CES response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendations on Religious Education

Paul Barber, Director of the Catholic Education Service, said: “Religious Education (RE) has always been compulsory in all schools, and in Catholic schools 10% of curriculum time is dedicated to it. This means alongside Catholic Christianity other religions like Judaism, Islam, Sikhism and world views are given more study time than in most non-denominational RE, contributing to community cohesion. A national curriculum approach which threatens the integrity of Catholic RE is therefore concerning at a time of heightened community tensions, as is removing the requirement to teach RE beyond age 16. Any future curriculum must preserve the long-standing, hard-won freedoms secured for Catholic RE.

“We recognise that the high quality of Catholic RE isn’t always replicated in non-denominational RE. We welcome the scrapping of the EBacc which reduced the study of RE in many schools, and seek to support the wider school sector in matching our robust approach.”