The government has been urged to launch a national plan to “prioritise” the teaching of RE.
The Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC) and the National Association for Teachers of RE (NATRE) are calling for a “fairer allocation of resources to the subject,” and the recruitment of more RE teachers.
Numbers of RE teachers nationwide have stalled at around 16,200 since 2011.
Deborah Weston OBE, Chair of the RE Policy Unit, said: “Poor quality, tokenistic RE taught by non-specialists without subject training, has a knock-on effect on not just our communities, but the depth and quality of a young person’s education.”
News of the campaign came as Catholic state and independent school across the UK announced “excellent” GCSE results.
A quarter of GCSE students at Mayfield School, East Sussex, obtained 9, the highest grade.
St Columba’s College in St Alban’s reported 58 per cent of pupils had obtained grades 9-7: over the past 10 years, such grades have increased by 47 per cent, according to a spokesman.
St Benedict’s School in Ealing, London reported that 42.5 per cent of all GCSE results were graded 9 or 8.
New Hall School in Essex said a “record” 31 per cent of all grades were 8 or 9.
St James’ Catholic School in Barnet said grade five or higher (the pass mark is grade 4) had been obtained by every GCSE student taking Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.
Douay Martyrs Catholic Secondary School, located in Hillingdon, London, reported that a third of all grades were 9-7.
St Bonaventure’s School in east London said the 6th form was “oversubscribed” following “impressive” GCSE results: more than 2,000 students applied for 175 places.
Cardinal Pole Catholic School in Hackney reported 94 per cent of students obtaining grade 4 or higher in Fine Art.
Downside School in Somerset said nearly half of all grades had been grade 7 or higher.
Bishop Challoner School in east London reported that 56 per cent of students achieved a grade 7 or higher in Chemistry.
Meanwhile, 41 per cent of students at St Mary’s School, an independent establishment in Cambridge had obtained grade 9 or 8.
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