Commission to provide ‘new vision’ for Religious Education

A new Commission on Religious Education has been asked to make wide-ranging recommendations to overhaul religious education in schools in England and to provide a “new vision for the subject”.

It will review the legal, education and policy frameworks for the subject in all primary and secondary schools and further education colleges.

The quality of RE teaching and learning, teacher recruitment and development and parents’ right to withdraw children from classes are among the areas to be considered by the commission, set up by the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC). It follows several high-profile reports voicing concern about the state of religious education. However, the commission will be independent of the REC and will produce its own reports and recommendations.

It will be chaired by Revd Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster and the former chief education officer for the Church of England. He will work with 13 other commissioners of differing faiths and beliefs who have experience in teaching, school leadership, academia, law and journalism.Dr Hall said that RE was of vital importance in society today.

“Religion is a powerful force for good in our world, and the perversion of it a powerful force for evil. If our society and our world are to benefit from the good and to avoid the evil, it is vital that children develop religious literacy and come to understand religious perceptions and motivations.”

The Catholic Education Service (CES) has welcomed the launch of the commission. “The CES will be playing an active role in providing evidence to the commission and we hope that the outcome will be a much clearer understanding of the purpose of RE,” said its RE adviser, Philip Robinson.

The commission will begin to gather evidence in the autumn and a final report is expected in mid 2018.