Blow for Religious Studies GCSE reform as humanists win high court battle

The high court has ruled that a government claim in the introduction to the new GCSE religious studies syllabus suggesting schools can meet their legal duty to provide religious education by relying solely on the new materials is “false and misleading”.

Six parents, with the backing of the British Humanist Association, brought a judicial review against education secretary, Nicky Morgan, when the new GCSE materials were released in February claiming they sidelined non-religious worldviews.

According to Mr Justice Warby the problem was with the “assertion” in the introduction to the government’s new materials that the new GCSE materials "will fulfil the entirety of the state's [religious education] duties." Schools could interpret this to mean non-religious views need not be included in teaching.

"The assertion thus represents a breach of the duty to take care that information or knowledge included in the curriculum is conveyed in a pluralistic manner," he said.

Mr Justice Warby also made it clear his judgment only applied to the government’s dealings with non-faith schools.

Another part of the claim made by the parents, that the content of the GCSE itself gave “unlawful priority to the teaching of religious views as compared to non-religious views”, was not included in his conclusions.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “Today’s judgment does not challenge the content or structure of that new GCSE and the judge has been clear it is in no way unlawful. His decision will also not affect the current teaching of the RS GCSE in classrooms.

“We will carefully consider the judgment before deciding on our next steps.”