RS results show increase in popularity
Posted: 26 Aug 2010 @ 00:00
by Margaret Holness Education Correspondent
Brainboxes: students at Church High School, an independent school in Newcastle, celebrate their GCSE grades
PA
Brainboxes: students at Church High School, an independent school in Newcastle, celebrate their GCSE grades
PA
THE number of students taking GCSE Religious Studies rose this summer for the 12th year in succession. A total of 188,704 candidates sat the examinations — a 3.5-per-cent increase on last year — taking RS into the top ten most popular GCSE subjects, supplanting French. It is also one of the five fastest growing subjects.
Religious Studies is a subject in which candidates do well. At GCSE, more than 73 per cent achieved A*-C grades, a higher proportion than the average. Nearly one third, ten per cent above the average, were awarded A*and A.
Suggestions that the proportion of high grades meant that RS was a “soft option” were dismissed by the director of the Culham Institute, the Revd Dr John Gay. “Recent research from Durham University places RS midway between the ‘hardest’ and ‘easiest’ subjects,” he said.
Although the number of candidates taking the RS short-course fell slightly, in line with all short-course entries, RS remained by far the most popular subject in this category.
The A-level results announced last week suggested that students’ interest in the subject continues post-16. A slight rise in the number of level A-RS candidates to 21,233 meant a total increase of 44.3 per cent since 2004. Nearly 80 per cent received A-C grades, and six per cent achieved the new A* grade. There were also more RS entrants at AS level, up 4.6 per cent to 27,742.
The Church of England’s chief education officer, the Revd Janina Ainsworth, said the growing popularity of religious studies was one of post-16-education’s best-kept secrets. “It’s rather an inconvenient fact for those who seek to portray the world in purely secular terms, and who like to suggest that young people have no interest in religion.”
The chairman of the RE Council for England and Wales, Dr Brian Gates, also emphasised the high standards demanded by religious studies at all levels. “The criteria for success in understanding religion have not become any easier; yet the quantity and quality of candidates continues to rise,” he said.
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