Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Religious Studies October 2025 subject update!
Hello colleagues,
As the leaves turn and the term picks up pace, we’re here to help you stay ahead with everything Religious Studies. This month’s update is packed with practical support and timely reminders to make your planning smoother and your teaching even more impactful.
Best wishes,
Jenna Wyatt
Religious Studies Subject Advisor
Septembers update includes:
Join us in the Autumn term for our online training events which will provide feedback and insights on the May/June 2025 exam series for Religious Studies qualifications.
Live event - GCSE Specification A - 06 October 2025 at 16:30-18:00 BST
Live event - GCSE Specification B - 20 October 2025 at 16:30-18:00 BST
Pre-recorded event - A-Level - November (Date / Time TBC)
Book your place on one of the training events
For teachers teaching GCSE specification A or B, join us 17 November (16:30-18:00 GMT) for this online training event on Assessment and Marking.
We’ll cover:
We have two upcoming online events designed to provide focused subject knowledge support for for the 'Living the Christian Life / Practices' section, featured in the 'Christianity' area of study, for Pearson Edexcel's GCSE in Religious Studies (specifications A and B) and 'Living the Muslim Life / Practices' section, featured in the 'Islam' area of study.
To book your place and find out more please click below:
Just a reminder for AS and A Level Religious Studies teachers to view the update we sent out to centres during the first week of September outlining the AS and A Level refinements.
Details on the amendments can be viewed through the following link:
Please note, the updated specifications will apply from September 2025 for new Year 12 students, with first assessment in Summer 2026 (AS) and Summer 2027 (A Level). You can start using the updated Anthology immediately.
We’re excited to share brand-new resources packed with quick recall questions perfect for helping students revisit and reinforce key knowledge from the Christian beliefs and Muslim beliefs topics.
The worksheets inside these resources can be used as 'do now' activities, for intervention sessions, or as home learning/revision tasks.
Specification A: Christianity Beliefs and Teachings
Specification A: Islam Beliefs and Teachings
You can also use our free Access to Scripts service to view your candidates’ marked exam scripts online or download as a PDF. It is available from results day until the 12 December 2025.
Providing a rich source of information, you can use this service to help make decisions about requesting a review of marking, but it can also help inform future teaching and learning and gives insights and visibility that performance data alone cannot provide.
If scripts have been marked ‘traditionally’ (ie not online), you will need to request them, free of charge, by 12 December 2025, via the Post Results section of Edexcel Online as in previous exam series.
Note, you will need 'Exam viewer' in your Edexcel Online profile if you want to download candidate scripts from results day. Please ask your Exams Officer if you need this adding to your profile.
Discover more about Access to Scripts, along with FAQs and a step-by-step User Guide.
We are recruiting for a Principal Examiner for GCSE Religious Studies B, Buddhism and Catholic Christianity (1RB0).
The Principal Examiner is there to ensure that the standards of an externally assessed unit(s)/module(s)/component(s) are maintained and are consistent with the unit specification and assessment criteria. The Principal Examiner should oversee the standardisation of Examiners.
Find out more below:
Join us as a GCE Examiner for A Level Religious Studies. You’ll mark candidates’ responses using a clear mark scheme, while following all the right procedures and recognition conditions.
✅ Use your subject expertise
✅ Support fair and accurate assessment
✅ Help shape the next generation of thinkers
We are recruiting examiners for the papers of:
The Entry Level Certificate (ELC) is compliant with bishops’ requirements, is designed to be co-teachable alongside the GCSE and aims to provide a comprehensive and accessible pathway for students, enhancing their understanding and appreciation of Religious Studies.
The below guide offers an overview of the new qualification, helping teachers familiarise themselves with the content and assessment:
For centres who currently deliver the Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Religious Studies A qualification (1RA0) we have produced a document that maps the ELC in Religious Studies to this qualification. This mapping demonstrates how content aligns between the two qualifications, making it possible to co-teach them effectively:
In addition to Pearson centres, as we have received interest from those currently offering GCSE Religious Studies through other awarding bodies and as a result we have released a mapping document to help schools explore the potential of offering Pearson’s ELC alongside the GCSE courses from other boards:
