A leading Catholic RE teacher has warned that the shortage of RE teachers will have a “profound effect” on Catholic schools and urged the Department for Education to support the recruitment of more RE specialists as a new academic year begins.
With government targets for recruiting RE teachers being missed in eleven of the last twelve years, the Religious Education Council of England and Wales and the National Association for Teachers of RE wrote last month to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to call for a national plan to prioritise RE and provide sufficient resources.
RE teacher Andy Lewis, deputy head at St Bonaventure’s secondary school in east London, pointed out that the national shortage of RE teachers includes Catholic schools. He underlined the need for greater government support to recruit specialist RE teachers.