Religious Studies rapidly growing in England and Wales

Entries for Religious Studies A level rising faster than for any other Arts, Humanity or Social Science

The key outcomes of the 2015 A level results in England and Wales for Religious Education are as follows:

  • 23,372 RS A level entries were recorded, an increase of 6.5% on 2014 and more than double the number is 2003 (11,132 entries were recorded in 2003)
  • The number of entries for RS A level has increased by 110% since 2003, more than for any arts, humanity or social science subject (the nearest subject is Political Studies with an increase of 62%). Among all subjects, only Further Maths has seen a more rapid growth than RS
  • 23.3% of entries for RS A level were awarded an A or A*
  • There were 37,365 entries for RS at AS level, an increase of 5% on 2014 and more than double the number in 2003 (15,482 entries were recorded in 2003)

The contextual evidence shows the growing status of RS as a subject for Higher Education entry:

  • The Russell Group of top universities has made it clear that RS A level provides ‘suitable preparation for University generally’
  • Both Oxford and Cambridge University include Religious Studies in the top level list of ‘generally suitable Arts A levels’
  • Applicants with Religious Studies A level were more likely to gain admission to study History at Oxford University in 2012 than those with A levels in many ‘facilitating’ subjects
  • 20% of students admitted to Oxford University to study mathematics in 2012 had an RS A level (more than those with Economics, Physics and Business Studies A levels)
  • Research from the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University on the comparative difficulty of different subjects at A level showed that RS was ‘in the middle difficulty range, similar to Geography and more demanding than English’ {1}

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