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25 April 2026

Tag: religious studies

Muhammad cartoon row school launches independent probe into RSE lessons

The trust in charge of Batley Grammar School has announced an independent investigation of its curriculum after its teacher’s use of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class sparked a fierce backlash. The West Yorkshire trust said the probe would help it “learn the lessons” by examining the “context” in which the cartoons were used,  […]

Schools mustn’t stop teaching other religions

With talk in the air that the new education secretary will deregulate faith schools, Charlotte Avery makes her plea for the place of comparative religion It was suggested this week that the new education secretary Damian Hinds plans to remove the 50-per-cent cap on pupils of the same religion being admitted to faith schools. This […]

iGCSE loophole allows schools to teach one religion

Increasing numbers of pupils are being entered for an international religious studies qualification which allows them to learn just one religion – in spite of government rules that require GCSEs always to include two religions. The reformed religious studies GCSE has been taught since 2016, and is required to include the systematic study of at […]

Religious studies GCSE hits highest entry numbers in 14 years

Entries to religious studies GCSEs have jumped to the highest number since 2002, showing the subject continues to attract young people despite its exclusion from the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) performance measure. The latest numbers show an increase from 295,730 total UK entries last year to 296,010 this year. The rise is particularly significant in the context […]

Why we’re not ‘shunning Islam’

Schools Week invited the Catholic Education Service to give more details about its decision to change how it teaches RE at GCSE (Schools Week, November 6). It is a decision, says the service, that has been much misinterpreted . . . Many of the recent headlines about the teaching of RE in Catholic schools have […]

What would be the benefit of a philosophy GCSE?

The answer’s easy: it would give young people the opportunity to discover the subject as a centuries-long conversation amongst the world’s deepest minds Children are natural philosophers. If you doubt the capacity of young people to engage fruitfully with life’s deepest questions, drop a philosophical question into one of your lessons or a tutor group […]