Year 10 Religion & Society
Brief summary of the syllabus:
GCSE Short Course - AQA Religious Studies Specification B (Unit 2: Key beliefs, ultimate questions and life issues)
Four main themes:
- Key beliefs
All study Christian eEthics and then one option from: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
- Questions of meaning
Belief in God, suffering, life after death
- Life issues
Abortion, prejudice and war
- Planet earth
Origins of life, care of the planet and human attitudes to animals
Boys at Queen Elizabeth's School have been studying this specification since Year 8. During Year 10, Religion & Society lessons are timetabled every other week. The teaching and learning is focused on completing the GCSE short course syllabus and revision. The Year 10 course also makes a very significant contribution towards the provision of Citizenship Education. In particular, the Year 10 syllabus involves work on the following topics:
- Autumn Half-Term: Section B: Belief in God and sSuffering
- End of Autumn Term: Section B: Belief in God and suffering
- Spring Half-Term: Section A: Revision of the chosen religion's key beliefs (from Year 8)
- End of Spring termTerm - Section C: Revision of life issues - abortion, prejudice and war (from Years 8 and 9)
- Summer Term: Section D: Revision of origins of life, care of the planet and attitudes to animals (from Years 8 and 9)
- End of Summer Term: Section B: Revision of belief in God, suffering and life after death
The specification has been covered by the end of Year 10, at which time boys will sit the GCSE.
What skills/attributes are being developed and examined?
Throughout the course it is hoped that boys:
- Acquire knowledge and develop understanding of the beliefs, values and traditions of one or more religions
- Consider the influence of the beliefs, values and traditions associated with one or more religions
- Consider religious and other responses to moral issues
- Identify, investigate and respond to fundamental questions of life raised by religion and human experience, including questions about the meaning and purpose of life
- Develop skills relevant to the study of religion
The specification does not presuppose faith, and is designed to be accessible to persons of any religious persuasion or none.
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What can parents expect to see in classwork and homework specifically?
Work should be well organised and presented with titles underlined and written work should be thorough and well structured. Homework will involve the completion of set tasks and the collection and presentation of information. The use of the Internetinternet is recommended for some research homework.
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What can parents do to help at this stage in this subject?
- Make a regular check to see that class work and homework are completed to a high standard with attention paid to spelling and punctuation.
- Check that a table of contents and a glossary is present and that the A4 ring binder is used as instructed to file work.
- Encourage an interest in religious and moral issues.
- Help with revision and generally discuss the issues and questions considered at school further at home.
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Setting and course schedule:
Teaching is in form groups since there is no setting in Religious Studies.
Final examination:
The GCSE examexamination of 1 hour 45 minutes which is taken at the end of Year 10. Candidates need to answer four4 questions. No more than two religious traditions should be used in answer to any one question and no more than three religions should be referred to in the paper as a whole.
There is no coursework component to this course.
Tests:
You will be clearly told what topic areas you will need to revise. It is important for you to be very sure as to what type of material will be presented to you in the test. Throughout the course there will be a variety of question styles that you will become familiar with. The test will be trying to assess your performance and progress in acquiring knowledge, understanding and skills.
There are two end-of-topic tests and a GCSE mock examexamination. More details will be available prior to each test.
The following is a rough schedule for when the topics will be tested:
- End of Autumn Term: Year 10 GSCE Short Course RS mock examexamination
- Spring Half-term: Section A Key bBelief
- End of Spring Term: Section C: Life iIssues - aAbortion, pPrejudice and wWar
- Summer Term: GCSE Short Course RS final examexamination
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Revision:
It is important to develop a successful revision strategy as early as possible so as to avoid wasting time. It is not a good idea to try to learn the work by simply reading through your class notes just before a test is sat. Most people find that a better way to revise is to be active. This involves writing revision notes and drawing diagrams. It is often a good idea to make brief revision notes, including the main points, from your file. You can then make a list of topic headings and test yourself by writing down what you can remember about each topic. By setting yourself tasks like this while you are revising you can see how much of the work you are recalling.
As you progress through the GCSE course it will be important to keep your marked test papers with the corrections as this experience should improve your success rate in future tests. It will point out where you may have lost marks in a question that you thought you did well in. Often marks are lost because the answer is not detailed enough. Always read the questions carefully and take note of how many marks are available for each question.
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Pupil Target-setting:
One way of ensuring progression takes place throughout the key stage is for the pupil to regularly undergo a process of self-evaluation and target-setting. Target-setting is essential if improvement in performance and achievement is to take place. Pupils must set targets with respect to the level descriptions. There is a formal opportunity for this to take place following the mock examination. Parents can read the outcomes of this process by referring to the self-assessment/target-setting sheets which will be retained by each boy in his folder. He should also take these targets to his bespoke tutorial sessions. Any pupil who needs assistance in target-setting at any time needs to see his subject teacher for individual guidance.
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Grade descriptor for a starred A at GCSE:
Candidates demonstrate detailed and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of beliefs, values and traditions and their impact on the lives of individuals, societies and cultures. They do this by consistently using and interpreting a range of specialist vocabulary, drawing out and explaining the meaning and religious significance of the religion(s) studied and explaining, where appropriate, how differences in belief lead to differences of religious response. They support, interpret and evaluate a variety of responses recognising the complexity of issues, weighing up opinions and by making judgements supported by a range of evidence and well-developed arguments.
Progression beyond GCSE:
The department does not offer any examination courses in the Sixth Form.
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