Humanism to be added to GCSE religious studies
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The study of humanism is to form part of the syllabus for a GCSE in religious studies for the first time, one of the biggest exam boards will announce today.
The subject has been added to reflect the rising number of people sharing humanist beliefs in the UK, the Oxford & Cambridge and Royal Society of Art exam board (OCR) said.
The move is part of a reform of religious studies as a result of which pupils can study six major religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism) as well as humanism. In a separate philosophy and ethics paper, youngsters will also be encouraged to tackle modern moral issues and examine the perspectives that different beliefs have towards topics such as abortion.
Andrew Copson, head of education at the British Humanist Association, said: "Since the 1960s, the proportions of those whose beliefs are humanist has steadily increased. A Mori poll in 2006 showed that 36 per cent of the UK population shared humanist views on morality and knowledge."
The Government and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the exams watchdog, have backed the inclusion of humanism.
OCR is also offering a faith-based approach in an alternative world-religions paper. That would allow pupils to focus entirely on Christianity, Islam or Judaism if they wished to.
Some representatives of the Catholic Church have opposed the teaching of abortion from different perspectives. However, concerned pupils can take the 100 per cent Christianity teaching option in the world religions GCSE paper if they wish.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments