Withdraw child from religious studies

[Parentofachild]

Hi!
I would like to find out about child withdrawal from religious studies in church school because I am not happy with the content they are teaching? Can you advice me if someone experienced it and are there any consequences? Thanks

You can withdraw your child from all or parts of RE lesson (eg lessons on abortion). You can also withdraw your child from collective worship. Have you talked to your child about it? Some times children feel isolated by doing this.

You can withdraw, and they will have to sit somewhere eg library during the lessons.

However RE is useful, learning about different religions. Is there an issue they are teaching things as fact rather than 'some people believe'?

What are you not happy about them teaching, you chose to send them to a faith school… if you aren’t comfortable with the faith element then maybe a different school is required

@LazySunbedDays you chose to send them to a faith school
We don't know the OP's situation.
Maybe the OP chose to send their kids there, and shouldn't have.
Maybe it wasn't a choice because that was the only school with places.
We just don't know.

OP, by "church school", do you mean a faith state secondary school?
What are you not happy about, and can you elaborate?
Is there indoctrination?
Are other faiths sneered at?
Are you atheist, agnostic, religious but not Christian?

@Parentofachild you might find some useful contextual info here and can seek the BHA's advice if needed: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/school-curriculum/religious-education/

However, as a non-religious parent who chose a CofE primary school for my own children my advice would be to use it as an opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills. They will naturally question what they are being told and it will spark conversations at home that can give you an opportunity to present alternative viewpoints. By the end of primary school both my children were self-declared atheists, and so were most of their class-mates (including some of the ones with religious parents). They could also tell their teachers why they had reached that conclusion. They then went to a non-faith secondary school where they both did a (compulsory) Religion & Philosophy GCSE in year 10 and both got grade 9s. By that stage the subject was about discussing ethics and thoughtfully comparing and contrasting different viewpoints, as well as expressing their own.

Thanks, the child is aware that some information is not true and going against her views and beliefs. But if you remove the child from part of the lesson how it will affect on exam or it will be specially arranged with some topic exclusion?

you chose to send them to a faith school

Not necessarily. RE is compulsory in all state schools in the UK, not just faith schools.

Religious education
RE is compulsory in schools up to the age of 18. Parents can ask to withdraw their child from parts or all of the lessons.
Local councils are responsible for deciding the REsyllabus, but faith schools and academies can set their own.

www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/other-compulsory-subjects

For RE GCSE none of it is treated as 'true'. It is taught as 'Muslims believe.. ' 'some Christians believe.. ' etc.

The factual bits are laws, practices and that people belive certain things. Generally a school shouldn't be teaching beliefs as facts. Even a faith school should be 'as Christians we believe that ...'

What don't you like and how is it being taught?

Which year group are they in? And is it a state school or private?

If they are already studying for external exams, e.g. GCSEs, then no, they can't exclude topics. However the syllabus will allow and encourage them to express their own views.

I completely agree with @trynagenn that you should use it for teaching critical thinking. She doesn't have to agree with any of what she is being told.

Look at the most basic level GCSEs are a game, play it their way, say what they want you to say, get the marks. You don't have to believe it. I attended a Catholic primary, secondary and sixth form because my parents were devout Catholic. Did I believe any of it? No. Neither did my gay sister.

I wouldn't withdraw her. I would talk with her about it. She knows your views, her own views, school's views and possibly a wider view from social media, news sites etc.

Is this about your/dd’s politics, or is this about theology?

Why did you send your child to a faith school?

Is RS a required gcse at that school? Curriculum rarely teaches literally to the faith of the school, rather more a variety of stances on social issues and as an opportunity for discussion.

This is a great example of an OP that would have benefitted from the inclusion of some relevant information.

‘Not true’ is an interesting one. Because no religious belief can be proven true or false. Maybe you mean ‘not what we believe’?

I have taught RE for 25 years and I am an atheist. I have never in that time had someone withdraw their child from lessons and have even taught lots of Jehovah’s Witness children, who are often withdrawn. We teach about the 6 major religions, some minor religions such as Bahai, philosophy and moral issues. Not ‘this is what you should believe’. However, you are dealing with a faith school, where they can teach it from their perspective alone and it will be very much taught as ‘the truth’, which is another issue entirely.

If you choose to withdraw your child, you have to provide the work for them to do in that time and they will be supervised in another lesson, library etc but not taught.

For exams set my external examiners that would not be a possibility. Which topics/religions do you not want them to study? The school may say they won’t enter them in for the exam if they’re going to miss chunks of the course.

What are you blithering on about? Depending on where you live its compulsory. I live in NI where schools are state funded but still do Christian morning assemblies and RE (with an emphasis on christianity) is compulsory. So they teach about other religions but the school will push christianity more as fact.

Religious studies at GCSE level (which is what I assume you mean by "the exam") includes covering a study of 2 different religions (one of which I imagine will be Christianity as this is a church school) and also ethical and philosophical themes.

I think it's a useful subject to understand the beliefs of others (which you do not have to share) and to encourage critical thinking about key issues in the world.

It shouldn't involve teaching anything as fact, and if your DC personally disagrees with the teachings of one religion, they should learn how to form an argument to discuss this.

What about same sex marriages it is not a sin but is normal. Or what about that it is a small sin if you have sex with an animal. In particular I am not happy with family and relationships section.

We chose a faith school as education and behaviour is slightly better than in normal school.

Religious studies looks at the views of different religions towards different issues.

So people from x religion believe this about same sex marriage. People from y religion believe this about same sex marriage. Normally the student is then able to state their own belief and explain why. If it's being taught as "same sex marriage is a sin and that is an undeniable fact" as a pure statement without any link to specific religious belief, I would go and discuss the way the subject is taught.

Wait? They actually said in RE that having sex with an animal is "a small sin"?

I can't imagine that being in any religious education curriculum!

Then you are a massive hypocrite.

Let them join in the same lessons as everyone else.

I’m a teacher and, yes, it depends on the size of the animal. A hamster = very small sin, a buffalo = much larger sin. You are right to withdraw if someone is telling your child having sex with a buffalo is a little, not a larger sin.

YABU to say same sex marriage is a sin

Does your child want to be withdrawn? I think at secondary age they should have a say in it.
I withdrew my eldest which meant in practice she went to re lessons that were about World religions and morality and suchlike but was withdrawn from lessons that were specifically about Christianity (not in the uk, the Christian bits of re are more like Sunday school here) but she was also withdrawn from all religious events in school so any assemblies with a Christian theme for instance and she felt left out sometimes because of that (though she appreciated not having to go a church service at the end of the school year last year) so I do think you should find out what withdrawing will involve - will it just be lessons or will it be assemblies also? Will your child be happy with that or will they feel left out or different? (DD doesn't mind it so much now she's older because she has friends that are also withdrawn)

With my youngest I've decided to allow him to attend religious events so he doesn't feel left out, although he is still supposed to be withdrawn from re (not entirely sure he is though because his timetable says Lutheran class rather than ethics)