WTF - my daughter is benig 'morally instructed' as part of RE

[JJ6]

The whole family are aetheists and daughter attends a state (non religeous - thats a laugh)inner city primary. Tecaher knows we are aetheists and are happy for daughter to learn about world religions but not be taught that beliefs or bible stories are fact.
We received her report today and quote:
'RE - Re teaches how to love, care and show tolerance for others. X is benefiting from these moral instructions" DISCUSS....

Am I right in thinking that there is a bit of a dig at our family values here. Can my daughter not learm about these things outside the framework of organised belief systems? Should I challenge or complain about this??

What if DD's RE was taught by an atheist? Would that be equally unbiased?

We all come from a particular perspective. I suspect those who go into teaching RE have looked into the subject and may be committed to a given perspective. Sometimes you can only learn that a particular faith is a way of life and not just a set of precepts to assent to. I learned far more about Buddhism by studying with a local Buddhist group than I did reading books about it or hearing non-Buddhists describe it.

As long as the priest in question was able to teach outside her/his perspective then I would have no problem with them teaching RE. As I would have no probs with an atheist teaching RE if they were thoughtful and open about perspectives other than their own.

Thank for your input. The school has a 'virtue' of the week and I am hapy with this. I also think it is the fact that the term 'moral instruction' was used. I do not belive that you can be instructed in this area but you can be supported to have morals and thhis should be a two way process.
Morals ethics etc should be taught speperately to RE which is by its title 'religeous education. Theology is not the the same as philosophy or maybe there is a mre appropriatte term that could be used?

In answer to the OP, just from my own experience from schooldays I remember that stuff like relationships, how we treat others and the like was thrown into our RE lessons.

I think in school they tend to put moral ethics, philosophy and more general life skills into the RE lessons as they tend to lump them into the same bracket.

Moral instruction sounds rather like catechism I'd not be happy with a teacher whose value systems I didn't know instructing my child in morals. In fact I don't really like teachers instructing at all outside of subjects that require very directive instructions (experiments etc) I want my children to learn, not parrot.

I still think this is just poor language though - I'd be inclined to ask the school what gets taught just to confirm. My dd at 6 or so picked up a lot of religious thought from the priest who visited their (community) school and it really stuck (apparently Father Christopher was right because he had a "big house"). If your child follows authority teachers can be very powerful figures.

I know many atheist RE teachers. As I said it is just copy and pasted from the locally agreed syllabus.

My aim is to teach kids about different world views, evaluation and analysis of moral issues. Not to instruct them or indoctrinate them.

In the same way that all Christians aren't homophobic, all atheists aren't like Richard Dawkins, I know some very nice atheists!

Why not check with the teacher about what they meant? To me it sounds like a fairly bland statement that is probably on every kids school report, cause it fills up the space.

I think its appropriate to teach kids about moral values within RE - certainly more appropriate than in PE ?

quote - I think its appropriate to teach kids about moral values within RE - certainly more appropriate than in PE ?

BUT this exactly my point as somone who is not religeous it makes no more sense to teach morals in RE as it does in any other lesson including PE. Unless it is part of PSHE or a lesson in philosphy of course. RE is not the guardian of morals or ethics and using this lesson to instruct on this is implying that there are no morals outside of religen.

When I was at school RE was shorthand for a something more general. I have my Higher qualification in Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies and that's probably a better (though rather unwieldy!) description of what's taught in schools nowadays.

I'm an atheist too and it is a somewhat irritating statement but I'm not sure if I'd take action on it. I might mention it at parents' night. In any case I don't think it's a personal dig.

Thanks - freerangeeggs
I tend to agree with your view. I really do believe in live and let live and as long as everyone else feels the same i am happy. Do not judge and we should not be judged!!
I was a bit annoyed when (we live in an area with many evangelical churches) I arrived home with my husband and daughter to three GOD SQUAD on the doorstep yesterday. When they asked if we believed in jesus and I said no they said - you must be a lovely family (sarcastically) and you have made your choice!
I don't go to their church or home and tell them what to believe in or judge themand find this very offensive

JJ6 you have a very valid point. Ethics would be a more appropriate term than morals because morality is subjective to the culture from which it originates.

Some religious types tend to the notion that without some religious belief a person cannot be ethical or humane, this is of course, nonsense. Some believers are very keen to evangelise because this is what the later NT tells them to do i.e. spread the good news.

If you are really concerned about what the school is doing - pull your daughter out of RE. She'd learn far more from an hour in the library reading the newspaper than she would from a lot of the RE lessons that I have seen.

RS/RE has two strands learning about and learning from religion/belief systems.

Ethics can be taught across the curriculum but does tend to fall neatly into RE/RS. PE for instance can teach you to play a game fairly. In RS/RE you can discuss why this is right or wrong?

No good RE/RS teacher should influence the beliefs of their students and as a subject leader I would metaphorically slap a member of my dept silly if they did so.

With the majority of the world having some sort of religious belief then by learning RE/RS you can learn about them and then use that to consolidate what you do or do not believe. I wouldn?t dismiss what you can learn from religion, even if it?s the belief that those people are wrong and why you think that. It?s much better to have an informed opinion than just believing that everything your parents tell you is correct.

I don?t for instance tell my children there is a Santa Clause that is a lie. However I don?t jump all over them for telling me about it I would just tell them the facts and leave them to make up their own minds.