News article |

Standards of religious education in secondary schools improve

Share this page

More pupils than ever before are taking a GCSE in religious studies and results have risen steadily over the last five years. The number of pupils achieving grades A*-C for the full GCSE is well above the average for other subjects.

Estyn’s report on Religious education in secondary schools found that both the full and the short (half a GCSE) courses have become increasingly popular. For both courses, the proportion of pupils attaining grade A* in Wales is higher than in the rest of the UK.

Ann Keane, Chief Inspector, says,

“Exploring religious beliefs, debating ethical issues, such as ‘Is there life after death?’, and appreciating cultural diversity is valuable for young people’s personal and social development. In comparison with the rest of the UK, Wales is achieving well at GCSE level.

 

“However, there is still more work to be done to bridge the significant gap between boys’ and girls’ attainment in religious education, which is wider in Wales than the UK as a whole. This mirrors a similar gap in standards of literacy and schools need to develop strategies to raise boys’ attainment in religious studies.”

Teaching was good or better in just over two-thirds of the lessons observed in Estyn’s survey. These findings suggest that teaching in religious education is better than average for teaching across all subjects in secondary schools inspected since 2010. Despite the fact that many secondary schools use non-specialist teachers, inspectors found that this did not usually have a negative impact on standards.

In the majority of schools visited as part of Estyn’s survey, standards were good in key stage 3. However, inspectors did not find any excellent standards and they were unsatisfactory in a few schools. More able and talented pupils are the most likely group to underachieve, usually because the work that they are set is not challenging enough.

It is not always easy for teachers to share good practice and undertake effective self-evaluation in religious education. A lack of national data on pupils’ performance makes it difficult for schools to compare standards with other schools. Even so, only a minority of schools analyse their own internal examination data. There is also a lack of opportunities for teachers to engage in professional development and learning networks. Good practice is not shared well enough and we need more strategies to raise boys’ attainment, better accuracy in assessing levels of performance at key stage 3 and customised planning for skills development.

Inspectors found that nearly all pupils show respect for the opinions and beliefs of others. They also enjoy learning about why people live in different ways as a result of their beliefs and are prepared to talk about a variety of issues relating to religion and ethics. In one secondary school, groups of pupils were given different tasks when learning about suffering in the Bible. Every pupil had responsibility for their learning and the lesson resulted in a very high standard of written work, which demonstrated an excellent understanding and the ability to express and justify opinions.

Estyn’s report recommends that schools should tackle shortcomings in religious education, including developing strategies to raise the attainment of boys at key stage 4, improving the accuracy of teacher assessment of pupils’ levels at key stage 3 and ensuring that tasks are challenging enough for more able pupils. In addition, the Welsh Government should collect, analyse and publish attainment data for religious education and work with local authorities to improve opportunities for teachers’ professional development.

Notes to Editors:

About the report

  • Estyn’s report ‘Religious education in secondary schools’ was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government and is available in full here.
  • By law, every secondary school must provide religious education at key stage 3 and key stage 4. The two main religious studies qualifications for which schools enter pupils are the full GCSE course and the short GCSE course (worth half a GCSE).
  • The evidence base of the report includes: visits to 20 secondary schools; interviews with senior leaders, RE coordinators and pupils; observation of lessons in key stages 3 and 4; scrutiny of schemes of work, department self-evaluations, department plans and pupils’ books; and analysis of relevant data for Wales and the UK.

About Estyn

Estyn is the Education and Training Inspectorate for Wales. Our aim is to achieve excellence for all in learning in Wales. We do this by providing an independent, high-quality inspection and advice service.

Our vision is to be recognised through the expertise of our staff as an authoritative voice on learning in Wales.

We are independent from, but funded by the Welsh Assembly Government (under Section 104 of the Government of Wales Act 1998).

For further information please visit our website www.estyn.gov.uk