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 was an RE teacher for a while. At our school we did the GCSE qualification with all students to a half GCSE because it was required to timetable in RE anyway (one hour a week), so they might as well get a qualification and exam practice for it. We also offered it as a full GCSE to students who were willing to put in the extra time and effort - so still one hour a week timetabled but with a few extra after school sessions and homework. Most of them did remarkably well because once you understand the marking scheme it's a breeze.

As others have said you can choose to remove your child from lessons covering RE. That never happened in our school, but I understand they'd have an hour a week in the library for private study.

Lessons were certainly full of debate and most students enjoyed learning about cultures and considering their own morals and ethics. Nothing is taught as fact other than "some Christians believe that... other Christians believe...." I think it has a very valuable place on the timetable.

But I had also added that no one will kill you for not believing theories in other subjects, while the world is full of people who will kill you for not believing or for offending their religious theories. Do you disagree? When's the last time someone was killed for not believing a now discredited economic or sociological theory?

And? Are you suggesting teenagers shouldn't learn about that?

I have three older teenagers, last one in GCSE year. The only one that did RE until 16 was the one that chose to. PSHE is compulsory. RE definitely is not.

Regarding academies ...

@titchy And? Are you suggesting teenagers shouldn't learn about that?
Sigh... Are you done putting words in my mouth?

My concerns were driven by the recent negative experience of certain friends.

I want my children to learn about various religions and other belief systems.

I do not want them to be exposed to the same kind of indoctrination that my friends witnessed for their children, whereby real debate, and especially criticism, were frowned upon.

Like I said, it was interesting and reassuring to learn that most posters here have had a radically different and better experience. Of course it means I need to do more digging into how the courses are taught in practice at that school.

Any clearer now?

The school that I work with do not offer RE. What a pity?

Well posters have given links to the syllabuses so you know this is what they will actually be taught which should reassure you.

An A level in RS would be a good subject for applying to study, for example, Law, Medicine, Psychology, Politics, Business, Philosophy, English Literature, Modern Languages. It’s an essay based subject, that requires independent research and study, and would combine with other A level subjects to lead to almost any degree. I cannot think of any subject that an A level in RS would close the door to.

It's a really interesting GCSE. Your school picks which three topics the students will cover

My school covers Christianity, islam and Ethics from a Christian view point.

You learn about euthanasia, divorce, abortion with no bias. You get to debate both sides of topics and learn why some people feel strongly one way and why others feel a different way.

Religion is certainly not pushed on you and given this country and all our rules historically come from a Christian view point it's a good history class .

Children take 10 GCSEs these days. So if this is your preferred school I wouldn't let it put you off. There is still plenty of scope there

May I ask why?

My kids never had to do RE in secondary school, but I went to a Catholic school and RE GCSE was compulsory. I'd been an atheist for a long time by the time I started my GCSEs, but RE was by far one of my favourites. It was so incredibly interesting. I don't think it will have changed that much.

My school makes only English , maths and science compulsory at GCsE as per government guidelines.

However they advise all children to do English, maths, science, one humanity and one language. But you don't have to.

Don't focus on compulsory RS. Look at what else is compulsory.

Some schools inside on a Language and a humanity. Some schools make children reduce their curriculum in year 9 by picking some subjects then and then more in year 10.

Some schools offer very little GCSE choice at all.

This is good advice.

This school isn’t the one for you. You can’t choose a school, knowing exactly what their curriculum is on RE, then start complaining about it. Just look at other schools and pick one that aligns with what you want for your dc.

No you didn't.

????

I don't know exactly how the school in question teaches RS.

If it teaches it the same way most posters on here described, I'd have no problem.
If I teaches it like my friends' school does, then I'd have huge problems.

And a pp upthread withdrew their child from it. Wonder if the child wanted to be withdrawn?

So much hostility towards what sounds a fascinating and nuanced subject

I think Religious studies is a subject everyone should take. It gives you a bigger insight into different faiths and beliefs.
It's not there to convert or even promote, it's information and knowledge.
My niece did her gcses last year and her dad was very unhappy RS was compulsory. My niece enjoyed it.

As others have said, everyone needs to do RE up until the age of 16. It's very annoying to have to teach that, and then in addition teach the GCSE as an optional subject. If you're spending time teaching it at all, you might as well teach it so that students get a qualification out of it.

Maybe his has been answered, but the answer to this question "**Humanist/atheist views are also included.How does this work? Do they explicitly study atheist authors? E.g. Bertrand Russell, Sartre, Dawkins, etc?" Is yes. Dawkins is on the curriculum, as are other atheist thinkers. It's not religious studies as in teaching students that the bible is true. Of course students are allowed to write essays that oppose Catholicism. What, do you think that most teenagers in the UK taking that GCSE are catholic? Of course they're not.

By the way, your daughter isn't special in not taking bullshit. There are plenty of religious girls who also take no shit.

@AshCrapp By the way, your daughter isn't special in not taking bullshit.
Never said nor implied she was - there is no need to get so defensive.

There are plenty of religious girls who also take no shit

If they accept old men dictating how they should live their sexuality based on their (the old men's) interpretation of one of the many holy books of one of the many religions around, then that's not my definition of "taking no shit". But horses for courses.

If I teaches it like my friends' school does, then I'd have huge problems.

Do your friends actually know what is taught though, or are they assuming, or believing their DCs.

Don't be fucking ignorant OP - it is possible to be both gay and Catholic you know.

And you think that RE GCSE in the UK is full of girls who accept old men dictating how they should live their sexuality based on their (the old men's) interpretation of one of the many holy books of one of the many religions around?

It really isn't. Neither are modern day churches in the UK.

And I'd also suggest that the type of people who do accept old men dictating how they should live their sexuality would absolutely benefit from a course that interrogates religion, and in a qualification on the topic. Unfortunately these girls and women are often in the grips of far more complex social and political oppression, not reducible to whether they're religious.

My dd did chose it as a GCSE subject - In her school it was an option she chose and I would be surprised if it was a compulsory subject.

Not the point of your question but she loved it and it covers philosophy and ethics ect. We are not are not religious.

My DS school (local state school) had RS as a compulsory gcse. My ds has never shown any religious preference, really enjoyed it as a subject and got a 9. He studied Christianity and Islam as well as ethics etc.