More than a third of Religious Education teaching at Key Stage 3 is being delivered by teachers without a relevant subject qualification, highlighting continuing concerns over the shortage of RE specialists in England’s schools.

Analysis by the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE), drawing on Department for Education School Workforce Census data, shows that 34.1% of RE teaching hours at KS3 are delivered by teachers without a relevant post-A-level qualification.

The problem is particularly pronounced in RE. NATRE’s wider workforce analysis has found that 51% of teachers delivering the subject spend most of their timetable teaching something else.

NATRE argues that simply having a qualified teacher timetabled for an RE lesson does not necessarily mean pupils are being taught by someone with specialist knowledge of the subject.

Its analysis also suggests schools are concentrating their available expertise on older pupils. Across RE as a whole, specialists deliver around 72% of teaching hours, while a specialist averages 12.8 hours of RE teaching each week compared with 3.6 hours for teachers without a relevant qualification.

The organisation has warned that the situation raises questions about pupils’ access to high-quality subject teaching, particularly during KS3.

NATRE has called for greater investment in specialist recruitment and training, including the restoration of the postgraduate teacher-training bursary for RE and funded subject-knowledge enhancement courses.