Rigorous religious studies stick to church teaching

WORK BY the Catholic Education Service has ensured that changes to the religious studies GCSE syllabus to make it more academic, and compel the study of two religions instead of one, will maintain a Catholic ethos, writes Joanna Moorhead.

“Our partnership with the Government has enabled these qualifications to be both academically rigorous and in keeping with church teachings,” said Paul Barber, director of the CES, this week.

Catholic schools provided the largest number of candidates for both GCSE and A level religious studies, accounting for 25 per cent of the entries at GCSE and 20 per cent of those at A level.

The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, chairman of the CES, said of the proposals – which are now out for public consultation – that he welcomed assurances he had received from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan that the proposals would not undermine the autonomy of Catholic bishops to determine and inspect religious-education teaching in church schools.