A Retrospective

My RE career began in 1973-4 taking a PGCE at the London Institute of Education. My only experience of RE were my very varied lessons at school! I became intensely interested in the study of religion, gaining a London BD, or a Bachelor of Divinity, in 1969. Although my career eventually took me to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), now abolished, my best experiences in RE were seeing young people engage with the study of religion and becoming stimulated by it in terms of their own development.

I became acquainted with Culham and St Gabriel’s, two Anglican trusts established when church training colleges closed with the enlargement of state education. These trusts devoted funding to the development of Religious Education in schools. I cooperated on some projects with these trusts. When I left QCA in 2003 I was invited to join both of them. Later on, I chaired the Committee that negotiated their merger, creating the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust. I became Chair in 2018 when the renowned Dr Priscilla Chadwick retired. It was very satisfying to see how Culham St Gabriel’s makes a real difference by using its funds to support individuals and organisations.

In 2004 I became a consultant at the Department for Children Schools and Families (Department for Education today). I oversaw the development of the Non-Statutory National Framework for RE and established a partnership between the DSCF and the RE Council (REC). This greatly increased the REC’s status and available resources, securing a national “£1m” RE Action Plan from 2005-10.

In 2010 the arrival of Michael Gove as Secretary of State changed everything. I was retired from Department of Education work, having been awarded my OBE, and became Chair of the REC in 2011. I attempted to continue the same partnership with the Department for Education, but faced significant challenges. RE was neglected by the DfE and this damaged the subject. An increasing academisation agenda, the instigation of the EBacc, examination and National Curriculum changes have had a negative effect on RE’s provision and status. The fragmentary nature of RE provision, patchy professional support for teachers and inconsistent classroom practice continue as challenges today.

Despite this, in 2013 I published the REC’s Review of RE, with a foreword by Michael Gove. This enabled developments in RE, for example, the evolution of regional RE hubs, an RE Policy Unit at the REC, and the report of the Commission on RE. Educational provision in England has changed radically for people like me brought up under the 1944 settlement and the national support for RE by the QCA. There has been a clear RE decline in many schools since 2010, especially those not of a religious character. The diverse and variable provision now in existence, within which RE tries to thrive, is harder to engage with and manage, so I fear for RE provision and teachers in the short term. But have no doubt that the study of religion and worldviews will survive because of its intrinsic value. I just hope that in the next half century the REC will be successful in reforming the structure of RE, in articulating the subject in ways that the public, media and government positively value, and in supporting it with sufficient training and resources. If the REC cannot bring this about, I am not sure who can!