NATRE: Urgent action needed to curb GCSE Religious Studies decline

http://www.natre.org.uk/docstore/NATRE%20REC%20response%20to%20GCSE%20results%20FINAL%20210814.pdf

Urgent action needed to curb GCSE Religious Studies decline

NATRE:  21 August 2014 – FINAL  MEDIA RELEASE

When RS GCSE entries in England over the past three years are compared to those in Wales (where the EBacc and the average point score at GCSE have not been adopted as school performance measures), the following patterns emerge:

England
Take up of the GCSE RS short course has fallen from 211,269 in 2012 to 99,601 in 2014 (-53%)
GCSE RS full course entries in England have increased from 216,182 in 2012 to 258,067 in 2014 (19%)

Wales
Short course GCSE RS entries have remained stable over the past three years (19,182 in 2012 compared with 18,820 in 2014)
RS GCSE full course entries have increased from 10,409 in 2012 to 11,427 in 2014 (10%)

Overall this means that compared with 2012 nearly 70,000 fewer 16 year olds in England will complete key stage 4 this year having not gaining a qualification in Religious Studies (a drop of 15%).
This echoes research by the National Association of Teachers of RE, published in November

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