Religious studies is still one of themost popular subjects among school pupils, according to the latest figures from the Religious Education Council (REC) and the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE). RS is now the seventh most popular subject at Key Stage 4, placing it firmly in the top ten out of 31 available subjects.
However, uptake in England has dipped slightly this year, down by 2.1 per cent.
Despite its popularity, the REC is concerned about a shortage of specialist teachers. More than half (51 per cent) of religious studies teachers are qualified in another subject. In the 2024–25 academic year, only one in five new RS teachers had a degree in theology or religious studies.
The problem has been made worse by the withdrawal of the Subject Knowledge Enhancement grant, which previously helped graduates from other disciplines gain the subject knowledge needed to teach RE. The grant used to account for over a quarter of all trainee teachers in RS.
In a statement, REC chair Sarah Lane Cawte said: “We have a worrying situation in our schools where one of the most widely taken GCSEs is taught by an ever-declining number of specialists. 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.”
University options for theology and religious studies are also shrinking. Only 21 higher education institutions in England and Wales now offer degrees in the subject, compared to 90 for history, 90 for music, and 101 for sociology.
This trend is affecting the number of students enrolling to study the subject at university. According to The British Academy, in 2019 there were around 6,500 fewer students taking these subjects in 2017/18 compared to 2011/12 - almost a 50 per cent drop in six years.
For those interested in ministry rather than academic study, there are around 30 Christian Bible colleges and 23 Church of England theological institutions in the UK. However, many are closing due to financial pressures and falling enrolment, including St John’s College, Nottingham, which closed in 2019, and Redcliffe College, which closed in 2020.
The Church of England has also seen a 40 per cent fall in the number of people training for ordained ministry since 2019.