on the area as to how multicultural it is, you tend to have areas that have a high Muslim population, another area that has a high Chinese population, etc etc.

And yes there's definitely education at school about Indigenous Australians, history, their culture etc.

My grandkids go to a public (state, as in free) and at their school they learn a lot about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Cultures. It’s a school in an area where there is a large Aboriginal community.

Out school system is run by the states. So there are different practices in different states. And as the schools are in all different areas they are increasingly reflecting communities around them, &their student bodies. So, I suspect you are going to get quite a few different answers because different places, different make up of communities etc..

I think the different types of religious classes offered would be dependent on need of the area the school sits in.

This will give you some idea of multicultural Australia. Percentages of the population, where people come from number of languages spoken, religions etc..

Last Australian Census info

I don’t think you can answer this definitively. I’d expect them to learn about lots of religions but have no idea, mine are in Catholic primary schools. In religious high schools we covered all the major religions. And yes I would also expect they get taught about our indigenous peoples.

https://this.deakin.edu.au/society/religion-in-australian-schools-an-historical-and-contemporary-debate

This may help a bit. Teaching religion in state schools is an ongoing debate.

Learning about Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islander Cultures and Traditional land ownership is distinct from religious studies.

Also, this article from the NSW education department will give you some idea of the approach with regard to different religions in some state schools, dependent on the multicultural make up of the area the schools are in.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest-news/a-time-of-fastingfeasting-and-celebrations

I worked at an Anglican school in Australia. The stories I could tell you are utterly horrifying.

I went to a Catholic high school, and I remember the ONE day we learnt about other religions. The volunteer would get ushered in the door, talk for 10 minutes, then get ushered out, while our teacher told us how bad that religion is and that Catholicism is so much better 🙄

@ALittleTeawithmilk Thank you for both links, very interesting. I had no idea what a high 'first generation' population you still have.

I think the RE that my DDs studies was far superior to mine 40 years ago. I only learned about Christianity whereas mine covered the basics of the 5 major world religions, and I learned along with them.

Really interesting.

Wonder why this never came up in Neighbours!

My kids go to a private Anglican school and they do have Christian studies lessons but they also learn about other religions and it isn’t a big drama if you’re not religious (we’re not). I know some schools, especially the catholic ones are much stronger in terms of what they teach as fact.
We had a new CS teacher start and she was a bit “this is what actually happened” but she soon reined it in to “this is what the bible says happened”.

Scripture and Ethics are a NSW schools’ thing. NSW is still a bit in the dark ages when it comes to religion at school. I’m in Queensland and there was no religion classes at all at my DD’s state primary school. They covered various religions in social studies type subjects but no indoctrination/scripture classes.

Her school was very multicultural with many nationalities and religions. If they’d had religious/scripture classes I would have withdrawn her from them and had her attend a non-religion/heathen class.

Religion has no place in a state school. Respect for others and their beliefs definitely should occur but religious teaching should be done at home or at church if you’ve chosen a non-religious school.

@BananaBender Yes the series was set in NSW.

I used to teach primary ethics in public primary schools. We had a program, lessons, that had been approved by the department of education. We had to do a course online, two days of face to face training, police checks and so on. It was critical thinking on ethical matters. Lessons were appropriate per age groups. We would have topics such as courage for kindy, and animal testing for the older ones. Or the chart of human rights. Empathy. Understanding that it is ok to have different opinions. Amazing content.

The religion classes are just taught by whoever the local church/faith sends and they can just say whatever they want. There is no control over content. No police checks, just the normal working with children everyone who steps into a school has to do.

Ethics is only offered up to Y8, so a 15 y old girl having ethics is fiction.
Some y9 and y10 electives for short courses might offer ethical studies, but is not in alternative to religion.

My DC attends a government primary school in VIC. Not a hint of religion has ever been taught. Absolutely none (thankfully!).

I teach in a NSW primary school (State/public) and every week for half an hour, the students go to scripture or non scripture. In non scripture, no teaching is allowed to take place so the kids usually just watch a show/colour in. That is why ethics has been introduced as an alternative for non-religious students however it is hard to find someone to teach it. The students that go to scripture are taught about that religion as fact as they follow it. The religions taught at schools vary and are a reflection of the communities within the area. My school has non scripture, Islamic, Anglican and Catholic.

The students are taught about major celebrations such as Diwali, Chinese New Year etc in Primary school but part of a celebration based unit, not through a religious focus although aspects might be mentioned in passing. The Indigenous focus is increasing in our curriculum and we do teach things through indigenous perspectives and the kids partake in things like yarning circles.

Also, I went to a public NSW high school and I wasn't taught any religion (back in 90's/2000's). You could elect to do religious studies though.

Scripture is ‘taught’ by volunteers, it’s not part of the curriculum.

The types of scripture on offer will reflect the local community. My kids’ primary schools offered Catholic, Anglican, Hindu, Muslim, Ba’hai and Jewish scripture. We are atheist and always selected ethics or non-scripture (otherwise known as colouring in). They learned about various celebrations such as Diwali, Passover, Eid etc both formally at school and also from their friends who celebrated them. My kids have attended two Bar Mitzvahs but only one christening!

Australians are obsessed with private schools (40% of secondary students attend non-government schools) and the vast majority of those are religious based. They focus on their own religion and incorporate worship into the school week. My kids attend very multicultural state secondary schools and you can choose to attend scripture or start 30 mins later on a Friday so it’s not a difficult choice for most students! Studies of Religion is offered as a senior course which examines the major religions.

@Cormoran For clarity, wasn't the 15yo mum having ethics it was around 4 years later with her daughter having it in kindie.

Very interesting the lack of checks.

Seriously @TeenDivided unless there was a complaint, the religion "teachers" could just say whatever. We, the religion and ethics, would wait outside the class and then you see, someone you have never seen before in your life, and it turns out, the regular volunteer was ill or whatever, and they send a random churchgoer who was available. I remember one did a lesson about " staying pure" to the y5-y6. We didn't see that one again.

In Ethics, we had a lesson plan and script for every single 45 min lesson. First a couple of page for the teacher on the philosophical or moral topic, then the script we had to read and the questions to ask . Many of the questions were empathy related, why do you think Sophie did that, do you think Pingu was scared, and so on.
Every lesson would start with the "Rules" including " no put downs" . There is no right or wrong answer in ethics. we were never to praise a child such as good answer or well said, but instead keep the debate flowing with does anyone want to build/comment on that, does anyone have a different view.... The only "praise" would be thank you for your opinion/participation.

We were sitting in a circle , not at the tables, but I would always use chairs, behaviour is so much better when the back is supported. Speaking is strictly volunteer, I can't ask someone for a reply, some kids didn't say a word for months and then one day they speak and you melt.

It was all about them giving the group their idea, and getting away from them giving me the answer they thought I wanted. Completely different from the typical classroom. Share your mind, don't share a content. What are your reasons, what makes you say so, ...

It was quite a commitment. Because you had to do class prep at home, print 20-28 pages that included photos, and of course, I would read the lesson ahead of time for each year group.

Some schools are very much against ethics and principals would put hurdles to block kids from joining.

The program is amazing. If you have a spare day, consider becoming an ethics teacher. And if your school offers ethics, have a chat with the school ethics coordinator or visit https://primaryethics.com.au

ONly NSW. No idea why, probably a deal made with a weird Senator to get a vote through. Very embarrassing as a NSW resident. My DS was even told he couldn't read as " that would disadvantage the kids in scripture" when he was in non- scripture.
Total shitshow. Needs to go. Chris Minns looking at you. State schools shouldn't be having weekly scripture.