CAMPAIGN: reverse the cuts to Religious Education (RE) teacher training and protect Catholic RE

In October the Department for Education announced that bursaries for trainee RE teachers were to be cut to zero, despite failing to meet its own recruitment targets for most of the past decade. This comes just when the tide was turning, as when the bursary was introduced last year there was an increase in applications. The training, recruitment and retention of RE teachers is particularly important for Catholic schools, as they draw a large proportion of their Senior Leadership from specialist RE teachers.  

We ask for this cut to be reversed and that the bursary for trainee RE teachers be reinstated.

The Secretary of State for Education has also announced that there will be a public consultation on future content of the national curriculum, including RE, in September. RE has long been compulsory in all schools, and by law the Catholic Bishops set the RE curriculum for Catholic schools. It’s for 10% of curriculum time, with study of other religions like Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and non-religious world views for much longer than most non-denominational RE, contributing to community cohesion.  

Proposals for including RE in the national curriculum have been drafted by the DfE-commissioned RE Task and Finish Group. This group brought together education professionals alongside representatives of religious and non-religious organisations across England, including the CES, with recommendations made in its report titled High-Quality Religious Education For Every Child.

The proposals in this report enable Catholic schools to continue teaching the RE curriculum as set by the Bishops, with inspection by the Catholic Schools Inspectorate (CSI), but within the national curriculum. The high quality of Church school RE isn’t always replicated in non-denominational schools and we believe the approach to improving non-denominational RE as outlined by the report to be the best solution.

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