Ofsted publishes subject report in to RE

Ofsted has published its latest subject report looking at the strengths and weakness of how RE is taught in schools following visits to 50 schools in England between September 2021 and April 2023.

All schools that are state-funded, including free schools and academies, are legally required to provide RE as part of their curriculum. They are required to teach RE to all pupils at all key stages (including sixth form), except those who have been withdrawn. The way in which school leaders organise this is one indication of the quality of education.

It found the RE curriculum in schools was often superficially broad, but lacking in depth. Ofsted said a notable number of schools were still not meeting the legal requirement to teach religious education to all pupils and has told government to urgently update guidance.

Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said a “strong RE curriculum is not only important for pupils’ cultural development, it is a requirement of law and too many schools are not meeting that obligation”. He added: “I hope that the examples of good RE curriculum in our report help schools develop their own practice and support the development of a strong RE curriculum for all”.

Key points from the report:

• Ministers should urgently update guidance for schools about its statutory expectations for RE, to ensure appropriate clarity about what is taught and when and where this happens
• The RE curriculum often lacked sufficient substance to prepare pupils to live in a complex world and the superficially broad curriculum often lacked depth, Ofsted said
• Ofsted believe that some secondary curriculums were “restricted” by what teachers thought pupils needed to know for exams at the end of key stage 4, and in a significant number of cases teachers taught exams skills too prematurely, which significantly limited the range and types of RE content taught
• Schools should organise the timetable for RE so that gaps between teaching are minimised, to prevent long gaps between lessons hindering recall
• The overwhelming majority of teachers had not received subject-based professional development in RE, Ofsted said noting that “Given the complexity of the subject and the kind of misconceptions that pupils were left with, this is a significant concern”.