Insights from the history of the education of teachers of Religious Education in England. Subject specialists and specialization

Abstract

In this chapter, we offer insights into the history of the education of teachers of Religious Education (RE) in England, focusing particularly on the alluring, but persistently illusory, goal of subject specialisation. This is discussed in relation to the broader and more contentious question of subject definition, so as to illustrate the inextricable link between the two, and the extent to which clarity over subject specialisation is dependent on clarity over subject definition. The chapter uses various national, and sometimes government-sponsored, reports on education generally and RE specifically to identify and analyse numerous issues relating to the supply of, and demand for, subject specialist teachers of RE in England from the late 1920s until the present day. This includes understanding how changes and continuities in the formulation and application of the concept of subject specialisation may have contributed to inadequacies in the supply of, and support for, quality RE teachers and RE teacher education. Moreover, the chapter shows that teacher education provision is just one aspect of a complex interconnected ecosystem of contextual variables impacting upon (i) the quality of RE, (ii) conceptions of the knowledge, skills and other attributes that specialist teachers of RE should attain and exhibit, and (iii) decisions about the most appropriate forms of RE teacher recruitment and development.