Those who have been teaching for any length of time will know that curriculum reform is a regular feature of the educational world and it will be of little surprise for most RE teachers in Northern Ireland to learn that the content and assessment arrangements for GCSE and A level are currently under review, with new qualifications expected to be in place for 2016. But as well as top-down reform, teachers in RE have a reasonable degree of flexibility to make adjustments in their provision of the subject from year to year. Indeed, from talking to RE teachers in different schools across Northern Ireland in recent years, I have had a sense that quite a few departments have been altering their provision for Key Stage 4 pupils - some changing exam boards and others changing their module choices - and so I was interested to investigate further in order to discover the extent of the changes over the last four years.
Figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) give the big picture and show the numbers entered from the region in all exam boards for each RE qualification - full course, short course and entry level. The first thing of note is that the number of GCSE candidates (full and short course) from Northern Ireland has remained reasonably steady ranging between 17410 at its lowest and 18201 at its highest in the last four years. On the other hand, there has been a gradual decline in those opting for the Entry Level certificate, from 1121 entries in 2010 to 814 entries in 2014.
It is possible to see there has been a very significant swing away from English exam boards at GCSE to the point where, last year, only 2543 students were entered for non-CCEA boards. This massive shift in numbers to CCEA clearly is an enormous success story in what has been a very competitive market for many years. and comes as a result of Catholic Maintained schools.
As well as overall entries, it is worth looking at the number of candidates entered for each of the ten CCEA units of study. In terms of popularity the most successful course in the last academic year, by far, was Christian Ethics followed in second and third spots by the units on textual studies - Mark and Matthew respectively. One particularly interesting story from this list concerns the unit in fourth place, Philosophy of Religion, which has shown the greatest rate of increase in its growth - from one entry in 2010 to close to one thousand in 2014. Whether this rate of increase will continue remains to be seen, but it is fair to say that these statistics as a whole indicate some interesting changes in the content being delivered through RE in recent years. Certainly, the experience of GCSE RE for a large group of young people in 2014 is significantly different from their counterparts who sat the former qualification in 2004 which was based around the Core Syllabus areas of learning: the Revelation of God, the Christian Church and Christian Morality.
Even with education being a devolved matter, this consultation is not irrelevant to RE teachers in Northern Ireland and is likely to raise some issues which require consideration going forward. The local exam authority in Northern Ireland, CCEA, will be under some pressure to maintain the standard and quality of their qualifications by aligning them closely to the changes which emerge in England. Yet, in relation to RE, the legislative context at Key Stage 4 in the shape of the Core Syllabus, only specifies one religion for study, Christianity, and the limited take-up of courses in Islam and Judaism shown in the figures above suggest that a requirement to compare and contrast 'between and within religions' would mark a dramatic change in the teaching of KS4 RE for the majority of teachers.
Some will see this as an opportunity for positive change, to widen the scope of the subject and to bring KS4 into line with KS3, where the study of two religions other than Christianity is compulsory, but others (a majority, I suspect) may be less enthusiastic and argue for a singular focus on Christianity to remain, and the study of more than one religion to be optional. It is at moments like this when a forum for discussion around such issues is valuable and important. Colleagues in England are already engaged in that discussion; you can read a collection of blogs at REConsult or engage in the twitter debate by searching #reconsult. Perhaps a separate local consultation on the changes to GCSE RE could be considered here in Northern Ireland, but failing that you can add your comments below!
Figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) give the big picture and show the numbers entered from the region in all exam boards for each RE qualification - full course, short course and entry level. The first thing of note is that the number of GCSE candidates (full and short course) from Northern Ireland has remained reasonably steady ranging between 17410 at its lowest and 18201 at its highest in the last four years. On the other hand, there has been a gradual decline in those opting for the Entry Level certificate, from 1121 entries in 2010 to 814 entries in 2014.
Local Success Story
The picture becomes a little more interesting when the JCQ figures are set alongside statistics made available to me by local exam board, CCEA. The figures for the total number of pupils entered for RE GCSE (full and short courses) at CCEA have undergone a dramatic increase, as shown below.
It is possible to see there has been a very significant swing away from English exam boards at GCSE to the point where, last year, only 2543 students were entered for non-CCEA boards. This massive shift in numbers to CCEA clearly is an enormous success story in what has been a very competitive market for many years. and comes as a result of Catholic Maintained schools.
Popular Modules
What lies ahead?
In England consultations on the next generation of RE exam specifications are underway at both GCSE and A-level. The Department of Education and the exam regulator, Ofqual, are both conducting separate consultation exercises on the content (pdf) and the assessment arrangements (pdf) respectively. Among the proposals for the new GCSE qualification for 2016 is the compulsory study of TWO religions and the updating of the Assessment Objectives to reflect this: Assessment Objective 1 (AO1) specifies that pupils should demonstrate knowledge and understanding of 'similarities and differences between and within religions and beliefs'.Even with education being a devolved matter, this consultation is not irrelevant to RE teachers in Northern Ireland and is likely to raise some issues which require consideration going forward. The local exam authority in Northern Ireland, CCEA, will be under some pressure to maintain the standard and quality of their qualifications by aligning them closely to the changes which emerge in England. Yet, in relation to RE, the legislative context at Key Stage 4 in the shape of the Core Syllabus, only specifies one religion for study, Christianity, and the limited take-up of courses in Islam and Judaism shown in the figures above suggest that a requirement to compare and contrast 'between and within religions' would mark a dramatic change in the teaching of KS4 RE for the majority of teachers.
Some will see this as an opportunity for positive change, to widen the scope of the subject and to bring KS4 into line with KS3, where the study of two religions other than Christianity is compulsory, but others (a majority, I suspect) may be less enthusiastic and argue for a singular focus on Christianity to remain, and the study of more than one religion to be optional. It is at moments like this when a forum for discussion around such issues is valuable and important. Colleagues in England are already engaged in that discussion; you can read a collection of blogs at REConsult or engage in the twitter debate by searching #reconsult. Perhaps a separate local consultation on the changes to GCSE RE could be considered here in Northern Ireland, but failing that you can add your comments below!
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