Religious Studies is compulsory at GCSE?!

[AnnaK]

DS is in Yr 8 and is choosing his options. RE is a compulsory GCSE subject. He hates it! And surely it is illegal? According to the Gov.uk website children can be pulled out of it in KS3.

DS is super bright, expected grades ranging from 7 to 9 in all subjects and would rather concentrate on something useful to his future.

Any thoughts on how to proceed? I really do not want him wasting his time on RE when it could be better spent elsewhere.

Many thanks!

Would just like to say as an RE teacher I found this thread to be a really great read - nice to see so many positive attitudes to my subject! We do still suffer from prejudice that is quite underserved from "the past" so it is great to see lots of support!

I loved my RE teacher katurah she was the best, always had her office open for any pupil who needed a break from the rest of the school (quite often you'd find the 'naughty' ones in there doing their class work quietly away from the influence of their class) and she always had time for a chat.

At dds school everyone has to do it in year 10 and 11 for an hour. The more academic kids do a gcse, the others just have a lesson.

Dd loves it and is doing it for a level hopefully. Def more of a philosophy and ethics imho than religion.

You seem to have a complete misunderstanding of the curriculum. It's not about learning about religion per se. it's learning about the impact of religion in our cultures and societies.

The fact that your DS is very bright has nothing to do. DD is very bright too, studied triple sciences, and computer sciences, get As in all, and now studying Maths, Further Maths, Biology and Chemistry for a A levels. She chose RE as a GCSE and she said she probably learnt more about life with this course than all the other combined.

We are not a religious family, ironically, couldn't be more non practicing! I can't think of anyone in our family practice a faith, however, DD and DS are being brought up to respect people's different attitudes and diversity and I think that RE is the best subject to learn to be respectful of others around us.

DD wants to study medicine and become a doctor. One of the attributes medical schools are looking for in candidates is an understanding of Ethics. Having studied RE will give her an edge from that perspective.

I would highly value a school that makes RE compulsive!

Katurah, don't you think that the title for the course is an issue though? When DD said she wanted to take it as a GCSE, especially considering her school wouldn't allow any pupil, even the brightest to take more, I was quite taken by surprised as indeed, she has never expressed an interest in taking up religion. Like many, I assumed RE was about the teaching of the different religions from a faith perspective. It's not until DD described the curriculum that I realised it was more about philosophy, psychology and sociology all combined in one and an extremely valuable subject, especially when combined with science.

Which reminds me, DD said that there was quite a lot of overlaps between Biology and RE, as there was with PE.

I love how you keep reiterating how bright he is. Like some subjects are beneath him and only less able students should do them while he has the entire timetable rewritten around him.

And you do realise that kids with an arts / humanities / languages background have to do at least two science GCSEs don't you? Do you think my dd (who loathes science and has no intention if a career in anything vaguely scientific) should be given special dispensation as well? (As it happens she got 2As and just got on with it)

It don't kill him. It's an "extra" gcse, and once he's in 6th form nobody gives s stuff that his GCSEs were in anyway.

I suppose it depends which you think would be 'better for his future' - either being able to produce a balanced argument about tricky moral issues or being able to set up a spreadsheet in excel.