Religious Studies has 3 strands, study of
- Religious beliefs and practice,
- Morality and moral beliefs
- Big Questions and Philosophy
The aim is for pupils to understand the world around them and their place within it. Pupils will develop higher order thinking skills, being able to apply knowledge gained and analyse and evaluate the viewpoints of others and themselves.
In S1 and S2, pupils begin with an overview of most of the major World Religions; Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. They look at the origins, beliefs and values of each religion so as to be able to make comparisons between them.
Philosophy is touched on at the end of S1. In S2 pupils begin looking in some depth at moral issues, beginning with racism.
S3 has two courses.
- Core RS continues the general learning about various moral issues and begins with; Who Am I? Which aims to have pupils consider what they believe.
- RMPS is a preparation for those who are considering sitting RMPS Nat4/5. This includes learning how to look at texts and understand how they influence the beliefs and practices of the followers of that religion. It also includes learning how to look for similarities and differences between the beliefs of certain groups e.g. Humanists, Christians and Scientists and being able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their arguments.
National 5 RMPS:
This course has three units which are assessed in the final exam in May.
The units are
Looking and the beliefs and practices of the Hindu religion and how that informs the morality of Hindus
- Morality and Belief: Gender and Relationships.
Looking at the issues surrounding Gender Equality, LGBT+ issues, Marriage and Divorce
- Religious and Philosophical Questions: Does God Exist?
Looking at the evidence of religious and none religious contributors to the discussion of the question
Higher RMPS:
As with the National 5, Higher RMPS has three units which are assessed in the May exam diet. The Higher exam involves pupils in writing 5 essay style answers two 10 mark answers for each of two units and a 20 mark answer for the other unit. For this pupils must be able not only to write well and in detail but also within the time constraints
The units are:
Understanding the connections between the holy book the beliefs and practices of the Jewish people.
- Morality and belief: Medicine and the Human Body.
This looks at various discussions on the issues of embryo research, end of life choices, including euthanasia, and organ donation.
- Religious and Philosophical Questions: Origins
This unit considers the origins of the universe and the origins of life on earth. Comparing Christian and other religious views together with the views of science. Pupils look at the evidence presented and evaluate it while also looking at similarities and differences in views on what the evidence presents
Assignment: For both National 5 and Higher RMPS, there is an assignment. Pupils must work as independently as possible to research the religious, moral and philosophical views surrounding a topic of their choice. They must gather and record sources and be able to write a report on the topic under exam conditions in the class. This Assignment is worth 25% of the overall grade. This is marked externally.
