Exam Board: OCR Specification H172/H572
Students who plan to study Philosophy and Ethics in Year 12 from September 2012 should click here for some preparation work to look at over the summer holidays.
| What our Sixth Form students think.... "I love philosophy and ethics as they are so different from anything we've been taught before in lower school RE. I especially enjoy ethics and love the sense of debate that each lesson brings. I'm looking forward to studying RE at university mainly because of the A Level course!" "A Level RE is amazing. It's so real and interesting. You are forced to think about topics you would never have considered. Also, it's really fun arguing with the class!" |  |
| UNIT | LEVEL | UNIT TITLE | MODE OF ASSESSMENT | WEIGHTING |
| 1 | AS | Philosophy of Religion 1 | External examination | 50% AS |
| 2 | AS | Religious Ethics 1 | External examination | 50% AS |
| 3 | A2 | Philosophy of Religion 2 | External examination | 50% A2 |
| 4 | A2 | Religious Ethics 2 | External examination | 50% A2 |
This very popular AS/A2 course offers an opportunity to make an academic study of religion in an enquiring and critical way which is suitable for students from any religious background or from none. Although the units to be studied build on knowledge which has been gained in GCSE, there is no requirement that the subject has already been studied for GCSE.
Why take Religious Studies?
Religious Studies A Level is completely different from what you will have previously studied in the subject. The focus at A Level is on the debate and developing your own arguments backed up by theories and thinkers. The A Level course explores RS in a completely different way which enables you to really think about challenging moral topics and form your own opinion through discussion and debate.
RS fits well with any other Arts subject and the Ethics units mean that it is a good preparation for degrees in Social Sciences (Religious Studies, Theology, Sociology, Social Admin, Philosophy), Law or Medicine. Past students have gone on to gain degrees in: English, Music, Management Studies, Classical Studies and Education.
Skills which are developed in the course include:
- a critical analysis of primary texts and a comparison of sources
- an understanding of concepts such as body/soul distinction, evil and the existence of God
- an understanding of the development of ethical theories
- an understanding of the reasons for the consequences of ethical behaviour
- the ability to evaluate the validity of differing moral arguments
- the ability to apply ethical theories to present day issues