The BBC has reported an Ofsted report on the teaching of RE in secondary schools, which describes it as “inadequate” in one in five secondary schools. They say, “Its study suggested many teachers were unsure of what they were trying to achieve in the subject.”

I’m not surprised. A few years ago, a report was presented to Suffolk’s SACRE (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education) by a middle school teacher who’d been given a grant from an independent body for a sabbatical to research RE provision in the county. Her report showed that, in many schools, RE was a low priority subject that came bottom of the list for resources and staffing. Teachers who were in charge of RE in their schools struggled to maintain standards because of frequent time-table changes, so that a different group of non-specialist teachers might be delegated to teach the subject in different terms. Consequently, a lot of RE was taught by teachers who knew very little about it.

Various research projects have indicated that a significant proportion of secondary school teachers and students aren’t religious, and aren’t very interested in it. The results from RE departments in the county vary widely. Humanism and secular world views were included in the syllabus introduced in Suffolk in September 2007, but when I visit schools I get the impression that many RE departments haven’t begun to include them; they just haven’t found out enough about them.

In general, primary school teachers tend to be more religious than secondary school teachers, but they’re not necessarily any more informed about religions other than their own, which is overwhelmingly Christian.

My overall impression is that politicians seem to be far more keen on RE than most teachers, who regard it as largely irrelevant. I agree with the NSS that it ought to be an optional subject. RE should have a national syllabus that includes more about the historical and social context of different religions. The Church of England is right to be alarmed; their influence has been steadily declining in schools and elsewhere.

Instead of compulsory RE, philosophical enquiry ought to be part of the National Curriculum, from Year 1 upwards. Teaching children to think would benefit everyone.