Religious education in schools is to come under attack in a report which will warn that more than half of those who teach the subject do not have any expertise. A cross-party group of MPs, peers and bishops will claim that “a raft of recent policies” have undermined the teaching of RE in schools. Their report, includes a survey of 430 schools, which found that 10 out of 130 secondary schools broke the law by not teaching RE to some pupils. In a quarter of the primary schools surveyed, pupils were being taught by teaching assistants, rather than qualified teachers, while 43 per cent of staff teaching RE in primary and secondary schools did not have any specialist training in the subject. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Education described its findings as “unacceptable”. “A raft of recent policies have had the effect of downgrading RE in status on the school curriculum, and the subject is now under threat as never before.

Pray: for those with control over the content of schools' curriculum will recognise the vital importance of R.E. In our multicultural and multi-faith society. (Dt.6:5-8)

More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9934940/MPs-attack-Governments-downgrading-of-religious-education.html