Course Title: Religious Studies GCSE

Exam Board: WJEC, Specification B

Entry Requirements (if appropriate):

Contact: Mr R Goodman

Course Aims:

• To identify, investigate and respond to fundamental questions of life and living and express and justify your own opinions

• To develop skills when considering Christians and other responses to moral, ethical and philosophical issues

Course Description:

Students will study two units of work, sitting their first exam at the end of Year 10 and the second exam at the end of Year 11.

Unit 1: Religion and Life Issues (Year 10)

• Relationships (issues of love, cohabitation, marriage, divorce, remarriage and same-sex relationships)

• Is it fair? (issues of dignity, equality, wealth and charity, social responsibility and prejudice and injustice)

• Looking for meaning (issues of belief in God, religion in a secular society, the nature and existence of God, death and the afterlife and funeral and mourning rites)

• Our world (issues of creation, mankind’s place and purpose in the world, stewardship, animal rights and care for the environment)

Unit 2: Religion and Human Experience (Year 11)

• Religion and conflict (issues of peace, suffering, forgiveness and reconciliation, conflict and war, and attitudes to non-violent protest)

• Religion and medicine (issues of the sanctity of life and medical ethics, abortion, euthanasia and IVF)

• Religious expression (issues of the work of religious charities, symbolism in places of worship, attitudes to pilgrimage and expressing faith through what is worn and sharing faith with others)

• Authority – religion and state (issues of human rights, punishment, sacred texts and examples of conflict)

Learning styles:

Within RE we have found that students often find it easier to understand an issue when they look at it initially from a personal perspective.  Students will develop their discussion, debate and argument-formation skills.  Students will also be involved in research tasks and problem solving activities.  Wherever possible we try to use media stimulus (film, TV, music for example) to engage the students in their learning.

Progression routes:

Students who do well in RE at GCSE also enjoy the subject at AS or A level.  Similarly the skills developed during the study of RE are useful for subjects such as Sociology, Psychology, Politics and History.

What is important to understand is that the skills and understanding gained from the study of RE will be useful in adult life in general and in many careers, notably those that have a high level of people interaction.