Religious Education - What You Will Learn

Key Stage 4

Religious Education is a statutory subject at Key Stage 4 and is taught for one lesson (1 hour) a week. A General Certificate of Education (GCSE) in Religious Studies can also be chosen as an option and is offered as a full course or short course (half a GCSE). Choose one of the links below to read about course information.

» Statutory Course
» GCSE Full Course
» GCSE Short Course

Statutory Course

Aims and Objectives

• To enable students to build on their existing knowledge of Christianity and other world religions.
• To compare the impact of religions to contemporary issues.
• To promote a tolerance and understanding of other people's beliefs.
• To gain a deeper awareness of the meaning of concepts like 'love' and that these may demand a caring relationship within the family and the community at large.
• Pupils should explain ways in which religious believers apply moral principles to particular issues.
• Pupils should be able to recognise the emotions, attitudes and values involved in relationships.
• Pupils should understand the importance of harmony and co-operation in all human relationships and how religious teaching engenders this concept.
• Pupils should be familiar with concepts of personal relationships such as compassion, reconciliation and to be aware of this within religious teachings.
• Pupils should recognise the possible role of religion with respect to their own and to other peoples understanding, attitudes and motivation.

Resources

• Contemporary Moral Issues by Joe Jenkins
• Moral Issues in Six Religions by Owen Cole.
• Things that Matter by David Simmonds.
• Christianity and Social Issues by Michael Keane.
• All About Living book 1 by Linda Smith
• Introducing Moral Issues by Joe Jenkins
• Key Christian Beliefs by Chris Wright
• What is Christianity 3
• This scheme of work is based on the AQA GCSE short course. Students who take this course will on completion of Year11, have the opportunity to achieve 6 Entry Award certificates.

Year 10

Unit One - All About Living

• Introduction - To understand that we are individuals and unique.  Discuss and identify different issues to be tackled within the course.
• Influences on us, e.g. the environment in which we live, our up bringing, experiences.  "What shapes us?"
• Judging by appearances
• Stereotypical attitudes

Unit Two - Prejudice and Discrimination

• Causes of racism
• Why are people prejudiced, why do people discriminate?
• Holocaust
• Race Relation Acts
• Apartheid
• Prejudice and discrimination unit
• Refugees
• Prejudice and discrimination NPRA Unit

Unit Three – Gender Issues

• Sex stereotypes     
• Women's Rights
• Role of men and women.
• How the media portray women?
  - Pornography
  - Page three
  - How rape is viewed?

• Arguments for and against the ordination of women priest.
• Attitudes to women in New Testament times.
• Attitude to women NPRA Unit
• Women’s rights
• Domestic Violence

Unit Four - Relationships

• The different kinds of relationships people have
  - parents
  - friends
  - boy, girl
  - marriage

• Qualities needed to form relationships.
• Building bridges - friendship - reconciliation
• Decision making activities on responsibility.
• Qualities of a friend

Unit Five - Love v. Sex

• What is love?
• Christian / sacrificial love.
• The Good Samaritan
• Contraception - the R.C. view.
• Consequences of sexual behaviour
  – Teenage pregnancy
  - One-parent families
  - STD's   

• Abortion NPRA Unit
  - When does life begin?
  - Arguments for and against.
  - Christian response.

• Marriage
• Divorce

Unit Six - AIDS

• What is HIV?
• What is AIDS?
• Christian response

Year 11

Unit Seven – Matters of Death

• What happens at death
• Heaven and Hell
• Reincarnation
• Euthanasia NPRA Unit
  - The Sanctity of Life.
  - Arguments for and against Euthanasia.
  - Voluntary and Involuntary Euthanasia.
  - Christian view
  - Why Euthanasia is forbidden in Islam?

Unit Eight - Cruelty to Children

• Children's Rights
• Child Abuse - NSPCC. In Britain
• World wide - Sewer children of Bogota
  - Child exploitation
  - Amnesty international

Unit Nine - Homelessness

• The bag lady
• Why do people become homeless?
• Solutions
• Young homeless

Unit Ten -  Crime

• Reasons why people commit crimes?
• Views on punishment
• Capital punishment
• Arguments for and against.
• Christian views.
• Crime and Punishment NPRA Unit

GCSE Full Course

Those that follow this course should achieve a full GCSE on completion of Year 11.

Specification B

Module One – One hour 45 minute exam on completion of year 10

Section A - Thinking about God

• The existence of God
• Arguments for and against
• Origins of the Universe
• Religious experience and revelation
• Problem of suffering and evil
• The Nature of God

Section B – Thinking about Morality

• Ways of making moral decisions
• Abortion
• Relationships- sex, marriage and divorce
• World Poverty
• War and Peace
• The natural world

Module 4 – one hour 45 minute exam on completion of year 11

Section A – The nature of God

• What is spirituality?
• What is truth?
• Claims to Truth
• Ways of expressing spirituality
• Voluntary organizations
• Membership of a faith community

Section B - Religious responses to contemporary issues

• Matters of life, care for the elderly, cloning and genetic engineering
• Matters of death, euthanasia, reincarnation
• Drug abuse
• Media and technology
• Crime and Punishment
• Rich and poor in society

GCSE Short Course

Those who follow this course should achieve half a GCSE on completion of year11

Module 2 – one hour 45 minute exam. One question from each section

Section A –  Christian Ethics

• What Christians mean by love
• Different types of love
• Love for enemies
• The Good Samaritan
• Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness
• Healing of paralysed man
• Prodigal Son

Section B – Question of meaning

• Does god exist?
• Cosmological argument
• Design argument
• Buddhist view on God
• Problem of suffering
• Life after death
• Heaven and Hell
• Reincarnation

Section C – Life Issues

• Sanctity of life
• Quality of life
• Abortion
• War and peace
• Prejudice

Section D – Planet earth

• Creation stories
• Creation v. evolution
• Attitude to animals
• Animal testing
• Hunting debate
• Pollution
• Conservation

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