Students Back RE at School

14 November 2014, 06:41 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Students in Nottinghamshire have told Capital more teenagers need to learn RE at school if we want the East Midlands to be a more tolerant place.

Just 10 schools in Nottinghamshire are offering it this year, half the number who had it in 2013.

50 Notts secondary school students have met this week to try and get more pupils to choose religious studies as one of their GCSE options.

Since the decision by central government not to include RE as a humanity subject within the English Baccalaureate, schools in Nottinghamshire have seen a big decline in the number of young people taking it at GCSE level.

Cutting Conflict

'Ambassadors' from Redhill Academy gave a presentation to MPs at Westminster earlier this year about what skills and knowledge RE equips students with.

Student Holly Walker:

'GCSE RE is often misunderstood and we also want to address some of the common misconceptions about the subject. There's a lot more to it than just learning about the various religious festivals.

'It teaches you about approaching issues sensitively, how to evaluate your own actions so that what you do isn't going to cause conflict in your society, how to build up that community feel and to express your opinions without being offensive towards anyone, which are invaluable life skills.'

Redhill Academy students

Rev Ken Johnson