September

• We published the outcome of a meeting with Esther Zarifi of AQA, using feedback from teachers on the new GCSE and A level examinations. View feedback.

• We produced a report analysing School Workforce Data from the DfE about the teaching of RE in secondary schools. View report.

• We made an an initial response to the release of the Commission on RE report. View NATRE's response.

• Working with MPs to ask written questions of Ministers is an important part of NATRE’s lobbying work. This example is from William Wragg MP and asks about the training of primary teachers.
  

• Chair of NATRE, Ben Wood appears on BBC Breakfast TV to talk about modern RE and the Commission on RE report.
  

• Representatives of NATRE attend launch of Commission on RE report at Westminster

• Representatives of NATRE, as part of the RE Policy Unit, attend the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool to lobby MPs, Councillors and other officials about the importance of RE in all schools. The voice of practicing teachers such as Joanne Harris and Naomi Anstice carries weight in explaining what good RE looks like and what needs to be done to ensure that more students get the kind of RE they deserve.
  

October

• Representatives of NATRE, as part of the RE Policy Unit, attend the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham to lobby MPs, Councillors and other officials about the importance of RE in all schools. The voice of practicing teachers such as Ben Wood carries weight in explaining what good RE looks like and what needs to be done to ensure that more students get the kind of RE they deserve.

  Positve conversations were held with many MPs and Ministers such as Damian Hinds, Sajid Javid and Nick Gibb.

• Meetings with the DFE

  In the autumn term we met with the DFE on several occasions to discuss complaints, non- compliance and the necessity of support for RE. We were pleased to work with the DFE to jointly provide a subject knowledge enhancement courses for secondary trainee teachers. We are currently meeting with the DFE approximately once a month on your behalf.
  

• National RE Networks Ambassador

  Naomi Anstice was appointed to this new role which seeks to develop, encourage and coordinate regional RE support structures. Naomi will now lead a team of Regional Ambassadors in developing the programme so that RE teachers across the country have access to high quality CPD and support.

  Find out more

• Subject Knowledge Enhancement Course

  We were pleased to announce a partnership with Culham St. Gabriel’s to offer a new 8 week/200 hour Religion and Worldviews Subject Knowledge Enhancement Programme for those entering teacher training in September 2019. This came as a result of the DfE’s announcement that funding would be made available for those requiring such a course in preparation for teaching.

  Find out more about the Teach:RE course

• Ofqual

  We have been working with Ofqual to provide teacher feedback on the new exam courses for KS4 and KS5. Exec member Rachel Jackson-Royal has gathered responses from teachers around the country and used these to speak on behalf of teachers with Ofqual.

  NATRE also continues to work with Ofqual in reviewing exam processes and helping teachers to understand the relvant parts of the examination system.

November

• NATRE Executive Committee meets to discuss their response to the Commission on RE report. Read their response here.

• We published guidance on withdrawal from RE, written with the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). Access the resource. In early January, the DfE tweeted a link to this document saying it offered guidance on the law and advice on dealing with specific withdrawal situations.

• Representatives of NATRE attend the Horizons event which brings together funders interested in Religious Education. The event helps funders to understand the needs of teachers of RE and how the subject can be helped to develop over the next few years
  

December

• Meetings with OFSTED

We regularly connect with the Ofsted leads for RE Mark Quinn and Mark Evans but we have also been able to meet with other personnel from OFSTED including Chris Jones (Research and Development) and Matthew Purves, OFSTED Deputy director to discuss the new draft framework.

• Meeting with Regional Schools Commissioner

We met with the Regional School Commissioner for South London and the South East of England and discussed the challenges faced by teachers who work in schools under academy regulations ensuring that enough time is provided to ensure pupil receive high quality RE and that it is delivered by appropriately qualified and trained teachers. We agreed to write some material that can be shared with multi-academy trusts via the regular mailing and also a note for Chief Executives. We also discussed some specific cases that have been shared with us and some steps to resolve their issues.

The campaign to implement the ‘National Plan for RE’ presented by the Commission on RE continues. Letters written to MPs asking them to raise the issues with Ministers is an effective way of raising profile and increasing pressure.

Students from Haslingden High School in Lancashire wrote to their local MP, asking him to talk with the relevant Minister. This led to replies both from their MP and from Nick Gibb.

Could you write to your MP? Template letters on the NATRE website for you to use.

• DfE's response to CoRE

The Commission on RE received a disappointing reply from the Secretary of State for Education. NATRE’s response to this can be found below, while NATRE representatives continue to meet with officials from the DfE to discuss the ‘National Plan for RE’ proposed by the Commission.

The Commission on RE received a disappointing reply from the Secretary of State for Education. NATRE’s response to this can be found below, while NATRE representatives continue to meet with officials from the DfE to discuss the ‘National Plan for RE’ proposed by the Commission. View response.

January

• AQA RS Expert Panel

Representatives of NATRE attended the AQA RS Expert Panel in London on 10 January. We used this meeting to communicate feedback from teaching colleagues about the first GCSE and A-level RS exams. Some of the points made in this NATRE report were reiterated. View feedback.

• Primary1000 project

We were pleased to launch the Primary1000 project, which seeks to help support 1000 primary schools to improve their RE. More information about this project can be found here. Read more.

• StrictlyRE

On 26 January, nearly 350 RE teachers and professionals met in London for the 5^th NATRE StrictlyRE conference – the biggest ever! Read more.

• Primary Survey launch

At StrictlyRE, the findings of NATRE’s survey of primary provision for RE was launched. Feedback from mover 500 teachers raised some important issues about the lack of qualifications and training that primary teachers have to teach RE. This is a crucial issue, and one which we continue to press the DfE on in our regular meetings. Read more.

• APPG

At the January meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for RE, NATRE Primary Vice-Chair Katie Freeman spoke after an invite from her MP Luke Pollard. Katie spoke about the RE that goes on in her school and the importance of this to all of her pupils. Read more.

February

• Meetings with ASCL

Chair of NATRE, Ben Wood, held an initial phone call with a representative from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) to explore how the two organisations might work together to benefit teachers, schools and pupils. Further discussions and meetings are planned in the next few months.

• OFSTED framework

As a member of the Religious Education Council (REC) Education Committee, Ben Wood attended the latest meeting, where major points of discussion were the new Ofsted framework and the review of the RE Quality Mark (REQM). REQM is a way for schools to assess, develop and celebrate the quality of RE they provide. Hundreds of schools across the country, from all sectors, have been awarded the Quality Mark, and the current review is considering ways to make the programme more effective in the coming years.

• Humanities 20:20

A group of History, Geography and RE lecturers and others are working on a manifesto called Humanities 20:20, supporting the place of Humanities in Primary schools. Fiona Moss went to meet representatives in London together with the Association for Citizenship teachers.

• National plan for Religious Education

The RE policy unit met in February and discussed the next steps in establishing a National Plan for Religious Education as proposed in the Commission for RE. The plan will include lobbying activity, attending party political conferences, collecting research evidence, use of the media, meetings with governmental officials, MPs, minister(s) of state and others to make the changes necessary to secure a much-needed improvement to the quality and level of provision for RE.

• Meeting with NAPE

The National Association for Primary Education held its Primary Umbrella group meeting. NATRE attended and were able to share our work with OFSTED and our Primary survey results.

• National meeting of RE CPD

NATRE were part of a national meeting of RE CPD providers and RE associations and were able to share information on OFSTED and the regional ambassadors for RE.

March

• NATRE Executive Committee meeting

The NATRE Executive Committee met on March 8/9th in Birmingham. The main area of our work during that time was the new Ofsted framework. NATRE is planning on publishing advice for schools on the new framework in the next few months. We are grateful that Mary Myatt was able to come and help us with our work in this regard.

The Executive also heard about the newly instituted work of the National RE Network Ambassadors and continued to develop materials for the Priamry1000 project.

The Executive is made up of primary and secondary teachers from across the country, who give up their time to work for the benefit of teachers of RE. You can read more about who is on the Executive here.

• Quality of exam marking

In response to a consultation run by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), NATRE submitted evidence on the issue of exam malpractice. We were able to use feedback from many teachers who are concerned about the quality of exam marking, and the issue of recruitment of markers.

• Schools not meeting their legal requirements

NATRE continues to work with parents and teachers at schools where the provision for RE seems not to meet the legal requirements. Currently, NATRE is assisting a number of stakeholders with investigations and in some cases the complaints process against (how many)in relation to nine schools in the (region)England. We are being assisted in this work by the Department for Education and Ofsted as well as school improvement officers, SACRE members and others.

• NATRE's response to the Welsh governments consultation on the curriculum

NATRE submitted a response to the Welsh government’s consultation on the proposed new Welsh Curriculum. The Welsh proposals offer a marked difference to the direction of travel in England’s schools. If you would like to read more about these proposals, you can find them here.

• Educational Recording Agency

The Educational Recording Agency have been in discussions with NATRE via Fiona Moss our CEO, and Joanne Harris and Katie Freeman are now liaising with them to make radio and TV broadcasts that are useful in RE lessons more available to teachers.

• CfSA Meeting

NATRE is a member of the Council for Subject Associations (CfSA) and at the meeting on 29 March 2019 key topics that are affecting schools and subjects taught.

Discussion was lively about the Curriculum Fund, which is a DfE scheme, currently focusing on four curriculum subjects. This is a schools led process. Likewise SA’s fed back their thoughts about the Ofsted consultation and new Inspection Framework.

Stephen Hull of the British Council discussed their progressing work with the Global Learning Programme that NATRE is involved with. This has been extended to four other SA’s. It was agreed that there should be a conference regarding this work.

The Early Careers Framework was discussed looking at how this work is to be implemented and how this would be supportive to new teachers and would this be beneficial to the retention of new teachers.

• Global learning

Connecting classrooms with Global learning has received funding from DFID. ATRE are one of the subject associations supporting this work. Fiona Moss met with the other subject associations to hear about the opportunities this offers schools and to offer relevant case studies and resources. See here for more details.

• Response to the consultation on the new Ofsted framework

NATRE worked with several subject associations and RE stakeholders before submitting a formal response to the consultation on the new Ofsted framework for inspection.

Working with the DfE we:

· drafted some suggested text to illustrate the contribution of Religious Education to the Respectful School Communities Self-Review and Signposting tool publication by Department for Education.

· Secured a robust response from the DfE to a member question about schools diverting time for RE to the teaching of other subjects.

· Responded to an academy trust that inaccurately claimed that their funding agreement did not require the teaching of RE

April

• NATRE met with David Perfect from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to discuss our work on withdrawal and non-compliance in schools.

May

• Meeting with Ruth Peacock from the Religion and Media Centre discussing how we can help RE be better represented in the media.
• RE Policy Unit meeting (NATRE, RE Today, Religious Education Council)

- from this we have published social media postcards on the new Ofsted framework and the media interviews about RE in the new framework.

- Deborah Weston has also written the much shared piece on RE and Ofsted that sits on our news pages.

-We have also sent out a short survey which has harvested information to better target and advertise to possible ITE students for RE (secondary).

• Meeting with Mike Kane (Labour MP) in Parliament. Mike is the Shadow Schools Minister. Rudi Eliott Lockhart (REC CEO) and Fiona Moss (NATRE CEO) talked with him for over an hour. He was very interested in ensuring that RE played a full part in the education curriculum. Before becoming an MP he spent some time as a Primary school teacher and RE subject leader in a community primary school in the North West.

• Current NATRE Chair, Ben Wood, and former Chair, Ed Pawson gave interviews to a wide range of radio stations about the new Ofsted framework and its implications for teaching of RE

• Ofsted: Representatives of NATRE, along with other secondary teachers of RE from across the country met with the HMI for RE and other officials from Ofsted to discuss the implications of the new framework for RE. Meetings of this group will continue over the next few months.

• Zoe Keens has met with the National Governors Association and the National Association of Head Teachers on behalf of NATRE.

• NATRE Executive Steering Group met in London on 11th May. Matters under discussion included NATRE affiliated local groups, the New2RE programme for 2019, the Primary1000 project, the RE Network Ambassadors, meetings with Ofsted and the DfE and preparations for attending the Conservative and Labour conferences in September.

June

• Zoe Keens attended a meeting of the Council for Subject Associations on our behalf

• NATRE Executive met on 8th June in London. The group worked on advise for teachers and schools on the new Ofsted framework (to be published soon), a document pointing to sources of guidance for curriculum planning, and a toolkit for complaints about schools who do not meet their statutory requirement to teach RE. – do we have a standard NATRE Exec meeting picture we could use here?

• Professional RE Group (PREG) met on June 18th, including representatives of NATRE, the National Assocation of SACREs (NASACRE), Association of University Lecturers in RE (AULRE), Theology and Religious Studies UK (TRS-UK), the Association of RE Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants (AREIAC) and the REC. This group provides an opportunity for the different organisations to share priorities and explore areas of collaboration.

• Shared Space project – members of the NATRE Executive contributed to a short video shown to colleagues in Hong Kong who are taking part in the Shared Space project.

July

• Ben Wood (NATRE Chair) spoke at the AREIAC (Association of RE Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants) conference in Manchester about the challenges of changing an RE curriculum, focussing on practical ways that difficult decisions about writing a curriculum can be made.

• Meeting with Jess Phillips (Labour MP) in Parliament. Rudi Eliott Lockhart (REC CEO) and Fiona Moss (NATRE CEO) met with Jess (who has an A* at GCSE) to discuss the future of RE. Jess has actively supported and promoted high quality RE in the past and at this meeting plans were made to continue for us to work together to help ensure that all pupils are given good RE.

August

• Data on examination entries analysed by the Religious Education Council and NATRE is published, noting the impact of government decisions on the numbers of pupils taking examinations in RE. Along with other published data (see below), representatives of the REC and NATRE use these findings in meetings with Ofsted, the DfE and others.
• NATRE again publishes data to help with analysis of GCSE and A level exam results for secondary schools. This data is useful for those writing examination reports as it provides information from a wide variety of sources relevant to this task.

September

• NATRE Secondary Survey

Findings from this year’s secondary survey were published, noting the continuing and increasing problem of schools, especially academies, not teaching RE at KS4. This information is taken from a survey of nearly 700 secondary schools, and cross referenced with other information such as the DfE School Workforce Data provides a powerful tool to take to meetings with the DfE and others.

• Party Political Conferences

Representatives of NATRE along with colleagues from RE Today and the Religious Education Council attended the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences, meeting with MPs, Lords, Councilors and party members to discuss the value of RE and its importance for all students.

• Media work

Representatives of NATRE, including former Chair Ed Pawson, current Chair, Ben Wood and CEO, Fiona Moss have appeared on BBC local radio, Premier Radio, UCB and BBC Radio4 to talk about provision for RE in schools, particularly in response to the NATRE Secondary Survey press release mentioned above.

• Parliamentary questions

Working together with the REC and RE Today, NATRE collaborates with supportive MPs to ask questions in Parliament of Ministers. One such example is from Mike Kane MP, Shadow Education Minister.

• Challenging the quality of RE provision

NATRE works closely alongside a number of individuals, including teachers and parents, who wish to challenge the level and quality of provision of RE in specific schools. Furthermore, NATRE works with the DfE, OfSTED and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to make officials and politicians aware of the challenges and issues raised in schools such as these. Please note that NATRE has a policy of not publicly naming the schools in question.

October

• Department for Education

Deborah Weston (NATRE research officer) and Fiona Moss (NATRE CEO) regularly meet with the DfE to discuss a variety issues including compliance, the right of withdrawal and teacher training. As a result of these meetings, the guidance on RE in academies and free schools has been updated and placed in a more prominent place on the DfE website.

• OfSTED

NATRE regularly meets with representatives of OfSTED to discuss issues related to the inspection of RE in schools. The new framework is welcomed by NATRE and early signs are that some schools are having the lack of RE provision challenged by inspectors. Examples of comments in primary schools and in secondary schools can be found by following the links.

Advice on the implications of new framework is available to members here.

In addition, members of NATRE Exec and others regularly meet to discuss the implementation of the new Framework. Another meeting will be held in November.

November

• Religious Education Council

At the second regular general meeting held in November at the East London Mosque, it was important to hear about the work going on in Wales and to meet with representatives of faith and belief communities. We also heard about progress that has been made in some areas of the recommendations from the Commission on RE.

• Ofsted

We secured a meeting with RE HMI Mark Quinn and also Matthew Purves Deputy Director Ofsted in November to discuss our analysis of the inspection of RE. It was useful to discuss the strengths of the new framework and some areas that need development. We are working with Ofsted to ensure that all available data regarding RE in schools, is easily available to inspectors. The data submitted by schools as part of the school census is potentially useful to Ofsted in discussions about the breadth (or narrowing) of the curriculum in general and has the potential to flag subjects that are being omitted such as RE, but others too. Further discussions about deep dives in RE and training of inspectors. There were discussions about the number of deep dives in RE being carried out.

• RE Policy Unit

(A strategic partnership between NATRE, RE Today and the RE Council) In November, we had the opportunity to work with Ruth Peacock from the religion and media centre on educating, informing and influencing the media around RE.

December

Ahead of the General Election, there was a period of purdah, meaning meetings with ministers and officials within government do not take place.

• Jonathan Gullis MP

In the December 2019 general election, RE teacher Jonathan Gullis was elected MP for Stoke-on-Trent North. He referred to his past work in school in this parliamentary statement:

NATRE will be working with Mr Gullis, and are hopeful that he will attend the Stoke-on-Trent RE Student Debate.

January

• Council for Subject Associations (CfSA)

NATRE has worked with colleagues from other subject associations to produce a digital booklet detailing key information about what each subject association offers. This booklet will be provided free of charge to all ITE students and sent to all schools. With particular thanks to RE Today CEO Zoë Keens who has been instrumental in driving this project forward.

• Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)

NATRE CEO, Fiona Moss, NATRE Chair, Ben Wood and RE Today CEO, Zoë Keens met with ASCL’s Curriculum and Inspection Specialist, Steve Rollett to discuss the role of subject associations in promoting high quality teaching and learning, and to explore ways in which NATRE and ASCL can work together to support school leaders and teachers of RE.

February

• RE Policy Unit

In February we were pleased to note that recruitment into training for secondary RE teaching has improved significantly. See table below:

*percentage change from previous year

There is no doubt that the subject knowledge enhancement courses and increased bursaries that we campaigned for have had an impact on these figures.

• Department for Education

Officials at the DfE are continuing to support us in dealing with requests for support from Headteachers and Principals as well as cases of alleged non-compliance raised by parents and SACREs. We are most pleased to report, that following a formal complaint, the provision for RE provided at one Academy (and by implication – others in the same MAT following the same programme), was found not to meet the requirements of their funding agreement with the DfE. Further details of this case will be reported in due course.

• Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb MP

Deborah Weston, representing NATRE, along with Rudi Eliott Lockhart from the RE Council attended a very positive meeting with the Minister for School Standards on 26^th February. Discussion centred around the best ways to ensure high standards of RE in all schools. We hope to be able to report in more detail in due course.

March

The immediate impact of the Covid-19 lockdown was the cancellation of a number of scheduled meetings with officials at the DfE. Many of these were rescheduled over the coming months.

April

Ofsted

Dr Richard Kueh took up his role as HMI and National Subject Lead for Religious Education at Ofsted. Richard is well known to many in the RE community, and NATRE has a good relationship with Dr. Kueh. Since taking up this position, there have been several meetings and phone calls between Richard and NATRE representatives.

NATRE Executive members also contribute to the Ofsted subject panel which exists to discuss issues of inspection.

May

Ofqual

NATRE representatives have had frequent meetings with Ofqual since the decision was made to cancel 2020 exams in favour of Centre Assessed Grades. Some these have been within larger meetings with other subject associations, some have been on an individual basis.

June

Ofqual

Further meetings with Ofqual were undertaken, with queries from RE teachers being raised with Ofqual on the process of Centre Assessed Grades for 2020.

July

Ofqual

As attention began to turn to arrangements for examinations in 2021, NATRE continued to have positive dialogue with Ofqual, raising concerns of members and contributing to Ofqual’s consultation process.

New curriculum in Wales

NATRE responded to the consultation on the new Wales curriculum.

Parliamentary question

Luke Pollard MP (Plymouth, Sutton and Davenport) asked a written parliamentary question of the Secretary of State for Education on the provision for Religious Education. NATRE, as part of the RE Policy Unit, works with MPs from across the House of Commons on issues related to RE.

OFSTED

There was a further meeting of the OFSTED subject panel.

August

GCSE and A level grades

The dramatic events surrounding GCSE and A level grades reached their peak, with NATRE criticizing the government for their poor decision making.

Chair of NATRE, Ben Wood was interviewed on BBC local radio discussing the impact of the grade decision on students and teachers.

September

DFE

Representatives of NATRE met with a senior civil servant and our usual contacts from the DFE discussing a series of issues including exams, complaints about RE, support for teachers, support for RE in al schools and religion and worldviews.

The DfE statistics team shared the latest set of school level data with NATRE in accordance with the memorandum of understanding agreed a few years ago. This allows us to work with SACREs to help them monitor compliance and discuss our findings with Ofsted and other agencies.

October

Parental complaint

Over the last two years, NATRE has supported a parent in pursuing a complaint against an academy not providing RE. The school is now providing RE for all years in line with their funding agreement.

Primary RE survey

NATRE’s most recent survey of Primary school teachers of RE was published. This valuable data is used in discussions with key partners at Ofsted, the DfE and in parliament.

Shadow Minister for Faiths

NATRE met with Janet Daby MP (Lewisham) for a productive meeting. As a former SACRE member, she has a good understanding of the issues relating to RE. One outcome of the meeting was the asking of an oral parliamentary question.

Council for Subject Associations (CSFA)

Members of the CFSA including a NATRE representative met with OFSTED to discuss concerns about expertise in ITE inspections. It was a very useful meeting and OFSTED explained more about their training for inspectors. There will be further meetings.

What are worldviews and why should schools teach them? – Theos report

Following the promotion of the launch event for this publication, we were pleased to see so many teachers in attendance. As part of its work through the RE Policy Unit, this event provided an excellent opportunity to share the vision for Religion and Worldviews in the curriculum presented in the final report of the Commission on RE. You can read about this report here.

Launch of the NATRE primary survey

Almost half of Academies without a religious character, almost a third of Agreed Syllabus Schools and a fifth of schools including academies with a religious character report increasing their time for teaching RE.

Removal of Bursary for those training to be secondary teachers of RE

NATRE was disappointed to learn that bursaries are to be severely cut for 2021-2022 but redoubled its efforts to retain the subject knowledge enhancement grants and to make the case for the reinstatement of bursaries as soon as circumstances allow. As the table below shows, RE was not alone in these cuts.

November

Shadow Minister for Faith

As part of the RE Policy Unit: A Strategic Partnership between NATRE, the RE Council and RE Today, NATRE representatives were able to meet with Janet Daby, who was then the shadow minister for faith (see link).

www.natre.org.uk/news/latest-news/shadow-minister-for-faiths-janet-daby-mp-asks-the-minister-for-education-nick-gibb-mp-a-question-about-re/

HMI and Ofsted

Dr Richard Kueh, HMI and National Subject Lead for Religious Education was warmly welcomed by the NATRE Executive Committee to discuss how Ofsted sees inspection in RE and how this impacts on questions of curriculum development.

NATRE, the REC and RE Today, working together as the RE Policy Unit has secured substantial grant funding for its work. The funding will support the aim to secure high-quality education in Religion and Worldviews for all pupils in all schools, taught by well-qualified and trained teachers. We are working with a range of stakeholders including parliamentarians, teachers, headteachers, governors as well as the media. Further updates to follow.

Since Dr Richard Kueh has been appointed to OFSTED We are pleased to report that there have been several positive conversations between Richard and NATRE officers. Our CEO has also met with OFSTED under the auspices of the CFSA (Council for Subject Associations) and will be meeting with them again with Humanities 2020 soon

Faith Engagement Review

The government has appointed a Faith Engagement Adviser, Colin Bloom. Following his appointment he launched an open consultation to collect views that will underpin a Faith Engagement Review. NATRE used its communications opportunities to encourage people to respond to the consultation; especially to the question on RE here.

December

Three NATRE executive members are part of a RE subject specialist working group that has been supporting OFSTED with its work in relation the revised inspection framework.

DFE

We met with our usual contacts in September, as they returned from secondments to other departments. We were pleased to meet with their senior civil servant Farah Ziaulla who has recently moved to the DFE from Justice. She seemed to have real commitment to the subject and has agreed to meet with us termly. This meeting was before the removal of the bursaries and was not hinted at in the meeting.

Parliamentary Questions

On 17^th December, a series of parliamentary questions were tabled by Stephen Timms MP. The full questions and answers can be found here. The key points established by these answers are reported here.

January

Shared Space

NATRE representatives and colleagues from the University of Bristol joined a DfE panel promoting integration work that met on several occasions in the early part of 2021. There will be a report published later in the year.

Bursaries

As you know the bursaries have been removed from all but very few subjects. We suspect that this is due to over recruitment in many subjects. NATRE view this as a short-sighted decision, not least as it does not take into account the number of teachers retiring early or the lack of qualified RE teachers that the school workforce data regularly demonstrates. We have challenged our representatives at the DFE on this and have lent support to those petitioning the government on this matter. We do not expect any change for the next academic year. For those of you who were challenged by the retention of the bursary for classics we were told that the team that we work with were not involved in the decision making and that classics is included alongside MFL in the languages ‘pillar’ of the EBacc and languages is the one EBacc subject area where entries are considered to be far too low.

A National Plan for RE summarised.

This document was produced by the RE Policy Unit (REPU) in collaboration with the REC’s Education Committee. It attempts to summarise the vision for our subject set out in the Commission on RE Final Report including the Statement of Entitlement published in September 2018.

February

Ofqual and examination boards

Rachael Jackson-Royal, the exams and HE officer, has regularly been in contact with Ofqual and with subject officers at some of the examination boards. Before Christmas and in the new year this was often many times a week with Ofqual. During these conversations, she was able to share the concerns of members and was able to contribute to ideas about how the assessments would occur. These discussions mainly occurred during one-to-one consultations but sometimes involved attending feedback sessions for all subject associations.

March

DfE meeting with officials

We met with the DFE policy team with responsibility for RE and discussed RE in the news and the situation in Batley. We shared some of the data we have published since the last meeting and the implications for their policy work. We asked about the use of the curriculum fund and when RE might become a priority for investment. Unfortunately, the new invitation to tender for funding as part of this scheme is unlikely to mention RE.

Does studying RS improve your overall academic attainment?

NATRE published a report analysing local authority-level data on GCSE entries and results from the 2020 examination season. This article and accompanying data should be of interest to teachers and others serving on their local SACRE. It proposes a new narrative for encouraging school leaders to devote time and other resources to the teaching of RE. Rather than simply focus on issues of compliance, this article evidences a close correlation between high levels of average entry for GCSE RS and higher overall attainment in the form of average points scores.

April

Through the RE Policy Unit, NATRE has worked with the Teaching Workforce Directorate of the DfE for several years. Following a freedom of information request we were able to learn more about the subject knowledge needs of those currently training to teach RE. Only 32% of the current cohort have a degree in Religious Studies, Theology or Theology and Religious Studies. This evidence supports the argument for the subject knowledge enhancement grants to continue. Read our article here and illustrative graphic here

Council for Subject Associations (CFSA)

Continuing to be part of the CFSA has once again been fruitful as we have had further meetings with OFSTED over ITE inspection and also with Oak Academy to hear their plans. These links enable us to hear what is happening in other subject associations and work with them on shared issues of interest.

Oak Academy

NATRE officers continued to work with Oak Academy over the summer and were pleased with the engagement we had with the secondary team.

Wes Streeting MP, Shadow minister for schools

Our CEO; Fiona Moss met him at a national primary group meeting in March where he spoke generally about the view Labour our forming on education. She was pleased to be able to ask a question about the importance of supporting subject specialist CPD for all teachers in subjects.

REPU Meeting with shadow minister

As part of REPU, NATRE representatives, supported by Politicoms, met with Wes Streeting MP for an hour to discuss RE. He is a passionate supporter of the subject and has an A level in the subject and explained how that had helped him in further studies in other subjects and in work. He has committed to working with us further and so we will be meeting with him again in a few months.

June

Report from REPU

This report was presented to the AGM of the RE Council of England and Wales (REC) and to the June Executive meeting of The National Association of Teachers of RE (REC). It is published here to share information and celebrate all the lobbying and advocacy activity that has been undertaken in support of our subject by NATRE and RE Today and by the REC and its member organisations. Teachers are invited to engage in this work and to make suggestions for other work that might be undertaken both locally and nationally.

The report can be accessed on our website here.

July

MOU with the DfE update

The memorandum of understanding with the DfE about their data publication is working well in allowing NATRE to support SACREs. We sent each SACRE an individual spreadsheet containing the data about the timetable for RE in each of the schools in their area that reported this year. This data will be used by SACREs to encourage schools to make good provisions and to investigate those who appear not to be making adequate provisions.

Following publication of curriculum guidance on the recovery curriculum, we worked with the DfE to ensure the reference to RE was accurate in relation to the law.

August

Initial Teacher Training Market Review

Both the REC and NATRE submitted responses to the Initial Teacher Training Market Review. The main focus of the response was the omission of RE from the subjects listed for inclusion in the primary curriculum, issues about subject knowledge and the importance of mentors having specialist expertise in the trainee subject.

We produced a press release for both the GCSE and A-level results and this was reported in several outlets. We were invited to appear on BBC local radio and have noticed that many of the interviewers are asking much more informed questions, likely as a result of us talking about RE with them regularly. The focus of the interviews was our call for a National Plan for RE. We subsequently published data to support the writing of examination reports for GCSE

September

REPU update and Parliamentary questions

The RE Policy unit is working with CSTG consultants on recruiting and deploying a series of Champions for RE. We produced a role description including some suggested activities. We have approached celebrities, governors, school leaders, thought leaders, parliamentarians and others to ask if they would be interested in the role and had many positive responses.

Robert Halfon MP asked a series of questions to Ofsted Chair; Dame Caroline Ryan about RE during an Education Select Committee meeting. (Q949). We are enquiring about the promised follow-up to these questions.

We were pleased to support publicity around CSTG’s survey into public perception of RE. This survey demonstrates that contrary to previous surveys, parents and employers do value RE. It is

We met with Kim Leadbeater MP for Batley and Spen. She was very supportive and offered to take further action to support our campaign. She subsequently tabled four parliamentary questions, visited a school saw their work in RE and has the date of SACRE in her diary.

October

REPU update and Parliamentary questions

Newly appointed minister for school standards; Robin Walker acknowledges the value of RE for a range of careers in response to a parliamentary question. We followed this up with a letter to request a meeting.

Two articles and a blog were published in magazines targeted at senior leaders in schools.
Teach Primary: Religious Education in Primary Schools -what’s the point? (Katie Freeman)
Teach Secondary: GCSE religious education – Why it must evolve to stay relevant (Ben Wood)
Secondary Ed: The value of Religious Education – Are we listening? (Kathryn Wright)

November

Parliamentary round table and NATRE data

Plans are well underway for a Parliamentary Round Table on RE. We have recruited a prominent politician to Chair the event which will take place in March 2022 and are now working on speakers and delegates.

NATRE published data about the teaching workforce for RE here and about the number of hours of RE schools of different types report as part of the school census here.

We met with Clive Harris - senior policy officer for the Local Government Association. We wanted to raise awareness of local authority responsibilities for RE with local councillors. We also explained some of the opportunities provided by working with and through local SACREs. Through the meeting, we were able to confirm that in most local authorities, the lack of capacity and funding, means that the support for RE envisaged when SACREs were established in law is now very much a thing of the past. We agreed to write some material for the LGA publications and liaise further with the LGA on their events and our Parliamentary Round Table.

December

Round table with AULRE and REThinkRE website update

In collaboration with AULRE, we hosted a round table for teacher educators about religion and worldviews. The aim was to initiate a conversation about the part an education in religion and worldviews was playing in teacher education led by Higher Education Institutions. Delegates reported that they found the session really helpful, and it has been agreed that the conversations will continue.

Following a shadow cabinet reshuffle, we wrote to the new team and requested meetings to discuss the RE Policy.

Our review of the updated REThinkRE website shows that visitors have increased by almost half. The most popular pages are, Why is a high quality RE Important? and our FAQs on religion and world views.

January

Inspecting RE: An examination of OFSTED inspections

The publication of the Religious Education Research Review was greeted positively by many teachers as it appeared to indicate that Religious Education was not only on Ofsted’s radar but potentially fairly high up their list of priorities.

The press release for the publication in May 2021 states,

”The review recognises that there is no single way of constructing and teaching a high-quality RE curriculum. However, it does identify some common features”

This article examines the inspection reports published between 1^st May - 14^th Oct 2021. We investigate whether inspectors are taking account of the factors identified in the research and if this is improving the potential of inspections to drive up standards in RE.

Members of NATRE will be able to download the full document and read extracts from inspection reports that include comments on the following:

1. Studying the curriculum in depth, knowing more and remembering more

2. A well-sequenced curriculum to ensure that pupils learn the knowledge they need for later topics.

3. Planning an ambitious curriculum

4. Collectively enough

5. Adequate curriculum time is given to RE so that leaders can deliver an ambitious curriculum.

6. Developing pupils’ personal knowledge helps them to relate the content to themselves (for example, their prior assumptions).

7. There is sufficient training and professional development so that teachers have appropriate subject professional knowledge.

8. The importance of visits and visitors

9. Links to SMSC and Personal Development

10. Generally poor or non-existent provision

11. The importance of subject leadership

Download the full document on this link.