Non-religious state school requires Religious Studies at GCSE

My dd chose RS as a GCSE and loved it (2 years ago) - she found it relatively easy and really enjoyed the discussions. They did Christianity and Islam as their main religions. My ds didn't choose it but wishes he had as the amount of content would have been less than history and geography (both of which he did do).
But most of my friends' children attend other state schools and have it as a requirement. Because they have to do an hour a week by law those schools see it as "well you might as well get a qualification out of it" I think.

Our agreed syllabus is detailed and makes it clear that school must be transparent about how they deliver the curriculum, that progress of dc can be assessed and parents receive a report on progress in the subject. Therefore the fact you did not know who was in the classroom for this subject would not have met the criteria in my LA. It’s also a very wide curriculum for all key stages and certainly goes beyond details about a religion although for young DC that is included. It should never be “do as I do and believe in my beliefs”.

I teach religious studies, its not even just learning the main religions its more about WHY and HOW we study religion!

LA don’t sign off what individuals schools do but they do agree a curriculum. Letting in people like that was the decision of the head and should be completely avoided! A teacher can teach the RE curriculum. You don’t need to bring in a time to promote religion.

Not compulsory at DC school. Whish it was instead of English literature (why do they need to have read Shakespeare?)

They taught the full curriculum about all religions and I wasn't aware they were evangelical Christians until some of the parents sent their kids to the summer day camps they ran and one of them was suggesting the children go to his church.

Though asked the kids about the lessons and they said the lessons were fine, there was no recruitment in those and it was signed off by LA etc. DS did get obsessed with religion when they were there and declared he was half Christian and half Muslim and would have a Muslim wife . I wasn't concerned as kids were always with me and lessons seemed fine but the holiday club I don't think they should have been allowed to promote, it also wasn't clear it was a religious holiday club. Though I think its generally just a Christian organisation and our person was evangelical but was odd. School was great otherwise (they gave DS a full-time TA out of their budget for a couple of years) and you don't get a choice in state schools in reality for primary at least by us.

It would not fit .... (not woke!)

I would have removed dc if evangelical Christians turned up in school. That’s simply not acceptable. Here, it woke to fit with the agreed syllabus for primary RE either.

It's compulsory in our non-religious state school and only about one person a year manages to opt-out.

It is the 0.5 GCSE which is compulsory taken in year 10 but if you take the full GCSE you don't take the half so do half less but its out of an option choice. They also have to do 1 ebacc humanity so history or geography. The 0.5 GCSE course is full of kids who don't want to be there but the full course is better as its those who opted for it. DD opted for full course to avoid the disruptive behaviour and to keep her GCSEs down to 11. She enjoys the ethics part but its not a subject she would have chosen normally but it is good for writing skills.

Our school have 4 options but they do more GCSEs than normal. History or geography and RE and double or triple science (ability based) and maths and 2 English are compulsory. Then the options need to be from 3 different groups and only subjects previously studied if a y8 option. It's not taught in a pro-religion way at all, our primary taught like that and had evangelical Christians in to teach it (DS much preferred it there but DD prefers secondary approach), but secondary is very questioning about religions at our school.

If you did manage to secure an opt-out at our school nothing is timetabled at the same time.

My DDs went to a small independent school and didn’t get a huge choice of gcse subjects. The school was better for it! They could have done arts subjects though which are often cut by state schools. And several
MFLs were offered. However subjects which you don’t need to study prior to A level such as economics, politics and sociology were not offered.

The way our local outstanding secondary school continues to provide a quality education was by reducing choice of subjects for Gcse snd A level - full classes are cheaper - it’s a crap but inevitable response from schools who have no other choice - the Gov have a lot to answer for but the idiots keep voting for them believing we can squeeze more value from the system - but there are casualties- are they worth it?

I can think of two or three schools local to me, at least one highly rated, where students basically have one free choice. I don't think this is a good thing btw. But the compulsory RS is rarely using up an option IME.

My DC had two choices but that's because triple science is allocate on ability rather than being an option.

I wouldn't dismiss or be fearful that RE will indoctrinate your DC into some faith or that it pushes them towards a particular belief. From my DCs experiences it is one of the most relevant and engaging subjects which helps them understand the wider world. There is little scope or time for discussing topical issues in other subjects in the same way. Having a broader understanding of the world, society and different religious beliefs is hugely important as are skills learned in essay writing and critical thinking which also help with other subjects especially at A Level.

Contessa My DD did RE GCSE this year. Really interesting.

8 topics:

• Christian beliefs
• Christian practices
• Muslim beliefs
• Muslim practices
• Relationships
• Life
• Peace & conflict
• Crime & punishment

Plus i wonder how many people eulogising over RE gcse and the ethical debates actually have experience of the new curriculum?
It is much less interesting according to my RE teacher colleague.

You need to find out if the RE gcse reduces their options.

My kids are at a faith school, with compuls RE, and once they decided to do 3 sciences and were forced to pick hist/ geog and a lang, they had 1 option which was an actual choice.

When a pp says only the govt care about ebacc, actually that means schools care. A lot, that’s why they think it’s fine to restrict choices as above.

My kids cant wait for a level when they can just do subjects they are interested in.

I’m as atheist as you’ll get and my kids feel the same way - both did RE for GCSE, I quite liked the idea because they still need to understand what they don’t believe in. Very little effort involved and one got a 9 and the other an 8. Apparently atheists find it easier to do well in RE.

I think it’s quite an easy one to get good grades in so it’s good for the school’s Ofsted statistics, and for the students’ progression. I wouldn’t stress about it: it’s an inclusive syllabus and good for broadening knowledge, IMO.

I've been won round to RS. My preconceptions were similar to yours OP but both my atheist children have loved studying it with their atheist teacher and it's a hugely popular GCSE choice at their school. The ethics part of the curriculum is a big draw, but also learning about Islam is very relevant to understanding and interpreting current events. I think it'll help them grow into tolerant adults who can see things from others' point of view.

In the late 80s I learned a lot about the second world war, and that was v relevant to the current affairs of the day, such as the Cold War. I think you could make an argument that RS can hold a similar role today. Plus there's even more emphasis on discussion and debate than there is in history. RS seems very different in different schools, but at our secular state school it's unrecognisable compared with how it was when I was at school, and I think it's a really strong choice. But, I know that's easy for me to say when it's not compulsory.

It’s compulsory at my DDs school for a full GCSE qualification, except if you are doing triple science then you can drop it.
DD is doing triple science but she still has 1 RE lesson a fortnight but she won’t earn a qualification for it.

Also worth adding that all schools have to teach some RE in Key Stage 4, so at least by doing the GCSE they get a qualification out of it. My kids' school actually does the GCSE in year 10 and gets it out the way before year 11. It"s good practice for the following year.

It wasn't compulsory for DS but he did do the GCSE. He found it very interesting - it explores the 'major' religions and there's a fair amount of philosophy/debate. I likes the way is encouraged discussions in class about all sorts of topics.

@chillberry check with the school as to whether it is the full GCSE or just the short course version. The latter doesn't have any of the religious practice elements. It has one module that compares and contrasts two religions (ours did Christianity and Islam, which I don't think anyone could argue isn't useful in today's society) and another module looking at ethics - ours chose the ethics of war and conflict and also relationships and families. In the ethics modules they look at the standpoint of different religions and also non religious views, and are encouraged to express their own views too.

We're atheists and I have no problem with my children doing this course. In fact Humanists UK advocate good quality RE which includes none-religious world views. We need to understand other people even if we don't agree with them.

For my Y11 DC, GCSE RS was one double lesson a fortnight. It's the 11th GCSE because DC has done triple science.

Ours does a compulsory half GCSE. It's because they have to teach the subject anyway so the kids may as well get a qualification out out. Of course it's not really compulsory -you can withdraw from RE totally if you feel strongly about it but they won't get another subject to replace it. My daughter's friend who doesn't do RE just sits in the library during RE lessons.