Religious Education - the statutory position: an overview

Religious Education in Schools in England

RE has played a part in education in England ever since the earliest attempts, in the nineteenth century, to establish a national school system. The first schools mainly had a charitable or religious foundation; the new schools set up under the 1870 Education Act were run by local authorities and their curriculum was to include Religious Education of a non-denominational character. The Education Act of 1944 similarly required that all schools (other than independent schools) should provide 'religious instruction', while allowing both teachers and parents (on behalf of their children) the right to withdraw. This arrangement survived largely unchanged until the 1988 Education Reform Act.

The 1988 Act made many provisions, including the establishment of a National Curriculum of ten subjects. Religious Education was added to those to make up the 'basic curriculum': it stands outside the National Curriculum (which is mandatory for all pupils) as the one subject from which pupils or teachers may withdraw.

Further information concerning statutory requirements for Religious Education may be found at:
www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/atoz/index.cfm?component=topic&id;=9

The Agreed Syllabus

Since RE is not part of the National Curriculum it is not subject to its statutory orders such as national attainment targets, programmes of study and assessment arrangements. Instead, it is locally determined: under the 1988 Act each LEA is required (not merely allowed, as before) to establish a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) to advise the authority and its teachers on matters concerning RE. It also has a duty to convene an occasional group called an Agreed Syllabus conference, which produces the local Agreed Syllabus from which teachers devise schemes of work and arrange the assessment of pupils' learning.

The importance of this was underlined in the Education Act 1993, which required every LEA to review its Agreed Syllabus every five years. Circular 1/94 describes the aims of RE as 'developing pupils' knowledge, understanding and awareness of Christianity, as the predominant religion in Great Britain, and the other principal religions represented in the country; to encourage respect for those holding different beliefs; and to help promote pupils' spiritual, moral, cultural and mental development'.

In 1994 the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (now replaced by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) worked together with RE professionals and the faith communities to produce 'Model Syllabuses', as guidance for the Agreed Syllabus Conferences.

Current information can be found at:
www.qca.org.uk/ages3-14/subjects/re.html

Provision

RE should be provided as part of the basic curriculum for all registered pupils attending a maintained school. (Parents have the right to withdraw their children from all or part of RE, and are not obliged to state their reasons for withdrawal.) The 1998 School Standards and Framework Bill defined new categories of maintained schools; rules about the provision of RE differ in some categories.

Community schools include the old 'county' schools. In these, RE should be taught according to the Agreed Syllabus of the LEA in whose area they are situated.

Foundation schools include both old 'County' schools and old 'Voluntary Controlled' schools which were grant maintained. In these, RE is taught according to the local Agreed Syllabus, unless the schools are of a religious character, in which case their RE is characterised by their Trust Deed.

Voluntary Aided schools are those schools originally founded by voluntary bodies, but aided by LEAs, who pay for a proportion of their running costs. In an aided school a majority of the governors are Foundation Governors, appointed by a voluntary body. In these schools (many of which are church foundations), RE should be taught according to their Trust Deed.

Voluntary Controlled schools were originally founded by voluntary bodies, but are now controlled and entirely funded by the LEA. The voluntary body retains the right to appoint a minority of Foundation Governors to preserve the character and ethos of the school. RE should be taught according to the local Agreed Syllabus, but parents may request that RE should be provided in accordance with the Trust Deed.

Special schools should provide RE for all their pupils as far as practicable, according to the status of the school.

City Technology Colleges are independent schools; however, as a condition of grant, they are required to make provision for RE which is broadly in line with community schools.

Sixth Form Colleges and Further Education Colleges should provide RE for all students who wish to receive it.

Time allocation

Because of its position in the basic curriculum, there are no prescribed allocations of time for RE; however, when Lord Dearing produced his final report into The National Curriculum and its Assessment (1993) he made some recommendations which assume appropriate time allowances for RE:

Key Stage 1		36 hours per year
Key Stages 2 and 3		45 hours per year
Key Stage 4		5% of total curriculum time.

Non-statutory guidance may be found at:
www.qca.org.uk/ages3-14/subjects/6163.html

Inspection

The Education (Schools) Act 1992 made new arrangements for inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Inspection teams must take into account the goals set out in the Education Reform Act 1988: they must comment on the contribution made through the curriculum and the school's community life to pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

In the case of Community and some Foundation schools, RE and collective worship are inspected along with the rest of the curriculum by an Ofsted inspection team. These are known as 'Section 10' inspections. In the case of Voluntary schools and those Foundation schools which were formerly Voluntary schools, 'Section 23' inspections covering 'denominational education' (RE, collective worship and community life) are carried out by persons nominated by the foundation governors of the school concerned.

Guidance on the inspection of RE may be found at:
A] for Primary schools: www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/docs/2982.pdf
Inspecting Subjects 3-11 - Religious Education, June 2000;
B] for Secondary schools: www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/docs/1077.pdf
Inspecting Subjects 11-16 - Religious Education with Guidance on Self-evaluation, May 2001.

Examinations

In 2000, over 9,000 students took A level RE, with 16% achieving grade A. The new short course GCSE syllabus was introduced in 1997, since when it has continued to grow in popularity: in 1998 around 80,000 pupils passed the short course examination, with 13.3% awarded A or A* grades. In 2000 some 137,500 took the examination, with 16.4% awarded A* or A grades. A further 116,234 students passed the full GCSE examination, with 21% awarded A or A* grades. Certificates of Achievement were awarded to 14,459 pupils, with 48.2% achieving a distinction.

Recent developments

In 2000 the QCA has developed exemplar Schemes of Work for both primary and secondary teaching in RE. These schemes are optional and are aimed at helping RE teachers to devise long-term and medium-term plans for their work. The introduction suggests that the scheme of work may be used as a basis for work in RE 'if a school is satisfied that it will enable them to meet the requirements of their locally agreed syllabus.' The schemes of work are available on the DfES's Standards Site (www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/schemes/) and through the QCA website (www.qca.org.uk).

In addition, the schemes provide an outline of non-statutory national expectation in Religious Education, using the two attainment targets (learning about religions and learning from religion) and describing levels for each target: five levels for primary RE and eight levels for secondary.

There is also a continuing growth in training and advice for teachers in using ICT in RE. Relevant sites may be found via 'Key Links' on the front page of REonline.

Religious Education in Schools in Wales

The Wales Association of SACREs has prepared its own RE Directory for Wales. This is available online in both Welsh and English versions.

Religious Education in Schools in Scotland

The Scottish Virtual Teachers' Centre www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/guidelines/ has information about Religious and Moral Education (RME) in Scottish schools.

Religious Education in Schools in Northern Ireland

The Faith in Schools website www.faithinschools.org, sponsored by the four main churches in Ireland - Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian - and the Belfast Hebrew Community, has background on the Core Curriculum in RE for schools in Northern Ireland.