National Content Standard E-learning course

January 2025

As we await the publication of the interim report of the Curriculum and assessment review in England please take a look at the Culham St Gabriel’s National Content Standard E-learning course.

This very brief introduction to the first edition of the National Content Standard for RE in England aims, in just 30 minutes, to summarise the key elements of this important non-statutory guidance document launched in Autumn 2023 by the Religious Education Council of England and Wales. We will find out what it is, who it is for and how it might be used.

As Deborah Weston says in her blog,

‘For too many years, the level and quality of provision for RE around England has been reported as inconsistent at best. This means thousands of pupils in our schools are denied their entitlement, established in law, to high-quality religious education. Instead, they receive either no RE, especially in key stage 4, or a single lesson combining the content of a range of subject areas, usually doing a disservice to all of them and often taught by teachers who are ill-equipped to do so.’

The Religious Education Council for England and Wales (REC) National Content Standard for RE utilises sections of the ‘Developing a Religion and Worldviews approach in Religious Education in England: a handbook for curriculum writers’ to establish a benchmark for high-quality religious education.

The number of organisations that have recommended the national content standard for RE in England continues to increase as you can see below.

Once you have completed the E-learning course consider;

• If you work in England what are you hoping for from the curriculum and assessment review?
• What are the problems of not having a national benchmark for religious education?
• What are the benefits of having a national benchmark for religious education?