Following extensive consultation and investigation an All Party Parliamentary Group at Westminster has produced a report on the current status of Religious Education in England. The group, chaired by Stephen Lloyd (a Lib-Dem MP for Eastbourne and Willingdon), were particularly interested in uncovering the nature and extent of recent changes in the staffing of RE in schools, the opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for RE teachers and the provision of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in RE.
They discovered:
- about half of primary teachers and trainee teachers lack confidence in teaching RE
- around half of class teachers in Primary schools hand over the teaching of RE to others - in a quarter of cases to teaching assistants
- at secondary level, over 50% of teachers of RE have no qualification or expertise in the subject
- RE teachers have inadequate access to CPD
In trying to understand the reasons for this situation Stephen Lloyd noted, 'our group were informed that the subject was marginalised in schools, and teachers undermined by the dismantling of the RE frameworks and structures'. The group believe that Government policies are to blame for the reduction in the status of the subject and for the reduced support for RE departments. In particular, they point to the decision to keep RE out of the EBacc and the removal of short course GCSE RE results from league tables.
While the policy environment in Northern Ireland is very different there are signs that, in places, the status of the subject is under stress.
- Support for RE from the Education and Library Boards is severely depleted (as noted in a post several years ago in this blog) and there is no indication of this being addressed
- Quality control of the subject is weak - it is 13 years since the Education and Training Inspectorate have provided any official documentation or written guidance for the teaching of RE in Northern Ireland
- There is some evidence of RE being overlooked or given a low status in Primary schools (as seen in Norman Richardson's article on RE in Primary schools as experienced by student teachers)
- Many RE teachers in Post-Primary schools report that they have had their contact-time with pupils in RE reduced to make way for other things in the curriculum.
This report does alert us to the fragility of the subject when support structures are removed. It also underlines that, if it is to be sustained in a meaningful way that provides educational experiences of real value, providing high quality ITE and CPD in RE that gives teachers the confidence to teach the subject is a priority.
The full report:
RE: The Truth Unmasked - the supply of and support for Religious Education teachers