Bursaries desperately needed for RE

Will the DfE finally take action to address the chronic shortage of secondary specialist teachers of RE?

In the next few weeks, the DfE is scheduled to announce the incentives it will offer to trainee teachers in 2023-24 to boost recruitment and address shortages.

NATRE has been campaigning on this issue for several years, evidencing the inconsistencies in the criteria for offering bursaries. The government has cut the target for training RE teachers in a move that appears to be an attempt to disguise their failure to meet the target in 9 of the last 10 years. However, supply is failing to meet demand. After a significant shortfall in the number of secondary RE specialist teachers completing their training last summer, at least 100 schools found themselves unable to recruit a teacher of RE last summer.

What will the DfE do?

Please use this infographic to write to your MP about this today, and ask them to speak to ministers. You can make a difference.

Download the infographic here:
Who teaches RE to the nation’s secondary schools?