Can a school make Religious Studies GCSE compulsory? Can one withdraw?

[ParentOfOne]

One of the state, non-faith secondary schools we like makes GCSE in Religious Studies compulsory. This is in England.

It is not a deal breaker, but we would like to understand what the rules are.

At the open day, the school said that it's a national requirement. But that's not what the gov uk website says https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-3-and-4 , and indeed not all schools even offer RS GCSE. So did the school just lie to us? Not a great sign!

So the question becomes: can a school make RS GCSE compulsory, or can parents object?

I am all for kids learning about religions, but my reservations are:

• It may be more useful to take other subjects at GCSE; it is still possible to study RS in earlier years without using up a GCSE subject for it
• No one can know if our child will grow up to be religious or not, but she is the kind of person who brooks no bullshit. The teaching of RS can be dogmatic in some schools.
• It is fine to study other cultures and religious theories and preferences, but we should also call out what is backward and scientifically unfounded - e.g. when the Catholic Church said that the HIV virus can still pass through condoms, or when some fundamentalists think that evolution is wrong.
• My concern is therefore twofold: I worry that some of this nonsense might be taught as valid, rather than as un unsubstantiated theory, and I worry that, with her attitude, she would react very badly to the teaching of this nonsense. These concerns are based on the experiences of some friends, in non-faith state schools elsewhere.

I'm an atheist but religious education is a really interesting GCSE. Its basically history and philosophy and understanding differences.
It's also one of the 'buckets" fir the league tables so of they have RE teachers and no geography for example it makes sense to make it compulsory

I think your fears are unfounded. Certainly my DD's RE GCSE was very balanced and interesting.

Often it is the 'short course' gcse which is compulsory and it doesn't take up as much time as a full gcse.

Some schools are more 'flexible' than others re requirement to study RE, and make it easy for parents to withdraw. But others stick within the intention of the rules much more.

It was compulsory in DD’s interdenominational school right up to GCSE level unless a student’s parents gave a valid reason not to study it (excuses typically being that the student was Muslim or Atheist). These students had to study it up to Y9, then in the GCSE years they had a study period whilst the rest of the class was in RS.

To be perfectly honest it’s a very minor concern and definitely wouldn’t put me off a good school. DD didn’t enjoy or really gain anything from it but it was an easy A grade at GCSE. The course is more re: the philosophy of religion than anything else.

She had 6 other optional subjects alongside RS so it’s not as if she missed out because of it.

The school didn't lie, it is a requirement to offer RE up until y11- much like PE- so it will fill a block on the timetable, but it won't result in a GCSE. RE would likely be offered as an option in that scenario.

My experience of compulsory GCSE RE is that it isn't dogmatic at all in how it is taught in non-faith schools. (I'm not going to comment on the RE teaching in Catholic schools because it isn't relevant to your thread 🙃)

It's in addition to options in my school, not in place of.

Don't send your child to that school if you don't want them to do it. If you're talking about y7 entry too, there's a lot of time for things to change!

It would be a concern if she was missing out on another GCSE because of it.

It can indeed be a fascinating study if it is taught well and objectively - I would be wanting to talk with the school about how it is taught.

RS is much broader than comparative religions. Some timetabled RS is compulsory up to ks4 so schools often find it easier to include it as part of gcse course.

In my DC school they did it a year early almost as a practice GCSE. It was helpful as most children don't have it as a necessary GCSE so can afford not to do well, it's essay based so good practice and it gave them a real insight into what a GCSE exam was like but slightly lower stakes.
As a subject I think the construct of essays, debate etc is helpful and useful overall.

@Maddy70 I may have been unclear, but I tried to say that I absolutely see the merit of studying RS in the earlier years. I do not see the merit of making it a compulsory GCSE subject.

@TeenToTwenties Some schools are more 'flexible' than others re requirement to study RE, and make it easy for parents to withdraw. But others stick within the intention of the rules much more.

So does this mean that the law allows schools (even state, non-faith schools) to make RS GCSE compulsory?
And therefore that it is up to the school whether they let a student choose another subject for GCSE or not?

@HollyGolightly4 The school didn't lie, it is a requirement to offer RE up until y11- much like PE- so it will fill a block on the timetable, but it won't result in a GCSE. RE would likely be offered as an option in that scenario
But that's not what the school said. In the open day they said it's a compulsory GCSE subject. I said that I understood that some form of RS course is compulsory, but I asked the deputy head if making the subject a compulsory GCSE was a legal, national requirement or if it was the school's choice. The deputy head said the former. Is the answer not factually false?

@Littlebluebird123 It was helpful as most children don't have it as a necessary GCSE so can afford not to do well

I'm not sure I follow. Do you mean that a low score wouldn't affect them? How is that? Don't most sixth forms and universities look at all your GCSE scores anyway?

You clearly don't know what the GCSE actually entails

You are massively overthinking this OP. It really isn’t as huge a deal as you’re making it out to be.

This! While you may have found some schools to be dogmatic, the GCSE curriculum won't allow that so shouldn't be a concern. They've got to have RE timetabled so often ends up as an extra GCSE (or half GCSE) - it won't replace one.

It involves lots about ethics and philosophy - good for debates.

There'll be an ethics paper which forms the bulk of the syllabus - they'll study issues such as abortion, euthanasia, death penalty etc, lots of debate
Christianity will be another topic plus one other religion. Humanist/atheist views are also included.
I've taught RE for 28 years and am also an examiner

RE is compulsory unless a parent withdraws their child.

Many schools take the view that if they have to teach it the children may as well get a qualification (quite often the short course 0.5 gcse not the whole one)

Schools can make whatever timetabling and exam entry choices they want. Some schools mandate an mfl for example, others don't.

Withdrawing won't mean you get to choose a different gcse, it will either be a supervised study or eg some kind of citizenship lesson instead.

And if it is compulsory and part of the gcse timetable , dropping it is unlikely as there won't be an alternative option in that lesson slot nor any staff to supervise,

In the schools I have taught at it was a GCSE that all took because of they had to do it until year 11 anyway, they might as well add a qualification to their list. So the study was compulsory and thus the GCSE was. Ours studied different religions and considered ethical issues. All things you'd want rounded, well-educated kids to have learnt about really.

If you withdraw her there will be a gap on the timetable, TT's are done in 'blocks' so doing another GCSE will probably not be an option

Students in DD’s school that refused to study RS were sent to do independent study in the library instead. I can’t see how their parents thought that was more beneficial!

Don't most sixth forms and universities look at all your GCSE scores anyway?

Often no as long as you meet the subject requirement - eg grade 7 maths required to do maths a level. A few sixth forms and a very few subjects at a handful of unis look at the best 8 GCSEs. So 8 x grade 9s and a 3 in RE will be regarded as the same as 9 grade 9s.

Because schools have to include some RE in the Key Stage 4 curriculum, some reason that they might as well do the GCSE, or the short-course "half GCSE"; students may take it more seriously if it is examined. Other schools pay lip-service to the RE requirement, and cover it in occasional off-timetable days, or as part of a carousel with PSHE, so that they're not using up so much teaching time.

I think your worries about the content are unfounded. However if you are really bothered, parents technically have the right to withdraw their children from RE. That does not mean that they would get to do another subject instead, though; the school would have to find somewhere to put them during RE, but it's very unlikely that there would be another subject timetabled at that time.

My son(like the rest of our family) is an atheist.
He is taking RE because he finds the psychology, sociology, history and philosophy aspects of the course really interesting.
It's not mandatory though PSHE is included in their general learning, it's not an option and I think they cover some elements of areas covered in RE.
History or geography is mandatory in my dc school.
Are you sure they haven't just added RE into that group?

I am head of RE at a non-faith secondary school.

RE as a subject is compulsory. However it is not a legal requirement that it is a GCSE. Schools do it in different ways:

some schools make it compulsory for everyone to do GCSE - if you’ve got to do it, you might as well get a qualification

some schools make it compulsory for some - at my school it is compulsory for the triple scientists to take it, we then have option classes, and everyone who doesn’t opt for the GCSE / does triple science does core (non-examined) RE.

some schools only offer core RE.

You do have the legal right to withdraw and the humanist society have templates on their website for you to send to school. However, if you choose to withdraw them there is no requirement for school to offer anything in its place - if everyone else is doing GCSE RE your child is not going to be offered the opportunity to do another subject .

it is a brilliant GCSE, it’s a brilliant A-level.

I did it and am not remotely religious. It was fascinating and useful for my career.

It’s an extra gcse why would you deny your child the chance to have one

@wriggleigglepiggle You clearly don't know what the GCSE actually entails

which is why I talked about reservations and fears, not about certainties.

@wriggleigglepiggle Humanist/atheist views are also included.
How does this work? Do they explicitly study atheist authors? E.g. Bertrans Russell, Sartre, Dawkins, etc?

@OzCalling , @titchy Thank you. Based on your feedback, it seems that your experience is very different to that of my friends - theirs was a supposedly non-faith school but the head was really a Torquemada.

@TeenToTwenties Many schools take the view that if they have to teach it the children may as well get a qualification (quite often the short course 0.5 gcse not the whole one)
[...]
Withdrawing won't mean you get to choose a different gcse, it will either be a supervised study or eg some kind of citizenship lesson instead.

I see. I hadn't appreciated these points. It's much clearer now - thank you very much

How are papers marked? Is calling out bullshit allowed?
E.g. if a question asks what the Catholics think of contraception, in addition to explaining why they oppose it, can one add that the Church made scientifically false statements about the HIV virus passing through condoms, or would that be frowned upon?