Religious Education is outdated, unpopular and opens the door to proselytising.
There are many more subjects children and young people need to learn.
It's time to replace RE with something more appropriate for 21st century students.
It is important for children and young people to learn about different religions and beliefs. But we don't think our schools need a dedicated subject to do this – especially a subject as out-of-date and as irrelevant as Religious Education (RE).
Surveys consistently show RE is one of the least popular school subjects, an indication of its increasing irrelevance.
58% of British adults think religious studies is unimportant at secondary schools. And a quarter of England's secondary schools do not offer RE.
Unlike any other compulsory subject, RE is determined at a local level in England. In each local authority the agreed syllabus for RE is determined by committees representing the Church of England and other religion and belief groups, as well as the local authority and teacher's groups.
As a result, schools not only face a local lottery regarding what their RE syllabus will contain; they will have to teach a subject under significant control from religious interest groups. These groups are strongly motivated to ensure their religion is represented in an overwhelmingly positive light. The current arrangements mean the subject lacks objectivity.
Many faith schools don't even need to follow the locally agreed syllabus and can instead teach religion from their own exclusive viewpoint.
A new nationally-determined civics and citizenship subject could encompass teaching about religious and nonreligious worldviews and allow students to consider moral and ethical issues. Religion and belief could also be explored in other relevant areas of the curriculum.
In Wales, RE has recently been replaced with Religions, Values and Ethics (RVE). While we welcome this broader and more inclusive subject, problems remain regarding the influence of religious groups and exceptions allowing faith schools to teach confessional RE.
We need a reformed subject to ensure education about religion and belief is broad, balanced and proportionate.
We've created a series of resources – Exploring Secularism – for anyone wishing to explore issues of religion, belief, ethics, and worldviews in schools. The resources aim to provide teachers with the material they need to engage with secularism in an informed way.
As British society considers how to respond to greater religious diversity and growing irreligiosity, it is become increasingly important for children and young people to develop their understanding of the interaction between religion, society, and politics. The study of secularism explores this interaction, together with questions about how we balance freedom of, and from, religion with other rights.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Support our campaign to ensure every pupil has the same entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religious and non-religious worldviews.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Prioritise RE reform not enforcement, NSS tells government
Posted: Thu, 19 May 2022 09:51
The National Secular Society has warned the government that education about religion and belief should be reformed, rather than enforced, amid calls to compel schools to teach religious education.
Religious education bodies are calling on the government to compel schools in England to teach RE amid concerns support for the subject is waning.
An analysis by the RE Policy Unit found 34% of academies do not include RE on the school timetable. It also found 500 secondary schools are teaching zero hours of dedicated RE in Year 11.
The organisations are calling for school inspectorate Ofsted to work with schools not currently teaching "sufficient" RE to "ensure they comply with the law".
RE is a statutory part of the basic curriculum and all state schools must provide RE lessons.
RE popularity falls
The RE Policy Unit, which is made up of the Religious Education Council of England and Wales, the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and RE Today Services, has called for RE to receive greater funding in recognition of "parent and pupil support" for the subject.
But its own analysis found entries for the full course RE GCSE fell by almost 20% between 2016 and 2021. It also said RE is "neglected" on the school timetable in favour of English Baccalaureate subjects.
Additionally, a recent YouGov poll found 55% of Britons considered religious studies either not very or not at all important. Out of a list of 18 subjects, respondents ranked religious studies 15th in terms of being important (40%), with only drama, classics and Latin being positioned lower.
It is also difficult to recruit RE teachers. RE teacher recruitment targets have not been met for nine of the last ten years, and 25% of RE lessons are taught by teachers with no post A-level qualifications in the subject.
Criticisms of RE in England
The NSS has consistently warned RE is out of date and often fails to be broad, balanced and inclusive.
Current legislation dates back to 1944 and requires schools with a religious character to teach RE in accordance with the beliefs of the religion or denomination of the school.
RE is the only compulsory subject that is locally determined, largely by religious interest groups. Representatives of non-religious worldviews are often excluded or denied voting rights on RE committees.
A new bill drawn in the House of Lords Private Members' Bill ballot last week would make it explicit that RE must be fully inclusive of non-religious worldviews.
This would bring education about religion in England closer in line with Wales, where RE has been renamed 'religion, values and ethics' (RVE) and must teach religious and non-religious worldviews equally.
In a letter to minister of state for education Robin Walker, the NSS said the government should reform how religion and worldviews are taught, rather than use Ofsted to enforce RE.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "The decline of RE at schools is a clear indicator that this subject is increasingly irrelevant in its current form.
"That schools and pupils are ditching RE, despite it being compulsory for schools to offer, speaks volumes.
"Rather than try to use the brute force of Ofsted to coerce schools into teaching a subject they have little inclination to teach, the government should fundamentally reform or replace it with something more suitable.
"There should be a place on the curriculum for developing children's critical thinking, values, and understanding of different traditions. There are much better ways to achieve this than through an outdated model of religious education."
See also: Religious education isn't the right vehicle for civics
RE promotes religiosity but not morality, German study finds
Posted: Tue, 18 Jan 2022 14:06
Religious education promotes religiosity but not broadly shared moral and political values, research suggests.
Researchers at the University of Munich's Institute for Economic Research have found German states' decisions to replace compulsory religious education (RE) in the 1970s with optional ethics classes significantly reduced pupils' religiosity in adulthood.
The researchers' findings were published in a recent study, Can schools change religious attitudes? which found students with the option to attend non-denominational ethics classes rather than RE were less likely to describe themselves as 'religious' (49% verses 52%) or 'very religious' (9% verses 11%) as adults.
The paper found similar reductions across three measures of religious activity: prayer, church attendance, and religious affiliation through church taxation.
The staggered timing and different political contexts in which RE reforms were introduced allowed researchers to separate this factor from others driving the broader decline in religiosity in Germany.
The post-war German constitution maintained the requirement for locally determined RE, with the curriculum heavily influenced by the major churches. This is similar to RE provision in the UK's education systems.
But serious concerns were raised over the suitability of such curricula in light of rapid social liberalisation and diversification. German states responded by introducing an optional non-denominational alternative to RE, usually called ethics. In contrast, UK governments have supported the adoption of a more multifaith approach to RE.
The paper's analysis also shows how the option of non-denominational ethics education, similar to that being introduced in Wales, had a moderating effect on denominational RE. Researchers found the non-denominational ethics option led to RE classes becoming more pluralistic, with more coverage of other religions and less emphasis on faith formation, in favour of individual belief exploration.
The paper also found the non-denominational ethics option led to a decrease in conservative gender and family attitudes, particularly around beliefs that men are more suited for certain jobs, and a decrease in prejudice towards unmarried couples.
It also found no significant impact on pupils' "ethical-value outcomes including reciprocity, trust, risk preference, volunteering, and life satisfaction" or "political-value outcomes such as political interest, satisfaction with democracy, or left-right voting patterns".
The National Secular Society's head of education Alastair Lichten said: "The historical parallels and differences in RE reform in Germany and the UK provide important insights.
"These findings show that a move towards non-denominational ethics has positive educational outcomes and more effectively promotes tolerance.
"They also shatter the myth that RE is necessary for children's moral education. But they do show how RE can be used by religious groups to bolster their numbers.
"Since moving away from direct confessionalism in most schools, RE has often felt like a subject without an agreed purpose. It generally serves to promote a broadly positive view of religion, rather than rigorous analysis of beliefs, and is often lumbered with a diverse and inconsistent range of expectations. A new subject freed from such historical baggage could revitalise this area of learning."
See also: Framing religion as intrinsically positive harms education, study warns
