October 2022 Religious Studies subject update
Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Religious Studies October 2022 subject update.
Hello colleagues,
As we get towards the end of a busy half term, I wanted to share some updates about our upcoming events and support available for Religious Studies qualifications. From everyone within the Edexcel RS team, we hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable half term break!
As always, if you have any questions then please do email me at TeachingReligiousStudies@pearson.com
Best wishes,
Susan Currey
Religious Studies Subject Advisor
Guide to using the specification
I've put together this handy reminder about how to use our specification at GCSE and A level, including:
- What is a specification?
- How are exam questions generated?
- Specification layout
- GCSE (d) questions: Guidance around bullet points
- Reference to scholars at A level
- Using textbooks alongside specifications
GCSE Religious Studies Specification A Past Questions overview
We have collated all Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies Specification A past questions across years for each paper.
This provides 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.
The index document (seen below left) allows you to access each paper overview (like that on the right). The index document also includes links to associated mark schemes for each year.
(nb: Specification B version coming soon...)
Overview document
To access the overview document of all Specification A papers, use the link below:
You will need your Edexcel Online password to access this as it includes the most recent exam materials.
Assessment and Marking (A level) Designed for teachers who want to understand and apply marking principles at A level Religious Studies Cost: £FREE |
Wednesday 9th November (16:00-18:00) |
Available to book now |
Using the Anthology Designed for teachers who want to understand how to use and teach the Anthology at A level Religious Studies Cost: £40 |
Wednesday 7th December (16:00-18:00) |
Available to book now |
Assessment and Marking (GCSE: Specifications A&B) Designed for teachers who want to understand and apply marking principles at GCSE Religious Studies Cost: £FREE |
Wednesday 16th November (16:00-17:30) |
Available to book now |
Insight into (d) evaluation questions Designed for teachers who want to understand how teach and assess (d) evaluation questions Cost: £40 |
Thursday 1st December (16:00-17:30) |
Available to book now |
| GCSE New to Edexcel (Specifications A&B) |
| This event ran on Wednesday 28th September (16:00-17:00) |
| Access resources for this event |
| AS/A level New to Edexcel |
| This event ran on Wednesday 21st September (16:00-17:30) |
| Access resources for this event |
| Feedback from Summer 2022 exam series (GCSE Specifications A) |
| This event ran on Tuesday 4th October (16:00-17:00) |
| Access resources for this event |
| Feedback from Summer 2022 exam series (GCSE Specifications B) |
| This event ran on Wednesday 5th October (16:00-17:00) |
| Access resources for this event |
| Feedback from Summer 2022 exam series (A level) |
| This event ran on Thursday 13th October (16:00-17:00) |
| Access resources for this event |
Interfaith Week 2022
Sunday 13th - Sunday 20th November
Interfaith week is a week dedicated to learning more about faiths around you and improving interfaith dialogue. It is an opportunity to increase awareness of faith communities in the UK and develop understanding between religious and non-religious views.
There are a number of resources available to support this:
Sixth Form Open Evening resources
Before the summer, we released a range of transition resources to help promote Religious Studies at A level and help support students moving from GCSE to GCE A level studies.
As schools move to discussing next steps with Year 11 students, we wanted to share these again to support these discussions and Sixth Form Open Evenings.
Promotional Posters
We created a range of promotional posters, highlighting the benefits of studying A level Religious Studies, and exploring key questions covered within individual papers.
Transition material pack
We included a pack of resources including A level stimulus content, suggested reading and independent learning tasks to help prepare students for the Edexcel A level Religious Studies qualification.
TRS-UK video on careers
Additionally, TRS-UK released a useful video which could be beneficial for Open evenings, which includes Graduates of Theology and Religious Studies discussing the value of their degrees for their work in politics, in international marketing, in Human Resources, and in the support of asylum seekers.
Religious Resources Centre
The Religious Resources centre is located in the North East of England and offers a wealth of support for Religious Studies teachers (across the UK). You can borrow physical resources, but they also have online resources, events and individual support.
To find out more you can access the website link below:
Virtual Visits
One particularly useful resource is their virtual visits videos (on their Youtube channel) that they currently have available for Judaism (including with subtitles and audio descriptions) but will soon include other religions.
Upcoming Events
Additionally, the RCC run a range of online events to support subject knowledge including:
- ZOOM EVENT: WALSINGHAM: 1000 YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE – RE THROUGH AN HISTORICAL LENS
- THE ART OF BIBLICAL TRANSLATION. A CONVERSATION@THERRC WITH SARAH RUDEN
- ‘THEOLOGY IN COLOUR’ WITH JENNIFER JENKINS
- FAITH, MARKETS AND MONEY: HOW ECONOMICS FORCE US TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT RELIGION AND POWER
To find out more about the events that they offer, please access the link below:
Subject advisor
Jenna Wyatt
Religious Studies
