Teaching 'Creation' in Primary RE?

[housesuit]

Normal state school and we had open evening yesterday.

I was slightly concerned that in DD's RE book she had colouring in and pictures of 'the creation' and a little paragraph on 'how god made the world'

Why are they teaching this? I thought most Christians didn't believe in the creation anyway so why is this in the curriculum? Is it normal in most schools?

I am atheist so wasn't sure if I was being touchy tbh. But I can think of plenty of other bible stories they could teach that actually cover some moral issue instead of the bloody creation!

I'd be pretty sure its not actually 'in the curriculum' as such.

You might want to look at this and then find out what your LA syllabus is.

Thanks for the link, am off to read now!

(you didn't say what age your DD is, I'm sure you can find the ks2 version from there if its more apt)

What I don't understand is this.
Firstly, if they're supposed to be 'exploring Christianity', well, really given that they're not likely to be studying Old Testament scripture, that's the New Testament, isn't it. So why are they doing Genesis 1?
Also, it's odd to present as 'fact' to children something which the vast majority of Christians treat as allegory.
I suspect it's slightly lazy lesson planning. It's a pretty story, and a well known one.

It's her RE book. It's going to have religious stuff in it....

I'd hope they're teaching it in a "story about how God created the world" kind of way, since (as you say) plenty of Christians don't take it literally anyway. But tbh primary school RE tends to be very patchy, so I wouldn't expect her to come out of it with much genuine understanding of what Christians (or any other faith) actually believe, just a vague idea that people believe lots of different things. So long as they aren't making her feel bad about what she (or you) believe (or don't) I wouldn't worry about it.

Obviously I expect to find religion in an RE book.

But given all the 'moral' stories that would actually have some value, why teach the story of the creation, which teaches what exactly?

It's so fundamental to Christianity that I think children need to know the story, even if it's viewed as outdated now.

I really am not trying to be obtuse but why? why waste time on this rubbish?

It would be nice to think they were using it to explain the concept of a "myth" - a story which tells an important message without having to be taken as literally true. They could talk about what the people who wrote the story thought was important - that God is good, that God made the world, that God cares about us - and how those elements were put into a story which helped to illustrate those complex ideas.

They could compare it with "creation myths" from other religions, and with what science tells us, and talk about how those things can inter-relate.

However it's more likely they've been told it as a "nice story" which "some people believe" and then got to colour in a picture. And next term they'll be taught about some equally oversimplified version of another faith.

Dd is in Y3 and has covered this in RE but they also discussed the Big Bang.

I think that RE shouldn't be taught at KS1 in non-faith schools and I wish that "daily Christian worship" wasn't a requirement either.

The teacher probably does say "some believe" and explain that things like creation are a story from the bible but my kids take it as fact as the teacher probably does not keep on reminding them that the story is not fact.

Hmm, in dd's school it was presented pretty much as fact, from what I can gather - along with the comment that if the big bang explanation were true, how did there come to be seasons.

Fortunately dd is a bit of a science geek and well aware of what causes the seasons

These days, many Christians (myself included) do not take the creation story in the Bible at face value, merely that it is a symbolic account of God creating the world and all life in it over millions of years (instead of it being in six days).

We might not take the Biblical creation story at face value, but the symbolic story is still at the core of the Christian belief system, as we do believe God greated the world.

My niece was taught the story, but was told that although some people believe the story word for word, there are other Christians who believe that while God created the world He didn't do it so quickly. (And, of course, she was also taught that some people don't believe it at all).

I'm with Hatterbox. As long as it was taught in the context of "what some people believe" I wouldn't have a problem with it. After all RE is about all sorts of things that people beleive that I don't. However, if it was taught as this is fact - then I would. Hopefully in your case OP it is the former.

crazygracie, I see what you are saying but how are our children supposed to make an informed decision about their own faith or lack therof(when they are older) if they have never been taught anything.
This is minimal in most non faith schools and not really something to worry about.