The bursary worked – The data now proves it

By Matt Pitcher, Head of RS, Upper Shirley high, Southampton; Member of the NATRE Executive

“The Government removed the RE bursary because recruitment had improved. The latest recruitment figures now show that the improvement disappeared as soon as the bursary was withdrawn.”

As a head of department in a thriving school, I am pleased to be welcoming a new entrant into the profession this September. I’m lucky that I was able to appoint and that the school could advertise early and that we were able to secure someone to come an help expand and improve the RE offer that we have at school.

However, I know that there are many schools that are not as lucky to appoint a trained RE specialist. A lot of this is down to the falling numbers in recruitment to ITT and the future looks bleak if the offer of the bursary does not reappear.

When the Department for Education (DfE) announced the withdrawal of the £10,000 Initial Teacher Training (ITT) bursary for Religious Education (RE), officials framed the decision around fiscal discipline and stabilising recruitment trends. In other words, RE had done reasonably well recruiting for 2024 -2026, so along with other subjects lost the bursary for applicants.

However, new data tracking accepted places for the upcoming academic intake reveals a stark reality: RE recruitment did not self-sustain—it was entirely powered by financial support.

As the government prepares for its next budget allocations and curriculum reviews, the latest numbers offer an empirical verdict on teacher training incentives.

The Hard Numbers: A Premature Policy Pivot

For two consecutive years prior to the cut, targeted bursaries created a clear upward trajectory in Religious Education PGCE applications. Trainee numbers grew steadily, demonstrating that targeted financial support could overcome widespread perception barriers and living-cost pressures for prospective postgraduate students.

The moment that financial lever was pulled, the recovery collapsed.

RE Recruitment Performance: Funded vs. Unfunded Cycles

The data confirms that the previous growth was not an indicator of a self-correcting market, but rather direct proof of the bursary’s efficacy. Leaving RE with just 294 accepted applicants—a fraction of what state secondary schools require—guarantees a deepening workforce deficit.

The Humanities Disparity: History vs. Geography vs. RE

To understand the severity of the crisis in Religious Education, it must be viewed alongside its sister humanities subjects—History and Geography. While History routinely meets its workforce quotas and Geography remains relatively resilient, RE suffers from a structural deficit that drives up vacancy rates and reliance on non-specialist staff.

While History departments routinely draw from deep talent pools and Geography maintains a baseline of applicant interest, RE departments face an ongoing recruitment wall. When schools fail to recruit a specialist RE teacher on the first round, they are forced into a costly cycle of re-advertisements—or ultimately forced to timetable TWOS.

The Human & Institutional Cost

Failing to recruit 35% of the required specialist RE workforce isn’t merely an administrative oversight; it directly impacts state school classrooms across England and Wales:

There is now becoming much more of an over-reliance on teachers with other specialisms. DfE workforce data consistently indicates that over 50% of secondary RE lessons are taught by TWOS—teachers whose primary qualification lies in another discipline. Without specialist oversight, pupils risk receiving superficial teaching on complex cultural, ethical, and theological concepts.

This has sadly also led to university course closures, as Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) rely on baseline cohort sizes to keep ITT pathways financially viable. Major institutions—such as the University of Birmingham—have already shuttered or announced the wind-down of their RE PGCE courses due to unviable intake numbers. Once university capacity closes, it cannot easily be rebuilt.

This also has a knock-on effect in regional areas. If you do not have a local establishment training, sending out beginning teachers to schools and departments, it means recruitment can be extremely difficult for those schools. Where I teach, we used to have three university providers regularly supplying the schools in the local area with the RE teachers of the future. Now we have only one, and that is a combined course with another humanity subject.

In addition, RE remains a legal, statutory requirement for all state-funded schools up to Key Stage 4. Cutting teacher supply while maintaining legal obligations places headteachers in an impossible scheduling position. The possibility of RE coming under the umbrella of the National Curriculum means that more RE teachers are required in the future.

 Direct Recommendations for Policymakers

1. Reinstate the RE Bursary for the Next Cycle: The data proves the £10,000 bursary was a highly effective mechanism. Reintroducing targeted support is the single fastest way to restore candidate pipelines.
2. Treat RE as a Strategic Shortage Subject: Subject allocations need to be tied to actual recruitment data over a 5-year average rather than short-term yearly caps.
3. Protect Higher Education Provision: Provide emergency transitional funding to key university ITT providers to prevent further course closures before the workforce pipeline permanently shrinks.

The Bottom Line for Whitehall: Financial incentives work. Removing the RE bursary did not optimize spending—it crippled recruitment for a compulsory subject. The DfE must look at the evidence and reverse this decision.

The data and figures cited across the draft are drawn from official UK Government datasets, national policy bodies, and independent teacher training research.

Here is the breakdown of the specific primary sources and statistical reporting bodies:

 Primary Data Sources & Datasets

1. Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Census & Target Data

• Source: Department for Education (DfE) / Explore Education Statistics (GOV.UK)
• Data Covered:
  • Annual Postgraduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) target achievement figures across secondary subjects.
  • Accepted trainee counts (e.g., 294 accepted RE applicants and 65% target achievement).
  • Comparative target achievement for History (~100%–120%) and Geography (~75%–90%).

2. School Workforce Census (SWC)

• Source: Department for Education (DfE) National Statistics / NATRE Memorandum Analysis
• Data Covered:
  • Percentage of RE, History, and Geography lessons taught by subject specialists versus non-specialist teachers (teachers without a post-A-level qualification in the subject).
  • The statistic that over 50% of secondary RE lessons are delivered by teachers with other specialism (TWOS).
  • The number of state secondary schools providing zero hours of timetabled RE at Key Stage 4.

3. RE Sector Policy & Impact Reports

• Sources:
  • RE Policy Unit (Joint policy arm of the Religious Education Council of England & Wales, NATRE, and Culham St Gabriel’s Trust).
  • Culham St Gabriel’s Trust Briefing: “Addressing the Crisis: Revitalising Religious Education Teacher Recruitment”.
  • NATRE (National Association of Teachers of RE): Annual School Workforce Analysis.
• Data Covered:
  • Impact of bursary introduction and removal on application volume (+40% surge during active funding years).
  • University course closure announcements (e.g., University of Birmingham closing its RE PGCE pathway).

4. Vacancy Tracking & Independent Analysis

• Sources: TeachVac (National Teacher Vacancy Service) and NATRE data (Data Analyst / Independent ITT Research)
• Data Covered:
  • Regional secondary RE job postings, re-advertisement rates, and application depth per advert compared to other humanities subjects.