How do they teach religion at your chidren's state school?

[anney]

Hi all,
wasn't sure whether to post this in spirituality and religion or under schools but decided on here. FionaJill started a great thread in spirituality and religion about how to expose her children to lots of different faiths. I was having the same thoughts but it was around school. DD has just started her first year at a state primary school in victoria. They have a religion subject which is based on the christian faith. It is an opt in/opt out thing and DH wanted to opt out as he was brought up muslim. I was brought up catholic but neither DH nor I practise religion any more. My preference is to get her to do the religion at school so she gets the christian thing at school and we can do the muslim teaching at home. But I can see DH's point about having the subject be christian based. he would let her do it, if they taught about all religions.
so that is why I started this thread, basically to see if most schools have a christan based curriculm for religion or do they expose children to all religions?
thanks

[Trillian]

Previously our school broke all the children up into denominational groups and when they did that we chose not to let Lindsay go, as DH is a non practising Methodist and I am not of any religion and we felt that we didn't want him attending a group that might be pushing their own agenda. HOWEVER, this year they have changed to not having separate groups and the children are taught from a curriculum. This I am much happier about as it is more along the lines of how 'scripture' was taught when I was at school and it focused more on morals and bible stories etc and not the particular religion itself. So both our kids are attending now they are doing it this way. Not sure if that answers your question very well though.

[~StarBright~]

I havent got kids yet, but my experience of how i was taught religion at school was that we had "scripture Lessons" based on Christiam religion for those who wished to go and if your religion wasnt covered there (we had a few kids in my school who were JW's and some who just didnt follow religion) then those kids had to sit in the library. I was sent to scripture in early primary school and i listened to the stories and filled out the books but i was a tad unsure as i knew my friends didnt follow what was being taught and why did we have more than one thing to learn IYKWIM ,and i dont recall exactly what happened,but in about year 4 or 5 from memory we had been learning about evolution in class, and then that week our Scripture was all about adam and eve, and i got very confused!!!! I started asking questions of the teacher and basically questioning the whole set up and basically arguing that adam and eve must have been monkeys or something along those lines!! (i was about 10 i think!!! ) and long story short, i was asked to not attend the scriptures as my views and questions were making it hard for the other kids to follow the scriptures!!! I eneded up joining with the kids in the library, and ever since i have had quite strange views on religion!! LOL

I am unsure how iw ill brooch this subject when the time comes with my own children, it is something i think about, and if i have the choice, i think i will let my children be the ones who get to go to the library, and we might do some home schooling with religious views and excursions to show LOTS of varying ideas!

SB

[mrsmac]

Most schools only have scripture which is taught by outsiders once a week. Usually they have Catholic and protestant but different schools may ahve others as well, our school has Bahai, and another school had a jewish class- it depends on the school and their different needs and availiability of someone to teach.
My DD in Year 3 is studying people and their beliefs so they are learning about all the major religions as part of HSIE (Social studies)
Basically, public schools don't teach religion as such.

[Pandora]

i didnt realise government schools had any sort of RE.
If I chose to send DS to a state school he would not go to RE clases unless it covered different religions, not just one - if I wanted that I'd send him to a religios school.

[Bathsheba]

Hi, I know you specified public schools but I thought I'd mention that even if you send your child to a private school of a particular denomination they still may teach about all religions. My DD has attended 2 Anglican schools and both have taught about all the world's major religions. I think this is great We attend a Uniting Church (Christian) on Sundays and even there the minister teaches a little about other religions... he tells the congregation about significant religious days for Jewish, Buddist faiths each on a regular basis. I think this is really important. It really fosters tolerance and understanding.

[Heaven]

I went to an Anglican Private school. We had prayer in homeroom and prayers and hymns during assembly but in religion class we learnt about all the major religions of the world.

[Bathsheba]

That sounds similar to what my DD has SJ. I think it's great. When I was a child in the 1970's public schools where I lived still taught some prayers like the Lord's Prayer (Our Father who art in Heaven...) and a little prayer of grace said before eating (Thank you God for the food we eat...) I still remember them to this day. Things you learn as a child really stick hey? In times of stress I sometimes say the Lord's Prayer to myself... it helps to calm me down. I hope that my children will learn a few off by heart too.

[Heaven]

I really liked it too. And I'm like you, still remember them by heart. I often say the lords prayer.

[Tam78]

I'm a trained Primary teacher although now a SAHM, Most of the state schools I taught in had RE and it was always run by local churches, most were christian but others were JW's or muslims I think it depends on the churches in the area and whether they consider it an important thing to give their time to.

[robbo3]

My DS's school (public) has religion for 1 hour a week. They have Christian and Catholic, they are run by the local churches. I don't like the idea of someone else (especially someone untrained or focused on their particular faith) teaching my child about religion.

I am aiming to teach him a broader range of RELIGIONS/FAITHS rather then a specific denomination, iykwim. Both DH and myself are non religious.

So obviously my DS does not attend school scripture....he has supervised free time with some other non scripture kids, where they do puzzles, draw etc.

[Kitt3n]

My DD's Public School has scripture - Catholic, Prodestant, Hindu, Buddhism and a couple of others ( i really cant remember which ones!! )

Each year, at the beginning of the year they are required to select one scripture for the year and stick with it. So far she has done Prodestant, Buddhism and this year she is doing Catholic. Next year will be Hindu.

This is one of the main reasons that i love her school.

We are not religious but i think it is very important for her to be exposed to as many religions as possible so that if she does decide to follow any religions when she grows up she will be unbiased in her selection.