§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether his Department has made any response to the statement in the memorandum from the Religious Education Council that the provision of religious education in schools is seriously threatened.
§ Dr. BoysonThe Religious Education Council presented a copy of its memorandum to my right hon. and noble Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster at a meeting in October 1980 which was part of our consultations on the school curriculum. After those consultations had been completed the Government published "The School Curriculum". Paragraph 27 of that paper says
The place of religious education in the curriculum and its unique statutory position accord with a widely shared view that the subject has a distinctive contribution to make to a pupil's school education. It provides an introduction to the religious and spiritual areas of experience and particularly to the Christian tradition which has profoundly affected our culture. It forms part of the curriculum's concern with personal and social values, and can help pupils to understand the religious and cultural diversity of contemporary society. The Secretaries of State consider that local education authorities should keep under review the provision made for religious education, bearing in mind the requirements of the Education Act 1944 as regards collective acts of worship and religious instruction; and that they should also reconsider from time to time the appropriateness of the Agreed Syllabus for their area in the light of the needs of particular groups of pupils and changes in the society in which the pupils are growing up".
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement concerning the findings of recent surveys from his Department which show that two-thirds of new teachers in primary schools had no training in religious education or had less than 10 hours training.
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§ Dr. BoysonResponsibility for the detailed content of courses rests with institutions and their validating bodies. However the Department and Her Majesty's inspectorate will continue to encourage those concerned with the initial training of primary school teachers to ensure, within the resources available to them, that adequate provision is made for religious education in all primary training courses.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) whether he will estimate the rate of re-entry into the teaching profession of religious education specialists in each of the last 10 years;
(2) whether he will estimate the annual rate of wastage from specialist religious education teachers in each of the last 10 years.
§ Dr. BoysonI refer my right hon. Friend to my reply to his question on 11 March—[Vol. 19, c.480.] My Department does not collect information about the number of teachers leaving or entering the profession differentiated by subject taught which would allow estimates of this kind to be compiled.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will estimate the number of teachers in maintained secondary schools in England and Wales who are teaching religious education; and what was the comparable figure in each of the last 20 years.
§ Dr. BoysonThe latest information is for 1977 when it was estimated that there were some 20,900 full-time teachers teaching religious education. Comparable figures are not available for earlier years.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will review the adequacy of the current provision for religious education in secondary schools in the light of the findings of his Department's secondary staffing survey 6/80 that 58 per cent. or 12,800 teachers without formal qualifications in religious education are assisting in the teaching of religious education; and whether any more recent survey is available.
§ Dr. BoysonThe information derives from the secondary school staffing survey carried out by my Department in 1977; no more recent survey is available. On the adequacy of the current provision for religious education I have nothing to add to the reply that I gave to my right hon. Friend on 11 March.—[Vol. 19, c.479–80.]
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he still considers that there is no immediate prospect of ensuring that all secondary school tuition in religious education can be given by teachers qualified in that subject.
§ Dr. BoysonYes.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Greenway) Official Report,10 December 1980, c. 677, how many local education authorities have included religious education amongst the list of shortage subjects for the purpose of implementing the Burnham circular BAC/200.
§ Dr. BoysonI understand from the Burnham primary and secondary committee, which was responsible for the196W issue of this circular, that it has so far received replies from 61 local education authorities, of which two identified religious education as a shortage subject.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further individual representations have been made to his Department by the 40 organisations affiliated to the Religious Education Council in connection with the provision of religious education in schools; what meetings he or his officials have held with the Religious Education Council or any of its affiliated organisations over the last 12 months, and with what result; and whether he has any plans to meet the Religious Education Council or any of its affiliated organisations in 1982.
§ Dr. BoysonDuring the past 12 months representations about religious education in schools have been received from the Association of Christian Teachers, the Christian Education Movement, the Methodist Conference, the Order of Christian Unity and the Shap Working Party.
My right hon. Friend discussed religious education with representatives of the Catholic Teachers' Federation earlier this year. I addressed the Christian Education Movement in April 1981 and later this month I shall be meeting representatives of the Order of Christian Unity. My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans for discussions with the Religious Education Council or any of its affiliated organisations.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will estimate the number of teachers whose main subject or highest qualification was religious education and who (a) are still teaching religious education and (b) are no longer teaching it, either because they are head teachers or heads of subject departments and who are therefore assumed not to be available for redeployment.
§ Dr. BoysonInformation available relates to maintained secondary schools in England and Wales in 1977. Of some 5,800 full-time teachers who were then estimated to have religious education as the main subject of their highest qualification, some 4,800 were teaching that subject and 1,000 were not teaching it. There is insufficient information to break down the latter figure reliably, in order to distinguish those teachers not available for redeployment.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the latest estimate of the number of teachers in (a) maintained primary schools and (b) maintained secondary schools in England and Wales whose main subject or highest qualification was religious education; and what percentage this figure represents of the total number of teachers in each type of primary school.
§ Dr. BoysonInformation is not available for maintained primary schools. The latest information on maintained secondary schools in England and Wales is for 1977, when there were estimated to be some 5,800 full-time teachers whose main subject of highest qualification was religious education, about 2½ per cent. of all full-time teachers.