February 2024 Religious Studies subject update

Following the recent updates made to the Sample Assessment Materials, we have carried out a thorough review of our GCSE specifications for Religious Studies A (1RA0) and B (1RB0) and made the following improvements:

• We have made it easier to navigate each specification, by including Paper/Religion references (e.g. 1A, 1B, etc) throughout the documents.
• We have reviewed the content and made numerous minor updates to improve consistency in spelling and punctuation. In some instances, we have also corrected errors and reorganised and rephrased content so that it is clearer what needs to be taught.
• We have updated language to reflect current practice and our ambition to improve diversity, equality, and inclusivity across all our qualifications; one example is the use of the term ‘same-sex sexual relationships’ which replaces language which is now considered outdated.
• We have updated the taxonomy for ‘evaluate’ in Appendix 3 to align it with the revised level descriptors.

Specification A

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Specification B

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Full details of all changes made for Specifications A (1RA0) and B (1RB0) can be found by following the links below:

Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Religious Studies A: Specification Issue 2: Explanation of changes made 239.4 KB pdf /content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Religious Studies/2016/Specification and sample assessments/changes-to-pearson-edexcel-gcse-9-1-in-religious-studies-a-issue-2.pdf false

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Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Religious Studies B: Specification Issue 2: Explanation of changes made 301.0 KB pdf /content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Religious Studies/2016/Specification and sample assessments/changes-to-pearson-edexcel-gcse-9-1-in-religious-studies-b-issue-2.pdf false

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We advise the use of these updated specifications from September 2024 but, as changes made do not alter the substance of what is taught, these documents
can be used immediately.  

As part of our commitment to helping teachers understanding the content within our GCSE specifications, we have released a series of resources to support teaching Christianity across Papers 1B, 2B and 3B.

You will need your Edexcel Online login to access these resources.  

Paper 1B

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Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies Specification B: Content support: Paper 1B: Christianity This resource is designed to provide support on content covered in the GCSE Religious Studies specification B for Christianity, Paper 1B: Religion and Ethics. 4.1 MB pdf /content/dam/secure/silver/all-uk-and-international/gcse/religious-studies-b/2016/teaching-and-learning-materials/gcse-specification-b-paper-1b-christianity-knowledge-organiser.pdf false

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Paper 2B

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Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies Specification B: Content support: Paper 2B: Christianity This resource is designed to provide support on content covered in the GCSE Religious Studies specification B for Christianity, Paper 2B: Religion, Peace and Conflict. 3.8 MB pdf /content/dam/secure/silver/all-uk-and-international/gcse/religious-studies-b/2016/teaching-and-learning-materials/gcse-specification-b-paper-2b-christianity-knowledge-organiser.pdf false

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Paper 3B

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Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies Specification B: Content support: Paper 3B: Christianity This resource is designed to provide support on content covered in the GCSE Religious Studies specification B for Christianity, Paper 3B: Religion, Philosophy and Social Justice. 4.1 MB pdf /content/dam/secure/silver/all-uk-and-international/gcse/religious-studies-b/2016/teaching-and-learning-materials/gcse-specification-b-paper-3b-christianity-knowledge-organiser.pdf false

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We will be releasing a series to support the teaching of Islam next month.  

Following the event we ran in January to discuss any outstanding questions you may have regarding the amends made to our GCSE level descriptors, we have collated all questions and answers into one document.  

Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies: Changes to Mark Scheme, Question Papers and Published Taxonomy FAQ This document is designed to answer a range of frequently asked questions, which have arisen following changes to our Mark Schemes, Question Papers and Published Taxonomy for (d) evaluation questions 371.3 KB pdf /content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Religious Studies/2016/Specification and sample assessments/gcse-religious-studies-frequently-asked-questions-on-d-question-mark-scheme-amends.pdf false

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Throughout March, I will be offering three drop-in Q&A session to give you the opportunity to ask any questions you may have regarding the amends to our level descriptors at GCSE Religious Studies.  

These will not include new training, but will provide you the opportunity to discuss any queries you may still have.

To support teachers, I've created two bitesize videos focusing on AO1 skills at GCSE Religious Studies:

• Video 1 focusing on AO1: Recall questions
• Video 2 focusing on AO1: Comparison questions

AO1 Recall questions

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• AO1 Recall question slides
  You can access the slides for this video in our Pearson community for Religious Studies

AO1 Comparison questions

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• AO1 Comparison question slides
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We are now offering a mock marking and moderation service for GCSE Religious Studies.  

The Pearson Edexcel Mocks Service can help your students gain vital insight into the examination process, while saving you valuable time.  These services will be using the amended level descriptors to give you the opportunity to see how questions perform under the new criteria.  

These services are currently available to order now for the following most popular papers:

Specification A: Paper 1A, Paper 2F, Paper 3A

Specification B: Paper 1B, Paper 2C

*You can request other papers on an ad-hoc basis

What is the Mocks Service?

The Mocks Service for GCSE Religious Studies helps you to achieve consistency in marking across groups of schools, departments and cohorts. Students sit exam papers. The papers are marked by Edexcel senior examiners applying the new level descriptors and the results are uploaded to ResultsPlus for detailed question level analysis.

It is designed to be flexible for your needs:

• Submit entries for the whole qualification or only entries for one paper
• Submit your whole cohort, cohorts across the Trust, a sample, or as few as 5 papers

What is the Moderation Service?

Our moderation service helps support teacher understanding of the Pearson Edexcel mark scheme and provide confidence that marking is consistent across schools, departments and cohorts. Our moderators supply commentaries and reports to help identify areas that need improvement and that could benefit from additional CPD.

We recommend you submit a sample of around 15% of your own marked papers which will be reviewed by our team of Pearson Edexcel moderators. Within 21 days of us receiving your papers, we will provide personalised script commentaries and a detailed moderation report outlining trends and gaps in marking and feedback on student responses.

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• Mock Marking service
  This link takes you to the mock marking webpage
• How does the Mock service work?
  This PDF gives an step-by-step explanation of the mock marking service process

examWizard

'examWizard' is a free exam preparation tool containing a bank of past Edexcel exam questions, mark schemes and examiners' reports for a range of GCSE, GCE, Functional Skills subjects & BTEC sectors.

It allows you to select and build your own mock exams with access to past exam questions across series.  

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• Find out more about examWizard
  To find out more about the benefits of exam wizard and how to use this useful tool.

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To support you, we will be running a training session focusing on how to use examWizard and get the most out of this tool.  

Date	Time	Booking link
Monday 18th March	16:00 - 17:15 (GMT)	Booking link

CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) have a range of resources available to support the Edexcel Specification A qualification.  

• Access CAFOD's resources to support Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies
  These CAFOD resources complement the Edexcel GCSE in Religious Studies. They include films and activities, starters and games, stories and worksheets.
• Edexcel GCSE RS mapped against CAFOD resources
  This document maps the resources that CAFOD offer against the specification points within our Specification A GCSE Religious Studies content.

To support teachers who may be new to teaching this course, we have created a new guidance video on getting a broad overview of the assessment for this qualification.  This video aims to explain the structure of the assessment across units/papers.

Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Religious Studies - Getting Started: Introduction to assessment

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• Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Religious Studies - Getting Started: Introduction to assessment slides
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examWizard

'examWizard' is a free exam preparation tool containing a bank of past Edexcel exam questions, mark schemes and examiners' reports for a range of GCSE, GCE, Functional Skills subjects & BTEC sectors.

It allows you to select and build your own mock exams with access to past exam questions across series.  

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• Find out more about examWizard
  To find out more about the benefits of exam wizard and how to use this useful tool.

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To support you, we will be running a training session focusing on how to use examWizard and get the most out of this tool.  

Date	Time	Booking link
Monday 18th March	16:00 - 17:15 (GMT)	Booking link

examWizard

'examWizard' is a free exam preparation tool containing a bank of past Edexcel exam questions, mark schemes and examiners' reports for a range of GCSE, GCE, Functional Skills subjects & BTEC sectors.

It allows you to select and build your own mock exams with access to past exam questions across series.  

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• Find out more about examWizard
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To support you, we will be running a training session focusing on how to use examWizard and get the most out of this tool.  

Date	Time	Booking link
Monday 18th March	16:00 - 17:15 (GMT)	Booking link

The BBC World Service 'heart and soul' channel has some really interesting and useful content that can support our Religious Studies quaifications.

You can find out more at the following link:

• BBC World Service 'heart and soul' channel
  Includes a range of material across different religions which can be used to support our Religious Studies qualifications.