A Crisis in Religious Education: The Decline of Specialists and the Threat to Social Cohesion

A Crisis in Religious Education: The Decline of Specialists and the Threat to Social Cohesion

Concerns are mounting in England and Wales over the growing shortage of specialist teachers in Religious Studies (RS), despite the subject remaining one of the most popular among secondary students. With nearly 250,000 pupils sitting RS at GCSE level in 2024—making it the seventh most popular subject—the gap between demand and qualified teaching provision is widening. According to government figures, more than half of RS teachers (51%) deliver the subject as a secondary responsibility rather than their primary area of expertise, a figure that has remained stubbornly unchanged since 2011¹.

Warnings from educators
Sarah Lane Cawte, Chair of the Religious Education Council of England & Wales, has sounded the alarm, warning that “too many in this enormous cohort continue to receive poor quality, tokenistic RE as an afterthought, something that threatens to undermine societal cohesion and leaves students poorly prepared for life in modern Britain.” She emphasised that high-quality religious education allows young people to explore their own worldview and those of others with empathy, intellectual curiosity, and academic rigour².

While the government restored a bursary for RS teacher training in 2024, it remains far below the levels offered for subjects such as geography, computing, and mathematics, raising questions about the seriousness of its commitment to safeguarding the subject’s future³.

Universities and the erosion of theology
The crisis extends beyond schools. Theology, once considered a cornerstone of the university curriculum, has suffered steep decline. Only 21 higher education institutions in the UK now offer theology courses, compared with 90 offering history and 101 offering sociology⁴. The Theos think tank, in an open letter, warned that such erosion of theological study could have “adverse effects for society,” depriving the nation of the intellectual tools needed to engage deeply with global cultures and sacred texts⁵.

A deeper malaise
The shortage of religious educators cannot be dismissed as a bureaucratic problem alone. It reveals something deeper about modern Britain’s loss of confidence in the role of religion within public life. While leaders frame RS as a matter of empathy, debate, and worldview, the very foundations of the subject—the reality of God, the claims of revelation, the truth of the Christian faith—are often deliberately avoided. What remains is a “neutralised” subject, where pupils are introduced to religions as cultural curiosities but denied the depth and coherence of doctrine.

This crisis mirrors the broader decline in theology within universities: the very discipline that formed the foundation of Western higher education is increasingly sidelined in favour of subjects judged more “practical” or “relevant” to economic needs. Yet, as history shows, the study of God and divine truth is not ancillary to human flourishing but its very heart. When theology is neglected, society is left unable to engage with the moral and spiritual dimensions of culture, reducing religion to sociology or politics.

Conclusion
The warnings of RS specialists deserve to be heard. But if their call is heeded only in terms of social cohesion or critical thinking skills, the heart of the matter will remain untouched. Religious education, and especially theology, should not be preserved merely as tools for tolerance or civic management. They must be restored as encounters with the truth, aimed at forming minds and souls in wisdom. Without this recovery, Britain risks raising a generation that knows about religion but does not know what it means to seek God.

1. Theos Think Tank, “Open Letter on the Decline of Theology,” 2025.
2. Department for Education, Teacher Workforce Data 2011–2024.
3. Religious Education Council of England & Wales, Press Statement, 2025.
4. Department for Education, Teacher Training Bursary Allocations, 2024.
5. UCAS Course Listings, 2025.