Experts warn lack of Religious Studies teachers could harm social cohesion

Concerns have been raised concerning the lack of specialist Religious Studies (RS) teachers in secondary school, despite strong demand for the topic.

This 12 months RS was the seventh hottest GCSE course in England and Wales, with just shy of 250,000 students choosing the topic. The subject is marginally more popular with girls than with boys, averaging out at a 55%-45% split across England and Wales.

Although it stays a well-liked subject amongst students, nearly all of those teaching RS (51%) actually accomplish that as a secondary subject. The variety of those that teach RS as their primary subject has not modified significantly since 2011.

Specialists in the topic warn that this could lead on to tokenistic and low-quality RS which could undermine social cohesion by reinforcing misconceptions about religion.

Last 12 months the federal government restored a teacher training bursary for RS, nonetheless at a much lower rate than subjects like geography, computing and maths.

Sarah Lane Cawte, Chair of the Religious Education Council of England & Wales, said, “We have a worrying situation in our schools where some of the widely taken GCSEs is taught by an ever-declining variety of specialists.

“Too many on this enormous cohort proceed to receive poor quality, tokenistic RE as an afterthought, something that threatens to undermine societal cohesion and leaves students poorly prepared for all times in modern Britain.

“At its best, high-quality RE allows young people to debate, discuss and understand their very own worldview and people of others in response to life’s big questions. 

“It’s a subject built on empathy, mental curiosity and an educational approach to critical considering, an mental experience we all know is valued by parents, employers, and above all students themselves.”

Lane Cawte called upon the federal government to prioritise the recruitment of RS teachers and to adopt her organisation’s National Content Standard plan to be sure that all RS education is of sufficient quality.

Fears of a shortage of proper religious education are not at all confined to secondary schools. At university level there was a big decline in the supply of theology courses.

Only 21 higher education institutions now offer theology courses, compared with 90 that teach history and 101 offering sociology.

An open letter compiled by the Theos think tank said the situation could have “opposed effects for society”.

“Theology plays a vital role within the mental, ethical and cultural development of communities. It equips individuals with the tools to interact more thoughtfully with global cultures and traditions and to interact deeply with complex sacred texts,” the letter said.