The Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) meeting scheduled for Thursday 5 March 2026 was set to discuss a range of educational matters, with a significant focus on the future of Religious Education (RE) in secondary schools and the implications of a national curriculum review. The meeting's agenda also included an update on the Education Durham report and considerations for professional development for RE teachers.

Curriculum and Assessment Review: Reflections and Implications

A key item on the agenda was the discussion of the Curriculum and Assessment Review: Reflections and Implications, stemming from the final report published in November 2025. This review, titled Building a world-class curriculum for all, proposed significant changes to Religious Education. The report highlighted that RE is a basic curriculum subject ¹ from Key Stages 1 to 4, with a consistent take-up of GCSE Religious Studies over recent years. However, it also noted concerns about the inconsistent quality of RE provision across schools, partly due to the lack of national standards and a teacher workload crisis, with a significant proportion of secondary RE teachers being non-specialists.

The review recommended that RE should be moved to the national curriculum to improve access to high-quality provision. It suggested a staged approach, beginning with the formation of an independent task and finish group, comprising representatives from faith groups, secular groups, and the wider education sector, to develop a draft RE curriculum. This group would build upon the existing National Content Standard for RE in England and consider whether the name of Religious Education should be changed. The report also suggested reviewing the non-statutory guidance for RE, which had not been updated since 2010, and considering the removal of the statutory requirement for learners in school sixth forms to study RE.

Education Durham Report to SACRE

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update from Sarah Blakeman, Senior Professional Learning Advisor for Education Durham, through the LA report to SACRE March 2026 . This report acknowledged the service of Paul Welch, the outgoing Chair of SACRE, and noted the passing of a valued SACRE member, Deanna Van der Velde. The report also provided an overview of the new Ofsted framework, which began inspecting schools in November 2025. Under this new framework, schools are reviewed across several areas, including safeguarding, leadership and governance, curriculum and teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing, and inclusion. RE is specifically mentioned within the 'curriculum and teaching' and 'personal development and wellbeing' sections of the framework.

The report also detailed professional development and networking opportunities for RE leaders and teachers. It presented statistical information on bookings and attendance for recent events, such as the Autumn RE network and the Primary RE day, noting that attendance figures were typical for such events due to factors like staff absences and Ofsted-related demands. Evaluative feedback from these events was consistently positive, with common strengths cited including the opportunity for networking, knowledgeable leadership, and keeping up-to-date with national developments. The report also outlined requests from schools for further support on assessment, planning, and understanding the implications of the Ofsted framework for RE.

Examination outcomes for Key Stage 4 (GCSE) and Key Stage 5 (A-level) Religious Studies were presented, showing that while GCSE results remained broadly in line with the national average, there was a marginal dip in the percentage of students achieving grade 4 or above. Progress measures for GCSE RE had increased year on year. For A-level, results were in line with the national average, though progress had dipped. The report also included an analysis of workforce data, examining the percentage of hours students study RE by year group against recommended hours outlined in Durham's Agreed Syllabus. This data indicated that some schools were not meeting the recommended hours for RE, particularly in Key Stage 3.

RE in Secondary Schools

The agenda item RE in Secondary Schools was scheduled to be discussed, alongside the NASACRE Training and Holocaust Memorial Day . While the specific details of the discussion on RE in secondary schools were not elaborated upon in the provided documents, it is likely to have been linked to the broader discussions on the curriculum review and the Education Durham report, addressing the current state and future direction of RE provision for secondary-aged pupils.