The staffing of RE is a problem in many schools, both primary and secondary, according to the All Party Parliamentary Group on RE in its 2013 report. In primaries the subject is often taught in a class teacher’s PPA time by a supply teacher or a teaching assistant and many primary teachers have virtually no training to teach the subject, resulting in widespread lack of confidence. In secondary schools there is a higher proportion of teaching by non specialists in RE than in any other subject. In both primary and secondary there is too little access to CPD to remedy teachers’ lack of initial training or experience in RE.
However some schools have found very successful ways of addressing these issues. Examples from both primary and secondary schools are given here. The range of case studies will be extended as more teachers send us accounts of ways they have addressed staffing issues in their particular contexts.
Please contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to send a case study from your own school for possible inclusion on this section of the REC website.