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Original poster

Non-religious state school requires Religious Studies at GCSE

59 replies

chillberry · 21/05/2021 10:37

One of the non-religious state secondaries we're looking at requires Religious Studies at GCSE. This seems quite surprising and a bit disappointing tbh.

We're not a religious family, but we talk about respecting those who are religious and about the importance of learning about different religions and belief (or non-belief) systems. We don't mind the approach to RE at primary level, as our school is very inclusive. However, I'm not that keen on our DC being given no choice about pursuing RS at GCSE when they could be choosing other subjects that are of more interest to them.

I'm waiting to hear back from the school as to whether there's any flexibility around it, but would be curious about what others think. We didn't grow up in the British school system, so I'm wondering how common this is. No other similar school sin our London area require it.

OP posts:
Zandathepanda · 21/05/2021 10:56

Religion isn’t an ebac subject. I don’t know anyone except the government who cares about ebac. However it does reduce other options at ALevel if you couldn’t swap it for one you’d rather do at gcse that then you find you need for the A Level.
Historically, schools have done it because it ticks the PSHE boxes and it is an ‘add on’ to that. However, it’s now more detailed and is a waste of timetable space for those who then can’t study something else.

Waspie · 21/05/2021 10:54

My son's school does RS GCSE too. Although it's not really RS, it's more philosophy , theology and ethics. He finds it very interesting. We are atheists.

paralysedbyinertia · 21/05/2021 10:52

I would be annoyed about this. I mean, it's to be expected at a faith school, but if you choose a non-religious school, I wouldn't expect RE to be compulsory at GCSE level. I'm all in favour of teaching children about other religions, as it's important to understand other people's beliefs and practices, but I wouldn't want RE taking up a spot that could be used for another subject which my child found more interesting.

kerbearr · 21/05/2021 10:49

I done religion for gcse and a level, and it's not all about religion most of it was ethics, abortion, euthanasia etc and discussing the pros and cons for them. It was a great subject to take on, although when I done it was a choice to choose it.

YesThisIsMe · 21/05/2021 10:47

I think the point is that because RE is a compulsory subject for the school to teach (although not for the pupils to attend) they actually can’t spend the time teaching anything the pupils would be more interested in.

ineedaholidaynow · 21/05/2021 10:44

I thought most schools did this

jendifer · 21/05/2021 10:43

The school I used to work at did this as it counted as an e-bac subject but was more accessible for students than doing both history and geography

HasaDigaEebowai · 21/05/2021 10:43

It’s quite common. Actually RS is a great GCSE. Lots of debating and discussion about ethics and morals. Fab for a career in something like law for example.

SleepingStandingUp · 21/05/2021 10:40

If it's in a v diverse area, perhaps they see this as a way of entrenching understanding and respect of other religions and ways of life?