A sharp fall in the number of pupils taking GCSE religious studies shows that the subject needs “urgent reform”, Humanists UK has claimed.

According to provisional figures published by Ofqual last month, the number of students choosing to sit GCSE RS fell from 297,800 in 2017 to 260,300 in 2018 - a 13 per cent drop.

Humanists UK claimed this was “the largest drop in both percentage and real terms of any major subject”.

The group said the decline was “not a novel trend”, pointing out that the number of students sitting the subject had fallen by 67,700 - or a fifth - since 2016.

Humanists UK said it had always “spoken out about the value of good-quality education about religions and beliefs in schools”, and claimed the latest slump demonstrated “the urgent need for reform”.

The group said the decline in entries could largely be attributed to decisions by the government to exclude RS from the English Baccalaureate and to no longer take account of the short course RS GCSE in school performance tables - policies that Humanists UK said it wanted to see reversed.

But it added that the subject needed a “significant overhaul”, too.

‘Save the subject’

In its submission to the Commission on RE - an independent panel that is looking at the future of the subject - Humanists UK called for the subject to be updated to make it “more inclusive and relevant in modern Britain”.

It suggested “more balanced content” about a fuller range of beliefs, greater weight for humanist perspectives, and changing the subject’s name to “religions and beliefs”.

However, while Humanists UK claimed that the decline in RS entries was exceptional, the total fall in entries in non-EBacc subjects was also 13 per cent.

The group’s education campaigns manager, Jay Harman, said: ‘If Ofqual’s provisional figures are accurate, the drastic fall in pupils taking GCSE RS shows that reform is badly needed.

“RE is one of the most important subjects that schools teach and vital to fulfilling its duty to promote British values and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils.  

“The latest figures from the British Social Attitudes Survey show that 71 per cent of young people in Britain are non-religious, and that the country is more diverse in terms of religion and belief than ever before.

“If the decline in GCSE RS is to be halted, more attention has to be paid to reflecting this diversity and including the perspectives of the non-religious majority.

“We hope these figures prompt the government to look urgently at how they can save a subject that is simply too valuable to squander in this way.”