Yavneh College to introduce new RS programme to replace GCSE exam
June 23, 2016 11:15Yavneh College in Hertfordshire is to drop GCSE religious studies from September and run an alternative course which will include teaching about other faiths.
It follows concern among Orthodox Jewish educators about the new GCSE course, which for the first time requires pupils to study a second religion.
Yavneh students will now take a tailor-made programme offering the equivalent of half a GCSE based on coursework.
In a letter to Yavneh parents, Spencer Lewis, headteacher of the Orthodox school, said that none of the new curricula for the 2018 GCSE RS exams "offers our pupils the depth or breadth of knowledge we require".
Another Jewish school, Hasmonean High, in Barnet has also dropped the new GCSE RS course which requires 25 per cent of the course to be devoted to a second religion.
Yavneh pupils will take new course worth half a GCSE
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis had recommended that schools such as Yavneh under his authority should opt for Islam as the second faith.
But it has also recently emerged that pupils will also be expected to show some knowledge of Christian values on selective topics.
According to one Jewish educator, there were a number of concerns about the GCSE apart from the time devoted to a second faith. One problem for some teachers is that pupils will be expected to quote the scriptures of other faiths. Another is that at least one exam board also specifies some knowledge of non-religious beliefs such as humanism.
The Yavneh course will be split into three different levels from foundation to advanced. The top two tracks will offer the possibility of gaining a Higher Project Qualification based on a 2,000-word essay, ratified by the AQA exam board and equivalent to a short-course GCSE (that is, half a GCSE).
Mr Lewis said this week that it would enable pupils to continue the "high level of Jewish learning" offered by the school as well as studying the "main principles, customs and festivals" of other faiths.
JFS, however, has confirmed it will teach the new GCSE course, while King David High School, Manchester looks set to do the same.
Rabbi Benjy Rickman, head of Jewish studies at KDHS, who had been concerned about the additional requirement to show knowledge of Christianity, was reassured after an "excellent meeting" with AQA.
Students, he explained, "would only need to present a simple sentence explaining why some Christians would adopt a particular stance on, for example, abortion, backed up with a quote. This stance would show a contrasting perspective with that given for Judaism. The quote can come from the Tanach [Bible] as many Christians use our Tanach in their decision making."