Government cuts in UK mean fewer RE teachers

While a record number of adults are joining the Catholic Church in England and Wales, government cutbacks in teacher training will mean that there are less Religious Education (RE) teachers for Catholic schools.  

From September 2011, funding for RE teachers at British universities is to be cut by 45 per cent. 

One college in Middlesex which provides many RE teachers for Catholic schools in London, says it will only have nine trainee teachers in September (instead of 18), according to a report in the Tablet.

Oona Stannard from the Catholic Education Service (CES) said the 45 per cent cut was bewildering and unjustified and that all the colleges providing Catholic RE teachers are being unfairly affected by the reduction, which will make it harder for Catholic schools to have properly trained religion teachers.

The cuts come against the background of a controversial decision taken by the Department of Education in the UK to exclude Religious Studies from the list of subjects in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), a new standard-setting exam for schools.

According to the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, Religious Studies give young people the opportunity to engage seriously with the most profound philosophical and ethical dilemmas of today.  

The subject demands knowledge of history, anthropology, ethics, philosophy and theology. 

“Its deliberate omission from any measure seeking to ensure that pupils receive a genuinely broad education is indefensible,” he said at a recent lecture in Guilford Cathedral.

Archbishop Nichols said the study of religion is an invaluable help in the project of building the common good and self-fulfilment.  “Without this appreciation we are condemned to be endlessly starting again and, no doubt, repeating mistakes and pursuing blind alleys.”

According to Ms Stannard from CES, demand for Catholic RE teachers is strong, and some schools have been unable to fill positions.  While there is a general fall in student numbers at secondary level, Catholic schools are still well supported, especially because of a rising Catholic immigrant population.

The Catholic Education Service is currently running a campaign through its website, encouraging members of the public to lobby their MPs to support an “Early Day Motion 1375” calling on the  Government to “recognise the importance and relevance of religious education by including it as a core subject in the English Baccalaureate.”

The motion, which was tabled on  January 31, currently has sixty-one sponsors, representing all the major English political parties, three members of the DUP and a member of the SDLP.

Meanwhile, this Easter, record numbers are joining the Catholic Church, in English and Welsh dioceses, mainly due to the newly established “Ordinariate” which makes it easy for Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, either individually or in groups with their pastors.

4,739 people will be received into the Church from 22 dioceses in England and Wales.  3,943 will come through the Rite of Election (conclusion of Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults), and 796 through the Ordinariate. 

This compares with a total figure last year (2010) of 3,418. 

 

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