The government’s decision to remove the a bursary for RE will exacerbate the present shortage of teachers within the sector, it has been warned.
The Department for Education said that the £10,000 Initial Teacher Training (ITT) bursary will not be offered from September 2026.
Despite strong demand from students to check RE, there may be a big lack of skilled RE teachers. Many who teach RE at GCSE level and above are actually specialists in other areas.
According to figures from UCAS, recruitment of RE teachers in 2025-26 reached only 54 per cent of the federal government’s goal, considered one of the weakest showings of any subjects.
The bursary was only introduced within the 2024-25 academic yr, as recruitment for the topic had failed to achieve its goal for nine out of the last 10 years. During the period the bursary was available, RE teacher applications increased by 40 per cent, although they were still wanting the goal.
The lack of recruits has other effects apart from a subsequent lack of skilled teachers. The University of Birmingham has said that this yr will probably be its last offering of RE as a PGCE course resulting from lack of take up.
The Religious Education Policy Unit (REPU) has warned that failure to cultivate sufficient numbers of full-time RE teachers could lead to “tokenistic” teaching of the topic. It has called upon the federal government to reverse its decision.
Deborah Weston OBE, Chair of the REPU, said, “This is a devastating decision that can seriously threaten the supply of top of the range religious education at a time when schools need it most.
“Some subjects, reminiscent of English, have had the bursary removed after being oversubscribed. This is just not the case with RE which is facing a generational recruitment crisis.
“Last yr’s bursary saw progress made on reversing the long run crisis of specialism in our schools, with teacher applications rising by 40%. Put simply, for a shortage subject like RE, bursaries work.”
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