Any Secondary RE teachers about?

[KirstenRaymonde]

I’m considering training to be an RE teacher through the IOEs salaried training route. I wondered if anyone might be able to shed any light on what it’s really like to teach this subject in a secondary environment. I know a lot of teachers (including family members) and have volunteered in infant classrooms for years, so have much more knowledge of KS1. As such I have no illusions about the world of teaching, but only have my own (not particularly good) secondary experience to go for teaching that age group.

Would welcome any thoughts or advice. Thanks.

One big thing to bear in mind is that in most schools students will be made to take RS in KS4 ("you've got to study it so you might as well get a GCSE or 1/2 GCSE"). So you have lots of students who don't want to be there and can't see the point - whereas even if they don't like Maths or English they (and their parents) do understand why they are made to study them.
The Philosophy and Ethics side of RS courses has become much more popular over recent years so being able to teach that could be helpful.

Not a teacher but my DD is taking it, they don't have to do it at GCSE in any local schools. She really enjoys it from the ethics side, but her class is really small, only about 10 of them in a year of 180. She finds it harder than the other humanities though.

My DC is in y11 at our local grammar and there they are made to do RE or citizenship.

I have to say, he would never have chosen it, is doing much worse at it than every other subject and moans about it all of the time. From the sounds of it, he is not alone.

It’s not a subject I would choose to teach! Maybe it’s not the same in other schools though.

Sorry to say, but it's the one subject my kids have a negative attitude about just for itself. Not a problem with the teacher, they just don't like the subject.

Both my dcs love RS. Dd is going to take it for A level and may take theology and politics for a degree. Both of them had an inspiring hlta at primary who taught RE and then great teaching at secondary.
Dd who is taking gcse complains that some kids don't care because it's a have to take subject but most love it.

DH teaches RS and then philosophy and ethics at A-Level.

As others have said, the main issue is that it is a required subject but many students just don't want to be there. As you don't see the students that frequently you also have a higher class load than other subjects, which is a pain when it comes to marking (especially mock exams) and parents evenings. DH is always annoyed that they have to mark so many more essay based answers each than any other subject but still get the same amount of time. I remember one year he had 20+ classes, the marking was awful.

But there are positives too. He loves teaching it at A-Level and there is less pressure on the dept from SLT compared to other subjects. He loves the subject so it is worth it for him.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for all the comments so far. The philosophy and ethics piece really interests me, as well as placing religious belief in the wider world - we live in a multi faith society and need to understand others beliefs and practices. I think the ability to think critically is such an important one and would hope to instill that in a way that could be used across other humanities subjects.

Very good point about children ‘being made to be there’ but I think perhaps that’s the case in all subjects for those that feel that way. I think there’s the potential for that teaching any subject.

rockandrollwithit your point about the larger class load is one I hadn’t considered. I suppose it depends on the school size but something to keep in mind. Also perhaps harder to get to know the kids as you see them much less? What does your husband like so much about the subject?

@Redlocks28 what is it your DS dislikes about it particularly?

Yes there will always be children who don't want to learn any particular subject. But I was trying to point out that the (normally) compulsory nature of RS in KS4 does mean you can have a whole class who don't want to be there. Parental support can also be very low, so you get little back-up over homework or revision. Parents and students can, mostly, see the point of making an effort in English even if the child hates it. Not so RS, you have to be prepared to be bottom of the pile.

I teach Secondary RS and I definitely agree with this: "Not so RS, you have to be prepared to be bottom of the pile."

In many schools these days, since progress 8 came in, schools are ditching short course, and unless you're a religious school, schools are increasingly dropping compulsory GCSE too. In my local area partnership (of 7 secondary schools) none will have compulsory RE in Sept, and only one doing short course. The rest core (non examined) and options.

So, yes you can have a lot of kids who don't like it, and a lot of parents who don't see the point either. "We're not going to bother with RE" type attitude. Of course that has its benefits, when it comes to open evening. Unfortunately though, in all too many schools SLT have that attitude too. You therefore have to make the kids engage, with good teaching, an interesting scheme of work etc...

But one point to note, people often talk of doing "philosophy and ethics". There's no such thing! Schools often like to name their subjects this to make it more attractive to students, but the exam at A level is either Religious Studies or Philosophy. Philosophy is great A level, but requires students to study epistemology. Religious Studies requires students to now study 3 of four options (philosophy, ethics, world religion or biblical text). So if you teach RS at A level, 1/3 of your time will be spent teaching a religion. The only other option is the pre u which offers philosophy and theology.

Happy to answer any other questions.

Sorry Compulsory full course GCSE RE

And parents evening, not open evening! I really should proof read my posts.

@drofrub
At DH's school, they share the A-Level group between two teachers. He just teaches the philosophy and ethics side as he is the most qualified in that area (it was part of his degree).

@Kirsten
He studied Religion and Philosophy at uni and loved it. He's interested in the different ways people think about the same thing, especially around the world.

Ah, I see, Rock. I was responding to this comment

"DH teaches RS and then philosophy and ethics at A-Level."

Which implies that philosophy and ethics is something different to Religious Studies. In fact, your husband teaches Religious Studies at A level, just like he teaches RS at KS3 or 4 (unless he teaches pure philosophy with AQA). In the same way, I wouldn't say I teach RS at GCSE and then Islam at A level, or sociology at GCSE and Education and crime at A level.

It's a really common misconception, and it is infuriating constantly correcting students / parents etc who perpetuate the myth that it's some kind of different course. We've even had students say "I'm going to X school for sixth form because I can do philosophy and ethics there". I want to shout "No you can't - It's the same bloody course as the one we teach!!!"

I understand why teachers change the name of the course - makes it more appealing to students, recruitment etc.... but it creates unnecessary confusion all round.

DH's school follow the Welsh Board for A-Level, although they are not in Wales. As you say it's Religious Studies but the students learn different elements with different teachers. So with DH they know they will learn about philosophy/ethics.

I'm primary myself, we have none of this confusion with SATs etc as there's only the one set of tests! 😂