The number of new religious education trainee teachers in England has risen by 30 per cent compared with last year - to its highest level in almost a decade.

The rise is mostly being attributed to a new government grant allowing graduates in other humanities subjects to do an eight-week subject knowledge enhancement course (SKE) in RE.

Deborah Weston, of NATRE (the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education), said:  “This additional government funding for SKE courses has opened up an exciting career in RE teaching to people from a broader range of backgrounds.

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“Trainees mainly come from other humanities, such as philosophy, history or sociology, but we have also seen new recruits from subjects including law, criminology or politics.”

More religious education teachers

A freedom of information request carried out by NATRE reveals that four out of 10 of the new teachers this year graduated in other humanities subjects.

The rise means the DfE has reached 93 per cent of its recruitment target for RE teachers this year, and that there are now a total of 488 new teacher trainees in RE, compared with 376 in 2018-19.

However, that figures compares with 860 new RE teachers in 2010-11, when the DfE exceeded its target by 131 per cent.

The SKE course for RE provides students with a bursary of £200 a week for the eight-week programme.

Anyone looking for more information about training to be a RE teacher should visit here.