Problems with RE class.

[EccentricaGallumbits]

DD1 is 14, year 10. They do compulsory RE/Philosophy and this year DD is in a class with nobody she knows well.

Last week she came home upset because she was the only one in the class with any sort of religious belief, for which she was jeered at, criticised and felt quite bullied. She has quite independently (and a bit surprisingly) got strong christian beliefs. she also has strong ideas about peace, justice and prejudice (she's a funny old thing).

this week she reports a discussion where one pupil claimed that 'all muslims are terrorists' which some of the others in the class agreed with. at which point DD got cross and it all ended up in a bit of a shouting match.

DD has now asked if she can not do RE at all as she doesn't want to share a class with these people.

Should I contact the teacher? or just ecourage her to keep speaking up for her beliefs?

I would speak to the teacher or it could get worse. She also needs to know that there will always be people who disagree with her and she is doing the right thing!

EG, is it worth talking through with her her response to contradiction? You could try emphasising that philosophy is all about logic: You hold a position, and then invite contradiction so that you get to a clear, logically consistent statement, set of statements, and argument, for that position.

The role of opposition in that is to highlight points where your argument is unclear, perhaps contradictory itself, or you just haven't extended into that area. Of course, perfect arguments are a bit of an illusion: something perfectly and logically argued, covering everything, and satisfying everyone's sense of rightness rarely exist for the big things in life, rather for things like 2+2=4.

Perhaps suggest she regards it as a game, and pulls it away from caring so much. Hard, I can see. But then she might enjoy a more detached view of the argument process.

Have you heard from CAHMS yet, btw?

good plan - sort of practise her arguments back? also good to distance her from her own feelings about stuff - blind thm with logic. she'd like that.

still waiting for DD2s assessment.

Are there no Muslims in the class?!

Was about to ask, does the teacher not have control of the kids? but remembering my own RE lessons, which had the power to turn a class of well-behaved grammar school kids into chandelier-swinging gibbons...

hardly anyone in school who isn't white british. i'd be horrified even more if there were any muslims present who would have heard what was said.

Not sure where the teacher was. would an email to let them know what was being said be ok do you thinjk?

they did warn there was a waiting list of 'several months'. suppose i shoul hassle but every time i think i should i have another ostrich moment

Can't believe you're uncommon in that (with the "ostrich moment"), I certainly have them (good phrase, btw). I hope they get in touch soon.

I'd say contact a teacher and ask if there's another class she could move to for RE.

They might grow out of it, but it's probably unlikely. I'm in Year 12 and last week someone in my class argued with me about "Muslims taking the country away from Americans" and how they "should respect the people whose country it is and not build mosques".

She needs to see it as a debate, and use it as practice to win arguments without getting heated if possible. The teacher should have intervened and acted as referee to put the debate back on track.

Ask if she can go into another class may be, as they should have other Year 10 classes running at the same time. We used to move students between the three of us regularly to get the best mix.

My son had wrote in his RE book, some people are Christians, some people are Muslims etc, but I am agnostic. I asked him why, he said because the teacher told him to. What kind of RE teacher is that, aren't people allowed to believe in God anymore????? My son wasn't even told what agnostic meant!! Mind as soon as I told him, he scribbled it out and changed it to Christian!!!

She should see it as a form of debate, which is hard work and rather testing for her, but important to the class as a whole. I would speak to the teacher though and let them know that she felt in a vulnerable position, being the only one holding that corner of the debate. My daughter was the only Christian in her RE class, though there was a Mormon too, and they were the only ones who bothered really discussing the subject and challenging people's pre-conceptions, and working through the thorny ethical points or points about the understanding of an afterlife etc.

The teacher should be maintaining some element of control over the discussion and guiding it gently in case it gets too heated or over-wrought, and should not let one person take all the flak

I would talk to the school. RE along with PSHE are subjects in which it is crucial the teacher provides somewhere "safe" for the expression of ideas. If your daughter does not feel safe, and even worse if anyones ideas can be shouted down, then i is not a safe environment.

My DD just started secondary; in her first RE lesson they all got an agreement form to be signed by the child and the teacher which stated (forget exact wording) that all views would be welcomed and respected.

Maybe they need something like that in place?

I teach RE and unfortunately, some of the things you say like students saying 'all muslims are terrorists' all sounds depressingly familiar. RE teaching these days is a lot about combatting racial / religious stereotypes and prejudices.

However, whilst I am not surprised to hear this has been said, I would hope that the teacher challenged the student on this statement, and I would be worried if it went unchallenged.

Debates are often very tricky to handle, because lots of students think that if they hold an opinion, its their right to voice it, no matter how offensive that opinion might be. A good teacher should be controlling the framework of the debate, and how things are said so that people are not offended in class.

If you do not feel as though this is being done, I would have a word with the teacher.