Topic: Relationships

The View from the Classroom – Abortion – What is an abortion? What does the law say about abortion? What are your opinions about it? Students from Key Stages 4 and 5 in schools all around the country give us the view from the classroom.

Advice about pregnancy and abortion can be found at the following sites:

Childline

Brook

Marie Stopes

NUPAS (National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service)

Curriculum Mapping

TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:

AQA

Component 2: Thematic studies:Theme B: Religion & Human Life - The origins and value of human life - Religious teachings, beliefs and attitudes about abortion, including situations when the mother’s life is at risk.

Edexcel

Area of Study 1 - Section 4: Matters of Life and Death - Implications of the religious teachings about the value and sanctity of life for the issue of abortion.

OCR

Religion, philosophy and ethics in the modern world:Freedom of expression • Freedom of practice • Equality in society • The value of human life •Self-determination - Potential clashes between religious teachings and scientific development in medical ethics, including: • abortion

WJEC

PART B -Theme 1: Issues of Life and Death - The origin and value of human life

Eduqas

Component 1 (Route A):Religious, Philosophical and Ethical Studies in the Modern World: Theme 2: Issues of Life and Death: The origin and value of human life.

Transcript

The View from the Classroom – Abortion

An abortion is a removal of a foetus.

A foetus is a developing unborn child.

So the law says about abortion that you have to have two doctors approval.

An abortion is only legal up to 24 weeks.

Personally, I believe it should be more like 5 to 10 weeks because, sort of at 24 weeks, the child's already started to properly develop into a person.

If a pregnancy is 40 weeks and then 24 weeks is just a bit over halfway, then a baby who's after that point will have developed most of the way and could be seen as a person.

I think it should be lengthened a bit because it's a really big decision. It's life changing and to me, 24 weeks in the grand scheme of things is nothing. So I think it should be lengthened to give people more time to think about what they really, really want and to consider different options.

But if it was longer, it might be more difficult for the person who is having the baby and it could hurt them more. The operation and stuff could be more difficult to do.

Well, at the core of it, just deciding that I don't want the child is essentially murder in a sense of that, you just deciding that you want to end the life of this child because it'd be an inconvenience to you.

I don't think abortion is murder as such. It's more like the baby hasn't been born, so if it can't survive out of the mother's womb, then you can't really be murdered, can it? Because the baby would die. Like anyway.

If you define as being life, I suppose you'd have to consider it being the same as a full a fully grown human. So I don't go as far as say it's murder, but it's, to me, you'd have to consider it to be the same thing.

I don't see it as killing personally, because it hasn't lived, it's not, it won't remember because the memory isn't developed then. So no, I don't see it as killing.

Well, but in the pregnancy, the baby is moving and you can kick and stuff, so it kind of is alive.

Is a foetus in the womb, a living thing, or is it, does it become alive when it's born?

Personally, I believe life starts when a baby is born.

I think life begins when, like the child is born, when it comes into the world.

That's when you can see the the child, hold the child, and then you can realise that that child is yours and then has its own rights.

I think really the life starts after you're born.

I think life begins when you have a heartbeat. Just because you're not born yet doesn't mean that you're not alive.

I think that life begins when, if, when the baby can survive without the mother's help, so it could, it could be born early and it could be like, maybe put in, like an incubator and it could survive.

I definitely don't think life starts right at conception where the sperm meets the egg. I think it's probably when the baby becomes self-aware and starts sucking its thumb.

If it can kick, that means it's alive.

To me, when that sperm touches the egg that is a baby, to me, that is a life to me already. Like, I believe in, like the body and the soul as two separate things, so that is a soul in there already, to me.

I believe life begins when the sperm meets the egg.

Even though it's not really breathing and everything on its own. It's still alive and it's still growing. And that's the living thing.

I think it's still life because you're still being created. You're in the process of becoming someone.

What makes the difference between a minute before it's born and a minute after it's born?

I would think a religious person would say that it's, it's a God's choice who's born and who's not. So, I can't just change God's decision.

Catholics believe sex is for procreation, and if you are to have sex, then you should allow whatever the outcome is. And have an abortion means that you're stopping, like, God's way.

Playing God is like someone does something and, like, it's like they're doing something that's not natural.

To me life comes from God, and he puts people on the Earth for reasons, to help other people, to make the world a better place.

We shouldn't get the choice to choose who lives and who dies, because ultimately it isn't up to us.

It's linked in with the sanctity of life. In essence, that life is so precious to us.

God created children like babies for a reason, and he created everyone for a reason.

What I believe is that life has a meaning behind it.

When we were growing up, we were taught that God is the one that gives us life, and God is the one that takes away life.

Islam thinks that abortions are murder most of the time. However, if it's for the greater good, for example, if the mother was to be ill, if she had the child, then it's allowed to have an abortion.

Usually Sikhs are pro-life and they would say to, go to not, um, abort.

Pro-Life is when someone believes that the woman should not have the choice to have an abortion because-

the foetus has the right to live.

Pro-Choice is when you think that a woman should have a decision in whether she has a child or not.

Abortion shouldn't be used as a form of contraception because there's already a living life form, whereas contraception is used to prevent a living life form from being created.

I feel like if you don't want to get pregnant, then try not to get pregnant. Don't just be like, oh, I'll have an abortion.

If a teenager or someone in a relationship get pregnant unplanned and they abort it, it's bad because they should have planned ahead instead of killing the, like, baby that's not even been born yet.

I think, like, abortion shouldn't be allowed. If you can't take care of your baby, then you should put them up for adoption.

I think it's a bit selfish for you to decide that you're going to abort a child just because you don't want it.

I think it's fundamentally wrong because it is killing a new life, and I don't think, I don't think that's okay, except in some cases you need to.

Such as in the cases of, um, incest, rape, or in the case of when the child will be born, it will either result in the death of the mother or the child.

I think it depends on the situation. Like if the, like, mother was too young or wasn't healthy to give birth, then it should be allowed to have an abortion.

I think that a woman should have the right to decide whether she wants to abort.

I think that abortion should be totally the woman's choice, because it's her that's going to have to carry it, her that is going to have to actually give birth to it.

I think most of the time, yeah, it should be the woman's choice because she's the one giving up her body and she's the one going through all these changes. And although a man might say that they can understand it, they really can't, and even other women can't understand it until they've been through it themselves.

I don't think anyone should be able to stop someone from doing it, because it's their decision and it's their body.

You shouldn't choose if other people should have an abortion. If you're against it, don't abort your own children. Simple as that.

The View from the Classroom – Abortion

Video length - 07.07

Published date - Sep 2019

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

Downloadable resources

The View from the Classroom – Intermarriage – What is intermarriage, and what do you think about it? Students from Key Stages 4 and 5 in schools all around the country give us the view from the classroom.

Curriculum Mapping

TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:

AQA

Component 2: Thematic studies:Theme A: Relationships and families: Sex, marriage and divorce - The nature and purpose of marriage.

Edexcel

Area of Study 1 - Section 2 - Sex, marriage and divorce - the significance of marriage in religious life; religious teachings about marriage.

OCR

Component Group 2–Religion,philosophy and ethics in the modern world from a religious perspective - relationships and families - religious teachings about the nature and purpose of families in the 21st century, sex, marriage, cohabitation and divorce. Issues related to the nature and purpose of families; roles of men and women; equality; gender prejudice and discrimination.

WJEC

PART B- Theme 1: Issues of Relationships

Eduqas

Component 1 (Route A):Religious, Philosophical and Ethical Studies in the Modern World : Theme 1: Issues of Relationships:Relationships

Transcript

The View from the Classroom – Intermarriage

Intermarriage is when

two people of a different background, for example

different religions,

cultures,

races

or nationalities come together and

marry each other.

I think intermarriage is a good thing. I mean, I'm technically from intermarriage, so my mom is from Zambia and then my dad was British English.

My dad is Welsh, and he was born in Swansea. And he- my mum is Brazilian.

My mom's African and my dad's from Kent.

I think it's a good thing for me that I have parents of different nationalities, because I feel like I have an open mind because of it. I like that because, you know, leaves stuff for possibility.

Oh, I 100% think it's really healthy for society to have all of these different religions and ethnicities and all, like, mingling together because it's, it's it makes it more lively.

In some sense, intermarriage would be confusing on children, because if you had a child and you had two religions in that family, you can't really mix them together, because that's obviously then against your religion in some sense.

It might be confusing for the children because the child may need to pick like what type of religion, what type of path to follow. If he wants to follow the father, if he wants to follow the mother.

Problems that intermarriage might cause for the kids, maybe, uh, they're stuck between two cultures. But it also can be good, because it might bring in more opinions about different cultures and help them improve as a person as well, because it might be different ideas they might take in from different religions and put them all together and make a good person.

Some people might be against, um, intermarriage because they feel like they racially won't be pure.

It could be family influences.

Because of religion and culture.

I think that some people may be against intermarriage as they believe that people should stay within what people like to call their own kind.

I think people are scared of the change. They don't want to have something different because it's not what they know.

If you were like, say, a strong Christian, it might be hard for you to accept the practice of, like, what a Muslim would do.

There will always be a problem when it comes to marriage, like, obviously when it comes to, like if she was a Muslim, she has to pray five times a day, she's not allowed to eat pork, she's not allowed to drink, like to smoke. If I'm choosing to marry the woman I love, I will have to believe what she believes in as well. And, like, not saying I will be a Muslim as well. I will still be Buddhist, however I will, I will understand why she does what she has to do.

In Islam, if you are going to marry someone from a different religion, then the child has to follow the man's religion.

I disagree with the fact that men are allowed to marry someone out of faith, and we're not. I think from back in the days it's all changed.

I don't think it matters if I married someone of a different religion, because if I love them, that's all that matters. I would want to have a Muslim wedding because it's my background and I love being a Muslim. I wouldn't mind also doing their way but incorporating it with mine.

I think intermarriage is neither good or bad. I think it's just two people marrying each other for love.

I feel like everyone should have the choice to like and get married to anyone they want. They shouldn't have to conform to 'Oh, you can only marry, you know, your own religion or your own race'. I feel like the world would be a very boring place if that were to happen.

I think intermarriage is happening much more these days, since it's much, it's much, like, widely accepted in today's society. I think it's a sign of healthy society.

I think intermarriage is a good thing because it brings communities together. It brings everyone together. Um, and it lets, it lets us learn the differences between everyone else. And it, it could end racism.

I think it's a sign of a healthy society if we have intermarriage, because it's showing that we have diversity and that we accept everyone for who they are, and we don't think of someone as Muslim or Christian. We think of them as a human and that person's personality.

The View from the Classroom – Intermarriage

Video length - 04.25

Published date - Sep 2019

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

Downloadable resources

The View from the Classroom – Euthanasia – What is euthanasia, and what do you think about it? Students from Key Stages 4 and 5 in schools all around the country give us the view from the classroom.

Curriculum Mapping

TrueTube films are designed for use in a number of ways. Some ideas of where this film could link to your curriculum are below:

AQA

Component 2: Thematic studies:Theme B: Religion and life:The origins and value of human life -Religious teachings, beliefs and attitudes about euthanasia. Religious teachings, beliefs and attitudes about euthanasia.

Edexcel

Area of Study 1 - Beliefs in action– Religion and Ethics- Matters of Life and Death - Implications of religious teachings about the value and sanctity of life for the issue of euthanasia.

OCR

WJEC

PART B -Theme 1: Issues of Life and Death --The origin and value of human life

Eduqas

Component 1 (Route A):Religious, Philosophical and Ethical Studies in the Modern World: Theme 2: Issues of Life and Death: The origin and value of human life. Theme 3: Life and Death:Death and the afterlife.

Transcript

The View from the Classroom – Euthanasia

Euthanasia is ending your life because you have an illness or a medical condition which you do not want to live with.

Euthanasia means assisted suicide. Um, when times are tough, maybe when the quality of life isn't great.

I know it's used a lot in vets. When an animal is in a lot of pain, or simply just won't live for long, rather than prolonging the pain, they'll just injection and done.

A terminal disease is when you're going to die from it in the end anyways.

Someone who's terminally ill might want euthanasia, because they won't get better, so they see it as, I can't do these things that I would like to do, and it's too much pain to live, so they choose to die instead.

Active euthanasia is where someone has used something to help a certain patient die. So for instance, a lethal injection would be active euthanasia.

In England it's not legal, I know that. Usually most people go to Switzerland.

And then passive is where-

people are allowed to die. So maybe switching off the life support machine, um, when they're suffering or very ill, they're not going to recover.

Voluntary euthanasia is where you know what's going to happen to you and you say that you want this happening.

And non-voluntary euthanasia is where another person made the decision for them, for them to die. So, for instance, a doctor or family member.

I don't really agree with it, because I think that you shouldn't end your life just because of like maybe if you're paralysed then you could still live maybe 40 years.

Quality of life is when you have a good life and you feel like you can do the things you want to do and capable of doing those things.

If the quality of life isn't good, I'd want them to have, um, you know, a nice ending to their life. Instead of being in pain, suffering.

Dying with dignity, is like, they want to go to euthanasia because they want to die before they get to a stage where they're no longer able to do things themselves, and they have to have other people to do it for them. So say, if you couldn't even, like, wash yourself and stuff like that, maybe that's classified as not being dignified.

Some people, they can't walk, some people can't do normal, everyday things that people take for granted.

If you have your family support and it's not, you're not undignified, are you? Because they're just looking out for you and helping you come through, like, your illness.

I think euthanasia should be allowed because it's their life, so they should be able to choose when they die.

I think that you're kind of wasting your life just because you want to end it, because it's too hard. But I think there's a lot of things that, like you could, that could help that, there's like groups that you go to. I think that going to euthanasia is kind of just taking the easy option.

I believe in the sanctity of life.

Sanctity of life is like how some Christians and Muslims believe God gave you that life, and only he has the right to take it away.

I think God gave us life, and we are not the ones that should be taking away our own lives.

In the Quran it says that you shouldn't. Only God has a decision to take a life and I'm not God.

This is where I will say I'm not a true Buddhist because when it comes to my religion, killing is very bad and especially when you kill yourself, that is the worst thing you could possibly do. But personally I believe it is your choice.

I think that people should let God decide when they die. He created us, that means he's gonna decide when he ends our life, because if you've been good all your life, Christians believe that you will go to heaven. Um, but if you decide to commit suicide or get assisted suicide you're gonna go to hell.

Euthanasia shouldn't be allowed, because, I'm a religious man, in the law of God, like you are still taking your own life, so it's classed as murder. So if you was to commit euthanasia, you wouldn't really have much to look forward to, because that's probably the biggest sin.

Well, it's not full out murder because they want to die and they're not living the life that they want to live.

If a cure was found after a person had had euthanasia, it wouldn't be so great because the family would be in more grief. They'd be thinking that the person would still be there with them when they've wasted their life. So that wouldn't be great in my opinion, that would be one of the negatives to euthanasia.

I think euthanasia should be allowed, but it should definitely be be their choice.

It's going to be checked by psychologists and people who know about that. So it's going to go through a series of tests to know if the person is mentally well for that. So it's not going to just be a spur of the moment thing.

If they're not mentally stable, then the choice should be going to their closest family member.

It should be taken with caution because it might just be a split second decision. So I think one day you apply for euthanasia and in a month they ask you again, if you still want to end it, then you should be allowed to have that choice. But of course, multiple doctors should confirm that you are definitely going to die. There's no way around it.

I think that there's other alternatives to euthanasia, like hospices, because they, um, you can go there for like end of life treatments. That could be a lot easier on the family as well, because at least then they've got time to take in what's going to happen. And they know that eventually the family member is going to die, but then they're dying in a nice way and not just ending it by killing themselves.

Well, I think a hospice is is a really good thing, because if you're have a terminally terminal illness and you're going to die anyway, you want to be around people, or you might want to be around people, who know what you're going through, and who understand you and are doing the best that they can to try and make your death, I guess, as smooth as possible and as comfortable as possible. And they're just trying to do what is best for you.

The View from the Classroom – Euthanasia

Video length - 06.18

Published date - Sep 2019

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

Downloadable resources

Now I Can Breathe – It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask for it. You are not weak. You are strong.

Amina tells the story of how she was sexually harassed over several years by other pupils, and describes the work she is doing now to help teachers put a stop to sexual harassment in their schools.

A film by Adam Tyler

Created in collaboration with the Advocacy Academy

Winner of the Children’s Broadcasting category at the Sandford St Martin Awards 2020.

Winner of the Educational Film Award at the Learning On Screen Awards 2020.

Nominated for the Content for Change Award at the Children’s BAFTAs 2019.

Advice for young people about sexual harassment can be found at the following sites:

Childline

Safeline

Brook

…and teachers can find the government’s guidance about sexual harassment in schools here.

Now I Can Breathe

Video length - 08.55

Published date - Feb 2019

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

Downloadable resources

Life Growing Up – Part 4: Telling People – “It’s very hard telling people.”

This film, and three more like it, have been created using the true stories of young people with HIV, and performed by actors. What’s it like to find out you have HIV when you are a child? Part 4 – Telling People looks at what can happen when telling friends, or a boyfriend or girlfriend about having HIV. The films aim to raise awareness and understanding of the experiences and needs of young people living with HIV.

Courtesy of the Children’s HIV Association – and follow the link for more help and information.

Life Growing Up – Part 4: Telling People

Video length - 03.48

Published date - Feb 2019

Keystage(s) - 4

Me, Myselfie and I – John is falling behind at school, ignoring his mates and neglecting his girlfriend – all because he’s become obsessed with maintaining his online persona. He spends so much time on his phone, he eventually becomes trapped inside it. Literally.

A re-telling of the Greek myth of Narcissus for the social media age.

A film by Alastair Collinson.

Alastair was invited on to The Victoria Derbyshire Show to be part of a panel discussing social media’s impact on young people as a result of the film. Clips were featured on the show and on BBC World News.

Me, Myselfie and I

Video length - 11.59

Published date - Jan 2019

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

An Untold Story – Robyn is a young filmmaker from a small town in Scotland. She is used to telling other people’s stories, but has never put her own on camera. So in this film, she describes how she came to realise that she was gay, the initial shame she felt (and was made to feel) before proudly accepting herself for who she is.

An Untold Story

Video length - 08.50

Published date - Jan 2019

Keystage(s) - 4

Shermeen – My Future. My Career. My RE. Shermeen is studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Warwick University, but she believes that studying RS at GCSE and A Level has helped her in her degree course. RS taught her to explore tough academic questions, how to construct complex arguments, and how to examine differing points of view and gain a new perspective on human behaviour.

Studying RE at GCSE and A Level provides you with important life skills, and offers opportunities in further education and a wide variety of careers. Watch the other MY FUTURE. MY CAREER. MY RE. films to hear more real stories about how Religious Studies benefits students and young professionals.

Shermeen – My Future. My Career. My RE.

Video length - 01.30

Published date - Oct 2018

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

Downloadable resources

Fine – Joe returns to school after his mother’s funeral, and has to cope with his bereavement surrounded by friends who don’t understand what he’s going through, and teachers who are unsure how to help him.

A film by Emily May Smith.

With thanks to Portsmouth Grammar School.

If someone close to you has died, or if a friend is trying to cope with the death of someone they knew, you can find support and guidance at Child Bereavement UK.

Fine

Video length - 10.31

Published date - Sep 2018

Keystage(s) - 3 and 4

Downloadable resources

One-to-One – James has been outed at school before he could come out on his own terms, and he’s afraid of what his parents will say when they discover he’s got a boyfriend. With everything getting too much for him, James visits his youthworker to talk it all out, one-to-one.

A short coming-of-age drama by Toby Lloyd and Conor Deedigan.

Nominated for the Teen Award at the Children’s BAFTAs 2019.