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The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendation to embed Religious Education (RE) in a new national curriculum marks a watershed moment for education. Culham St Gabriel’s Trust celebrates this bold step toward equity, coherence, and justice. Over the last few years, we’ve championed a statutory national benchmark for RE- one that guarantees every pupil, in every school, access to high-quality, inclusive, and meaningful learning about religion and worldviews.

Why This Matters

I have often used this scenario in our advocacy over the last year…

Imagine being a 14-year-old student deciding whether to do RE as a GCSE option. Your experience of the subject has been fragmented – repeating content due to curriculum variations between local areas, missing key topics as you moved schools, or being taught by non-specialist teachers. You’re curious about how people live and view the world, but you feel unprepared and uncertain. This is the reality for many pupils across England.

The current system, with many different agreed syllabi and inconsistent provision, has led to widespread inequity. Some pupils receive rich, engaging RE; others receive none. This disparity is not just unfair – it’s educationally and socially unjust.

The report says:

‘Provision for RE is many schools is not good enough and does not prepare pupils adequately for life beyond school’ p. 108

The Case for Change

The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommendation affirms what those of us working this this field have long known: the status quo is untenable. At the recent Confederation of School Trusts Annual Conference 95% of those voting in our informal poll agreed that RE should go into a new National Curriculum. This included chief executives, headteachers, trustees, curriculum leads, inclusion leads, journalists, Diocesan Directors of Education and Year 10 pupils. This should encourage both the review panel, and the government as recommendations are taken forward. I believe the education world strongly supports this move as it will:

• Restore Equity: All pupils deserve access to a coherent and inclusive RE curriculum, regardless of their school’s governance or location.
• Ensure Consistent Standards: A national benchmark will help raise expectations, improve outcomes, and support accountability.
• Improve Provision: Schools will be required to allocate appropriate time and resources to RE, ensuring it is no longer sidelined.
• Modernise Content: A religion and worldviews approach will reflect the lived experiences of diverse communities, moving beyond outdated paradigms.

A Vision for the Future

The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommend a staged process, building on the National Content Standard for RE in England (2023) which could serve as the foundation for this new curriculum. I wholeheartedly support this approach. It offers a framework on which to develop further consensus and unite the education community. I am delighted that the report recommends Dr Vanessa Ogden chair a Task and Finish Group to lead this next stage.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I urge the religion and worldviews community-educators, faith and belief groups and policymakers – to come together for the common good. Let us work through the challenges together, be open to compromise where needed, take a humble approach and listen to one another.  I hope that we can build a curriculum that reflects the richness of human belief and experience, and ensures every child receives the education they deserve.

Six reasons why RE should be in a new National Curriculum https://www.cstg.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-worldviews/

Culham St Gabriel’s warmly welcomes the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s bold recommendation to embed Religious Education (RE) within a new national curriculum through a staged process. This marks a pivotal moment for education in England. We are proud to have championed this change throughout the last year through our advocacy and submission of evidence.

The Report states:

‘The Review believes that RE should be moved to the national curriculum to improve access to high-quality provision and prevent further diminishment… We believe a staged approach to reform is the most appropriate way forward’. P.109

We believe this move is essential to ensuring every pupil, in every school, receives equitable access to high-quality RE. It’s a vital step toward a more inclusive and informed society.

As this transformative vision takes shape through dialogue and negotiation with stakeholders, Culham St Gabriel’s stands ready to support policymakers and officials with our expertise and resources. We are committed to helping realise this once-in-a-generation opportunity. We strongly support the next steps and future approach set out in the report which seeks to create consensus, building on what has already been achieved through the establishing of the National Content Standard for RE in England.

We welcome the report’s recommendation that Dr Vanessa Ogden chairs a task and finish group to build on the constructive and collaborative work already undertaken as part of the review.

Our vision is clear: a broad-based, critical and reflective religion and worldviews education that fosters respect, understanding and openness. This recommendation brings us closer than ever to making this vision a reality.

Kathryn Wright, Chief Executive
Linda Whitworth, Chair of Trustees

To read more about our reasoning regarding RE taking its place in a National Curriculum  please see: https://www.cstg.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-worldviews/

For further information about our position contact Kathryn Wright, CEO, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust ceo@cstg.org.uk

Some years ago, I used the analogy of rock strata and the need for an earthquake in religious education. At the time, I was writing about the confusion over the purpose of the subject and related pedagogies.

If one looks at rock strata, there are some smooth lines, some more prominent than others, all layered on top of each other, but in places a bit broken or mixed up. It is unclear where one layer begins and another ends. Like these rock strata, purposes and pedagogies for RE have become layered, broken and mixed up. It is not clear on what basis some pedagogies are founded and others practiced. These layers or pedagogies in some cases do not sit easily with one another, and some appear to be contradictory. To move forward, this bewildering layering of purpose and pedagogy needs to be understood and then challenged. To continue the analogy, some kind of earthquake is required to break up the pedagogical approaches of the past and begin again with new foundations.
(A Pedagogy of Embrace, Wright, 2018, p.69)

In 2018 I was calling for change; for the religious education community to be prepared to uproot its foundations. Last week I attended the AREIAC/AULRE conference hosted by the University of Exeter, and I was challenged again about the need for revolutionary change. In particular, the following provoked my thinking (names of presenters are in brackets):

• Current philosophies of (religious) education, as well as substantive and disciplinary knowledge do not champion worldviews which honour the earth (Kate Christopher)
• Curricula and pedagogies do not enable flourishing for all. Some are dehumanising and there is a need to ‘unlearn’(Alex Brown)
• Religion and worldview literacy is vital for freedom of religion or belief to flourish, yet this is not embedded in our curricula, pedagogies or systems (James Holt
• (Religious) education has become quite technical, and beginner teachers do not have a worldview of (religious) education (Aidan Gillespie)
• There is a significant lack of awareness of religion and worldview diversity in some schools (Anna Strahn)
• There are gaps between theory and practice in relation to democratic citizenship, especially with reference to religion and worldview literacy (Alex Unser)
• Positionality needs to be considered more deeply in relation to methods, as well as content (Rob Freathy)

A religion and worldviews approach can contribute to this change. If both substantive content and pedagogy are reimagined teachers can begin to address some of the challenges posed above. However, the questions raised, particularly in relation to equity, justice and inclusion are far more wide reaching. They require fundamental systemic change, not simply reimagining. They require revolution.

The conference last week reflected some of the messages I took away from a recent roundtable hosted by The Runneymede Trust. Here I heard about pupils self-censoring in relation to race and religion. I heard about children and young people, as well as teachers, feeling unsafe in relation to expressing their own identities. This is deeply troubling and demonstrates the enormity of lack of inclusion and equity in our education system.

I have written previously about inequity in relation to RE. RE is one small part of our system. However, we must start somewhere, and this is the space where I find myself. RE must become part of the solution, not part of the problem. The subject has the potential to be truly transformative. The pedagogy of embrace that I proposed provides part of the solution – creating spaces for pupils to flourish, enabling deep encounters, and encouraging pupils to listen for wisdom in community with one another (Wright, 2018). Alongside this, I will continue to advocate for equity and justice more widely in our education system, to ensure that all children and young people are able to flourish.

It is surely time for revolution….

The steering group, made up of people from a variety of RE organisations, were delighted to have a record number of applications for the Culham St Gabriel’s Leadership Scholarship Programme this year. There was a very strong field of applicants making decisions on who to award places to a distinct challenge.

The 11 people who will join year one of the programme come from a variety of schools and school types with representatives from Primary, secondary and specialist provision stretching from Cornwall to Yorkshire. The successful applicants were;

Sally Brooman (Primary, Lincolnshire)
Mary Lou Byrne (Secondary, Yorkshire)
Jenny Kaur (Secondary, London)
Lindsey Leech (Secondary, Greater Manchester)
Khadija Mahir (Primary, London)
Liz Manning (Primary, Lancashire)
Christopher Mooney (Primary, Gloucestershire)
Jenni Rawlinson (Secondary, County Durham)
Greg Parekh (Secondary, Cornwall)
Nishat Sabur (Specialist, Hertfordshire)
John Semmens (Primary, Norfolk)

Thank you to all who applied and for those who didn’t perhaps this could be something for you next year.

The leadership scholarship programme provides opportunities for emerging RE/RVE/RME leaders to expand and deepen their reflections on educational leadership in the subject, through receiving mentoring, structured challenges, research insights, inspirational networking events, and experience of professional development delivery. We aim to develop leaders in the four areas of being research engaged, curriculum engaged, classroom engaged and politically engaged.

We are devastated by the news that our wonderful friend and colleague Dawn Cox has died. Dawn was for many years a consultant with Culham St Gabriel’s, overseeing our social media as well as supporting other aspects of our work including RE:ONLINE. Dawn’s love of the classroom and ensuring research applied to her day to day work was inspiring. She was never afraid to ask the challenging questions, pushing our thinking on and encouraging careful reasoning and creativity as a result. We will miss her greatly.

Kathryn, Tracey, Fiona and the Culham St Gabriel’s Team

My Chair of Trustees and I welcome the interim report from the Curriculum and Assessment Review Panel.

In particular we welcome the following statement on p.29 of the report,

Despite the fact that RE is compulsory for all pupils up to the age of 18 (unless they are withdrawn), evidence suggests that a lack of national agreed content standards has led to national disparities in the quality of provision.

We agree that the current status of religious education as part of the basis curriculum has led to inequity of pupils’ experience. Therefore, we reiterate our position regarding the subject becoming part of a new national curriculum. We understand that necessary safeguards may need to be put in place to ensure that schools with a Trust Deed (for example, some schools with a religious designation) are able to remain true to their foundation. However, we believe that the religion and worldviews community must come together for the common good in this moment for the benefit of all pupils to ensure equity and justice in terms of provision, standards and content.

Our sense is that there is widespread agreement that the status quo in relation to RE is untenable. This has previously been highlighted by Ofsted (2024). Whilst we acknowledge the challenges of making necessary changes to the position and status of the subject, this review provides a once in a generation opportunity to do so.

We agree that much more attention needs to be given to how this would work out in practice, but believe the consensus around the National Content Standard for RE in England provides a starting point. We encourage the panel to engage with stakeholders in the religion and worldviews community to ensure all voices are heard and that an equitable way forward is found.

Kathryn Wright
CEO, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust

Linda Whitworth
Chair, Culham St Gabriel’s Trust

A summary of our submission to the Curriculum and Assessment Review is available here:

To augment The All Saints Education Trust’s (ASET) charitable and educational aims and grant giving, they are aiming to develop and grow their social media profile to attract high quality organisational applications for programmes that support teacher training, and raise awareness of the individual awards that they give to trainee and practising teachers (RE/HE).

ASET are looking for an experienced communications/social media consultant for approximately 6-8 days’ work in January and February 2025.

Closing date 12 noon Friday 17th January

Full details can be found in the consultant description