John Keast, Chair of the Religious Education Council, October 2011

Three previous papers have described the critical situation which RE in England has faced over the past eighteen months, and outlined the threats to RE arising from the contextual, legal, curriculum and qualifications changes taking place in English education. This paper argues that the critical issues RE faces actually present it with a unique opportunity to develop a new and positive way forward for the subject that is both exciting but challenging. Failure to grasp this opportunity will set RE back by decades; a co-operative endeavour will provide the basis for future stability and greater success.

A critical but not fatal situation for RE in 2011