Humanists sue as exam agency blocks GCSE

Humanists are suing the government's exam agency over its decision to prevent a board giving humanism equal status to faiths in a religious education GCSE.

The OCR board had proposed allowing children to study humanism in as much depth as Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the GCSE but the move was barred by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's regulator Ofqual. It said the syllabus put forward meant students would be able to study only humanism, rather than any of the major religions, which meant it did not fulfil their regulatory criteria.

The British Humanist Association (BHA), backed by supporters including Philip Pullman and AC Grayling, this week issued proceedings for a judicial review, claiming it was discriminatory and in breach of the QCA's own criteria and the European convention on human rights, which gives non-religious beliefs equal status. Andrew Copson, BHA director of education, said: "It threatens to turn back the progress of recent decades towards a more inclusive, educationally valid and objective subject of RE."

Humanism has been included in RE for more than 30 years. The OCR curriculum would have been the first time it was given equal weighting to religions in a GCSE.

A spokesman for Ofqual said: "The subject criteria for the GCSE in religious studies require the study of one or more religions. These criteria were created by experts following extensive consultation."