GCSE Religious Studies 2025 – National Report for England and Wales

National Summaries

Overall: RS continues to demonstrate high attainment and is especially strong for girls. The subject remains stable in England but faces serious challenges in Wales.

Attainment: RS shows stronger outcomes than History and Geography, particularly at higher grades. In England, 31.7% of RS candidates achieved grade 7/A+, compared to 26.2% in History and 24.8% in Geography.

Gender differences: Girls significantly outperform boys in RS. In England, 37.4% of girls achieved grade 7/A+ compared to 24.9% of boys. The gender gap is wider than in other humanities.

Comparison with other humanities: RS provides girls with higher attainment than they achieve in either History or Geography, consolidating the subject’s role as a strong option for female pupils.

Regional patterns: In Wales, RS attainment at higher grades remains strong for girls, but overall RS performance at grade 4/C+ is slightly behind History and Geography.

Entries in England: RS entries are stable at around 240,000 annually, showing resilience compared to other optional subjects, despite curriculum pressures.

Entries in Wales: RS entries have fallen sharply, from over 15,000 in 2020 to under 11,000 in 2025. The decline is largely due to the collapse in short course entries which is likely due to the new GCSEs for first teaching in September 2025 not including short course.

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