Fiona Moss: Many schools are breaking the law by failing to teach religious education - MA EduInfo.

Fiona Moss, an executive officer for NATRE, has raised alarm concerned religious education, which he said too many schools are breaking the law by failing to teach religious education, and urged all schools to make Religious Education a compulsory subject.

A new survey has shown, as one expert said the subject can be seen as an "Easy loss" amid financial pressure. A survey published by the Religious Education Council and the National Association of Teachers of RE found that a quarter of the schools polled said they do not offer the subject to all students at GCSE level.

The survey found differences between types of schools - with 96 per cent of faith schools saying they offer the subject to all 14 to 16-year-olds, compared with 73 per cent of academies.

Information collected by the two organizations from the Government's workforce census under Freedom of Information requests also suggests that some schools are not teaching religious education.

The request asked for the number of hours of RE each secondary school in England taught to each year group - from Year 7 to Year 11.

For each year group, the proportion of schools teaching no hours in 2015 was around one in four, the report calculates, with the highest proportion being around 28 per cent for Year 11.

By law, RE must be taught by all state-funded schools in England.

Fiona Moss, an executive officer for NATRE, said too many schools were "Breaking the law", resulting in "Missing out on religious education".

"If you are an academy, there's a freedom about how you can teach RE and I think some schools struggle with that freedom and think they do not have to be as committed to RE," she said.

"They're under financial pressures and maybe this is an easy loss." NATRE's research officer, Deborah Weston, said: "Whilst many schools, including academies and free schools, are continuing to deliver good RE, these statistics highlight serious problems that have implications for cohesion and inclusivity in our society, as well as presenting questions around the role of specialist RE teachers in schools. "By developing knowledge and understanding about different religions and world views in the security of a classroom, young people have the opportunity to engage with complex, diverse and constantly evolving subject matter.

"But Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools may be teaching the subject in different ways, rather than through specific RE lessons.

"Religious education remains compulsory for all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools, at all key stages and we expect all schools to fulfill their statutory duties." It is up to schools to decide how to offer RE, whether it is through classes in the subject, or alongside other topics, the DfE said.