January 2023 Religious Studies Subject Update
Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Religious Studies January 2023 subject update!
Hello colleagues,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a fantastic break and that the start of the new term has been smooth so far! I wanted to share some useful resources, reminders and links to upcoming events. Included this month, we have some promotional materials to support you with GCSE recruitment and open evenings. We hope you find them useful!
We would also love to hear from you as we reflect upon a busy year so, please complete the RS teaching and learning survey to help us plan new resources for 2023 and to give you a chance to win a £25 Amazon voucher.
As always, if you have any questions about anything within this update or about our Religious Studies qualifications, please do get in touch at TeachingReligiousStudies@pearson.com!
Best wishes,
Susan Currey
Religious Studies Subject Advisor
In this update,
- Religious Studies Teaching and Learning Survey
- GCSE Specification B Question overviews
- GCSE Religious Studies promotional posters
- International GCSE Religious Studies: Online CPD events
- A level 10-mark 'Clarify video
- A level Religious Studies: Online CPD events
- Access resources from previous training events
- 2023 Entry codes
- NATRE Strictly RE conference
- Become an examiner for GCSE or A level Religious Studies
Religious Studies Teaching and Learning Survey
Our team are currently reflecting upon the various teaching and learning resources produced this year for our schools.
If you are a teacher of Religious Studies and have a few minutes to spare, please complete the anonymous survey below, for a chance to win one of 4, £25 Amazon vouchers.
Your feedback will really help us better understand the ongoing needs of our centres and will guide our future provision.
(Survey closes 28th February 2023)
GCSE Specification B Past Exam Questions Overview
We have collated all Edexcel GCSE Specification B Religious Studies past questions across years for each paper. These provide an overview of the different questions asked on each paper over the qualification cycle so you can see how a topic has been assessed in different ways across the cycle.
The index document (seen top right) allows you to access each paper overview (bottom right). The index document also includes links to associated mark schemes for each series.
Alternatively, each overview is available on our GCSE Specification B qualification page under 'Teaching and Learning' then 'Assessment materials'.
Nb: You will need your Edexcel Online login details to access 2022 exam materials
GCSE Promotional Posters
To support you with promoting GCSE Religious Studies, we have created a series of posters for each paper and religion choice across our two specifications. These can be used at options evenings, in discussions about GCSE course content and can be displayed within classrooms.
Each specification is organised into religions. Within each religion, there are poster options depending on which paper you have chosen as your area of study for that religion.
| Module 1: Introduction to International GCSE RS | Module 2: Assessment and Marking - International GCSE RS |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 7th February 2023 | Tuesday 21st February 2023 |
| (09:00-11:00 GMT) | (09:00-11:00 GMT) |
| Cost: £FREE | Cost: £FREE |
| Designed at giving an overview of the qualification for those who are new to teaching this course. | Designed with a focus on assessment and marking, applying mark schemes and looking at student exemplar answers. |
| Link to Booking Page | Link to Booking Page |
A level: 10-mark 'Clarify' questions video
A guidance video is now available which explores how to approach 10-mark 'Clarify' questions at A level Religious Studies, which looks at example answers across our papers achieving a range of different marks and levels.
You can access the slides for this and the example answers at the links below:
Videos
A level Religious Studies: Online CPD events
To support those who teach A level Religious Studies, we are offering two online training events this term.
The Assessment and Marking training is the same training that ran on 9th November 2022. The second event, looks at teaching the Anthology and how best to approach this at A level RS.
| Assessment and Marking | Insight into using the Anthology |
|---|---|
| Date CHANGE: Due to NEU strike, this has been rescheduled from Wednesday 1st February 2023 to Tuesday 21st February 2023 | Thursday 9th March 2023 |
| (16:00-18:00 GMT) | (16:00-18:00 GMT) |
| Cost: £FREE | Cost: £40 |
| Designed for teachers who want to understand and apply marking principles at A level Religious Studies. | Designed for teachers who want to understand how to use and teach the Anthology at A level Religious Studies |
| Link to Booking Page | Link to Booking Page |
2023 Exam Entry Codes for Religious Studies
It is now possible to make entries for the summer 2023 exam series. The deadline for making entries for the summer 2023 examination series is 21 February 2023 for AS, A level and GCSE. The deadline for international qualifications is 21 March 2023.
After these dates late entry fees may be charged. Please note that your exams officer may have their own internal deadlines in order to get the information necessary to make entries.
Entry codes for all of our qualifications can be found on our website. This allows you to find out the specific entry codes depending on the qualification, specification, religion and paper choices.
NATRE Strictly RE conference
#StrictlyRE 2023 is coming!
We will be exhibiting at this year's RE conference hosted by NATRE. Pop along to our virtual stand across the weekend, ask me any questions you may have, access our free downloads, PLUS collect your stamp to enter the prize draw - we're here to help!
I look forward to seeing you all there!
This is an invaluable opportunity to develop your knowledge and understanding of the subject area and assessment process, building your confidence as a teacher and assessor.
Become an examiner with us!
We are starting our examiner recruitment and are looking for specialists who are able to mark GCSE Religious Studies (Specifications A & B), International GCSE Religious Studies and A Level Religious Studies.
Experience/qualifications needed
- You will have one academic year's worth of teaching experience:
a. within the last 8 years
b. within the relevant qualification and subject
- You will have a degree or equivalent
- You will be a qualified teacher
Subject advisor
Jenna Wyatt
Religious Studies
