Thoughts on withdrawing from RE lessons?

[MidgetJones1]

We’ve had to send our son to a Catholic high school (Long story but no real choice and 70% of the kids there are not Catholic). I’ve looked at the RE curriculum and it’s almost entirely a study of Catholicism rather that a comparative study of a variety of faiths/beliefs, which I’m obviously not surprised about with it being a Catholic school. We are firmly atheist and would be very happy for him to study a regular inclusive RE curriculum but not comfortable with him being taught from the perspective of Catholicism being the truth.
We are considering withdrawing him and finding an online course for him to do instead so he doesn’t waste his time out of lessons.
Has anyone got any experience of withdrawing from RE from a parent or teacher POV and how has it worked out? Thank you

I teach at a Catholic school. On top of the 2.5 hours of RE, we have hymn practise, Gospel assembly, trips to the church, retreats, prayers 3 x a day and mention religion in many areas of the curriculum, especially history and PSHE. If you take your son out of RE lessons, that is only a small part of what he is being exposed to. I love the school I work at but would not send my children there because I am agnostic and religion is in every part of the school.

If a parent exercises their right to withdraw a child from RE lessons, they are supposed to provide alternative learning for that child to undertake during the RE lesson.

It is not meant to cause an extra burden for teachers/schools to provide other work for that child. It's on the parents to organise.

I went to a Catholic school and got an A in RE despite being atheist. I managed to avoid being indoctrinated! To be fair they didn't expressly teach that the doctrine was the correct one but they did focus heavily on it. My DS gave up on RE in the first year of GCSEs with my blessing. He went to lessons and sat the exam but didn't waste his time revising it and didn't pass.

Well, quite. This is a very real issue in many areas - parents just don’t have the choice.

We’ve done the same (atheist but sent DC to a Catholic secondary school) as it was the best school for our DC.

We knew it was part of the deal, no damage done, and as an atheist myself I actually think the ethos of the school and the values it has makes it superior to their non-Catholic primary school.

RE is mandatory to GCSE. We knew when we signed up and so wouldn’t embarrass ourselves kicking off about it.

Is it Eduqas/WJEC? I think it’s a really interesting GCSE course. They study ethical and theological themes from the perspective of Catholic Christianity and Judaism, and consider the themes from a non-religious perspective. It’s thought provoking and all my utterly heathen despite my best intentions and 13 years of Catholic education, children have really enjoyed it.

I think most gcse courses in the UK are 2 religions only, although I’m willing to be corrected. In the uk Christianity will overwhelmingly be one of the religions. The UK is still a broadly Christian country, much of our history, culture and art is eyebrow deep in Christian faith to the point that it’s hardly noticed. Better to understand it imo. Ignorance is rarely helpful and there are billions of resources to teach at home the myriad of things that are outwith the curriculum.

If the school 'requires improvement' then there will be bigger concerns. What is/is not being taught in RE would be way, way down my list of worries. Things like the schools ability to recruit and retain good teachers and behaviour and learning in the classrooms are going to be much more important. In Yr7-9 they will be following the national curriculum and whatever school curriculum you have read will be based off that. Different teachers tend to do their own thing anyway. Some will follow the published curriculum and others won't necessarily.

I went to Catholic schools and have ended up teaching in them my whole career.

Most kids endure RE lessons because they have to. They hate the masses and religious stuff, as we did when i was in school over 30 years ago. They also don't like saying prayers etc. I can't think of a single one who has been indoctrinated by RE lessons. Many of them sacrifice it at gcse to concentrate on other subjects.

It's always quite funny when you make s reference to a famous or well known bible story/ religious concept and the kids are completely blank...because they haven't paid attention.

I have friends who work in Wales; kids in border towns have much the same attitude to doing compulsory Welsh lessons.

I have seen this myth stated before. It is absolutely not true and is based on a misreading of the relevant legislation. A parent's right to withdraw their child from religious education and religious worship is absolute and does not impose any requirement for them to provide an alternative.

So then what does that child do, if the school are not meant to have an increased burden placed on them? In my school, we just sent the child to the partner class to do whatever they were doing (not RE obviously).

You are overthinking. Just do the lessons. RE also covers other religions in a Catholic school and it's not bad to have a general awareness. Or go somewhere else.

Don’t worry I don’t think a teenage boy will be reeled in by catholic doctrine, and I say this as someone raised catholic 😭. I don’t think you’ll be able to withdraw him but you can always try.

I have withdrawn a child from RE classes, but I wouldn't do it based on the school's website or without my child's input.

I withdrew one of my children from RE class, not from collective worship. The issues started in Year 8, at that time she didn't want to withdraw and be separate from her friends. In Year 10, the issues got worse, and my child requested withdraw, understanding and more than willing to be separated and using my resources instead. I had a couple meetings with RE staff, on agreement she withdrew for the rest of that year, tried again in Year 11 which resulted in withdraw within the first half term. They offered that she could take the GCSE with the rest of her year, but we decided against it so she didn't need to focus on exam topics. She was supervised in an additional support space most of the time.

No school is going to give a complete view of world faiths and beliefs. You'll need to supplement anyways if religious literacy is a priority for you. I wouldn't recommend withdraw if the child hasn't brought up any issues or without their agreement. As my child recognised in Year 8, it is more isolating and not every child is comfortable with that. I've an older child who has says that now wished she'd asked having seen how much happier her sibling was after withdrawing, but knows when she was that age, she preferred being with her friends and not being the odd one out even with the issues and stress that the RE classes caused.

Most kids endure RE lessons because they have to. They hate the masses and religious stuff, as we did when i was in school over 30 years ago. They also don't like saying prayers etc. - what a total waste of their time ......

But to be fair, there are lots things kids hate in school.

Maths, English, French, cooking, PSHE, Music, PE.... how many kids manage to forget their kits for 5 years?

If a parent decides to withdraw their child from RE, the school must comply. The school remains legally responsible to supervise the child on-site, but there is no requirement to provide additional teaching or incur extra costs. The withdrawn pupil can, for example, be required to sit in the library (if the school has one).

OP will be able to withdraw him. She has the legal right to do so.

Catholic studies is actually really interesting. It gives a background for ancient history, philosophy, the latin language and literature too. DH and I both have a level catholic studies due to the schools we went to and neither of us are religious. I would definitely put the kids in for it.

Yes, I don't see what the problem is, they don't have to believe that's the absolute truth?
You've sent your children to be educated in an RC establishment, OP. What did you think would happen?

It’s your prejudice that makes you think doing a gcse in a religion he does not believe to be true will set him for failure. I have an A grade A-level in Bible studies of a religion I don’t believe to be true. I have. 2.1 masters degree majoring in three religions I don’t not believe to be true.

Let go of your prejudice OP. Religion is a discipline to be studied, just like any other.

I think it’s a good thing to have access to different learning like this. The kids get science and maths all day long (I say this as a scientist myself) but opening them up to learning everything else they can is so valuable.
RE of any type gives them perspective and a background for understanding and analysing culture

Sorry OP but you’re being really odd pearl clutching over this

Yes, I agree. There are too many people in a bubble. It's really healthy to look at other belief systems, you don't have to commit to it. I feel the same way about parents who won't let their child visit a synagogue, or a cathedral. Nothing bad is going to happen and it strikes me as very narrow minded.

The problem with this from a study point of view is that you can get no depth at all trying to learn the survive level basics of all religions, which is really boring.

Focusing on one subject allows for a better learning experience, more depth, exploration and analysis.

Thanks @Cardomomlenoone ever agrees with me on MN so you’ve made my day 😂

You're welcome! What's more... I agree with you completely! 😊