Religious Studies

Exam Board: Edexcel

Religious Studies helps students to think creatively and critically. They can make sense of human belief and action. Students explore different ways of knowing and perceiving the world, aiming to develop their own personal knowledge of what it means to be a human being.

Understanding what humans believe and do today is rooted in re-discovering what humans have believed and done in the past. What it means to be human is shaped by community and experience.

The GCSE to helps students:

• Demonstrate understanding of two religious traditions as well as non-religious perspectives.
• Develop skill to construct well-argued, well-informed, balanced and structured arguments.
• Engage with questions of meaning, purpose, and truth.
• Understand how life in influenced by belief and values.
• Develop their own values, beliefs and purpose in the light of human experience.
• Prepare for adult life in a pluralistic diverse global community.

The course opens doors into further and higher education, allowing students to take their thinking skills and knowledge on to new challenges. When our students arrive in the workplace, they will be articulate thinkers who are understanding of their colleagues, well-equipped to build families and careers of their own.

Assessment

Area of Study 1 – Religion and Ethics

Students must study all four content sections based upon Christianity:

• Christian Beliefs
• Marriage and the Family
• Living the Religious Life
• Matters of Life and Death

Area of Study 2 – Religion, Peace and Conflict

Students study all four content sections based upon Islam:

• Muslim Beliefs
• Crime and Punishment
• Living the Religious Life
• Peace and Conflict

Both areas of study include comparison to secular and non-religious worldviews.

The Pearson Edexcel GCSE for Religious Studies is a 100% examination qualification.

Where can it lead?

Students can progress from this qualification to:

• AS and A Levels in Religious Studies and other subjects.
• Vocational qualifications, such as BTEC Nationals.

RS is particularly of value to anyone who wishes to pursue a career where working with people is key, such as:

• Military
• Medical
• Legal
• Education
• Politics
• Sales
• Marketing

Many leaders in business have a background in Religious Studies, especially those working with people and serving the community. Modern society needs ethically-aware people.

RS is prized in many fields because a student’s ability to construct well-argued, well-informed, balanced and structured arguments is useful in modern organisations. Anyone who has to convince others of their ideas and vision will find these skills valuable.

An understanding of two world religious traditions – Christianity and Islam account for the majority of human beings – provides a strong basis for meeting people of differing worldviews. The course teaches about non-religious, atheistic, and agnostic philosophies which support the mixed environment most people live in today.