Compulsory RE GCSE

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My daughter has been given a place at a C of E secondary. It was not any of our choices and is taking the 'unplaced' children.

I'm sure it will be fine, except for the fact that RE appears to be a compulsory GCSE.

We are not religious at all and don't want her to be forced to take this as one of her options.

What can we do? Is it ever taken into account when appealing a school place?

GCSE RE is about different religions and philosophies, it's actually quite interesting. No requirement to practice a particular religion.

There was a dust-up recently on the Don't Go To School thread where the bloke said that half the stuff that schools teach is useless and they should teach vital life skills instead. Someone then went on to explain that a lot of those vital life skills were actually the RE syllabus (if he had been listening).
So RE teaches about different religions (i.e. covers Christianity and Islam and Bhuddism and ...) not 'how to be CofE'. It also covers lots of ethics (abortion, euthanasia, etc).
It's a bigger and better subject than phobics give it credit for.

Thank you, that's made me feel better.

It's the CofE aspect I'm uncomfortable with more than the RE I suppose.

It discusses ethical and philosophical issues form differing religious viewpoints, so isn't pushing one or another but more for debate and comparisons.

I used to be about the compulsory RE GCSE DD1 has to do, but that was because her teacher at the time was someone who saw her classroom as a recruiting ground for her particular branch of evangelical Christianity - no dissenting voices tolerated. I was on the verge of a formal complaint when the news got out she was 'retiring' at the end of the year.

Now she's in Yr9 and RE is one of her favourite subjects, it's very debate and essay-focused and her teacher comes from an ethics/philosophy background. It will really support her other essay-based subjects - English and History.

Lots of schools have compulsory RE GCSE.The syllabus is actually very varied and interesting and if more people had even just a vague understanding of some of the things it covers the, world would be improved no end IMO.

However, I'm not sure how that would sit with a CofE school and suspect that they will get plenty of Christian teaching on top of or before they start the GCSE syllabus.

RE is a compulsory GCSE at my dd's school too, and it is not a faith school. I'm not particularly happy about it but I'm just saying that going to a non-faith school isn't a guarantee that she won't have to take RE as one of her GCSE options.

I believe RE is compulsory up to and inc Year 11. It's whether or not it's done as a gcse where the difference is. There's an argument if you're doing the class time you may as well get the qualification.

Dd enjoys it and it seems to be more ethics than religion. euthanasia, China and one child policy, etc.

Nothing to do with it being a faith school. All pupils have to study RE (unless parents specifically withdraw them) and therefore a lot of schools up and down the country go with the principle that, as you are studying it anyway, then you might as well get an exam for it.
I've never met a teen who doesn't find it really interesting though. To stop all this angst on MN, they probably should just rename it 'Philosphy and Ethics' as that is what it's actually about. Yes, they do study how different religious groups take their stance on various arguments, but that's all sorts of religions, (incl humanist) not just CofE

Check on the syllabus being used as it can make a huge difference. There are still some hideously evangelical ones being used in faith schools or it might be more multi-religion with some ethics and philosophy mixed in. In neither case would we indulge the pretence that it was a subject worth taking but the latter is the lesser evil. Do NOT assume it is philosophy and ethics though as it might well not be. Kids in NI have to contend with this rubbish:

www.deni.gov.uk/re_core_syllabus_pdf.pdf

Viva, it isn't compulsory but parents have to actively "opt out". DS stopped studying it after Y9 when he started his GCSE course. He has no lessons and won't do the GCSE.

Having said that, as others have said, it is way more than just "religion", and the Ethics and Philosophy parts of the syllabus are really quite interesting. Unfortunately it didn't fit with what DS wanted to do.

roguedad thank you for raising this - parents do need to be aware of the curriculum their DCs will be taught. Ask, ask, ask.

Fortunately our schools teaches one that is focused on philosophy and ethics as much as religion.

I think all state schools teach some sort of Philosophy/Ethics until the end of Y11, even if the students aren't entered for a qualification at the end of it.

My DDs are at a faith school and still did the Philosophy and Ethics curriculum. It's a really good course and they both enjoyed it.

I thought the syllabus was set by the National Curriculum these days? www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-religious-studies

Religious Education is in strange position. It is compulsory that is taught up to 18 in sixth forms but parents can choose to opt out. If opting out of RE they will also be opting out of assemblies ect. RE is not on the national curriculum but there will be a locally agreed syllabus which most schools will follow. The local syllabus is often representative of the major religions and issues in the area but most schools with cover the big six religions.

As it is compulsory many schools make the GCSE compulsory. In this case if you withdraw your child they will not bee able to do another subject and it is not possible to schools to teach a class of one.

GCSE RS must cover at least two religions.

Tiggy, I can confirm that Y10 DS has NO lessons in RS, Ethics, or anything else similar. At his state secondary they can completely opt out of RS. It isn't a church school so there's no religious assembly anyway.

Cointreau what does he do during the Philosophy/Ethics/whatever the school calls them lessons? Does he have a supervised study period?

I was a bit about RE because it is compulsory at DD's school. But I have been pleasantly surprised at what she has covered so far in her coursework. It is actually a combined RE/Citizenship course and it teaches the students about many topical subjects and covers issues like addiction, sexuality, politics, crime etc as well as different religions.

Her teacher is doing a good job at broadening DD's mind.

No, it's just not in his timetable. Not doing the 2 periods of RS frees up the time for something else. It means he can do full GCSE in Computer Science.

He doesn't sit about twiddling his thumbs while the rest of the year study RS. About 20% of the year opt out.

I'm atheist, but did RS for both GCSE and then A-Level. Absolutely fascinating stuff, and really helped develop my critical thinking skills.

I don't think opting out of RE/Citizenship is an option at DD's school because there wouldn't be anything to replace it, and there is no-one to supervise them for private study.

There are 2 different GCSEs.
One is RE - half a GCSE and covers different religions. I don't know if it's available as a full course.
The other is a full course of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics. (far more interesting)

DCs school is another where RE is a module option for GCSE.
Those who choose not to take it do another subject in that slot.

And the National Curriculum is a red herring as Academies are not required to follow it.