A new commission has been charged with reviewing religious ­education in schools. Anthony Towey, who is on the panel, describes the many challenges facing the subject in the twenty-first century

The Government’s decision to encourage schools to leave local authority control and become academies has had profound consequences for the provision of RE.

A level of uncertainty now exists since academies have the right to develop their own RE curriculums with the minimal proviso that they should reflect the predominance of the Christian tradition in the United Kingdom.

This is new territory for teachers, new territory for pupils and new territory for RE – it demands reflection. The Religious Education Council has set up a new commission to do just this, reviewing the legal, educational and policy frameworks of RE.
The 2016 reform of all subjects at GCSE and A level has moved RE in a more traditional direction. It has led to a deliberate re-presentation of religious beliefs and practice as core to the curriculum of all schools at GCSE and for doctrine or Scripture to occupy one-third of the curriculum at A level.

This has been welcomed since the reputation of RE had been suffering from a perceived lack of rigour. However, by raising the bar, particularly in terms of content, it is likely that these changes at Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16) and Key Stage 5 (ages 16-18) will inevitably impinge on the way schools engage with the subject at Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14).