Faith and academic leaders issue a letter expressing concern over the issue. "In an increasingly polarised world, theology helps us to understand other points of view”, they say.
Photo: [link]Changbok Ko[/link], Unsplash CC0.
According to the data from the Religious Education Council (REC) and National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE), “there will soon be only 21 higher education institutions in England and Wales offering undergraduate degrees in theology and religious studies”.
They compared those figures with 90 institutions that offer studies in history, 90 in music, and 101 in sociology.
Despite this context, the latest figures from the REC and the NATRE show that the number of students taking religious studies at A level in England remained stable, with “a slight fall from just 1.6%” on the previous year; while in Wales it grew by 5%, to almost 740.
The REC also states that there are “too few qualified entrants to religious education (RE) teaching”. Around half (51%) of the religious education teachers are specialised in another subject, while in the 2024–25 academic year, “only 20% of new entrants to RE Initial Teacher Training had a degree in theology and religious studies”.
Furthermore, the Subject Knowledge Enhancement grant, enabling graduates from a range of subjects to train to teach religious education and which accounted for 27% of all trainee RE teachers, has been withdrawn, making the “ongoing crisis of specialism worse”.
“Despite the subject’s lack of support, more and more students are turning to an academic study of the belief systems that have shaped the world's history and people’s lives", pointed out REC chair Sarah Lane Cawte.
However, “sadly many students who want to pursue the subject at A level cannot, with the subject still lacking the resourcing and attention to meet this growing demand”, she added.
Regardless of these, theology graduates and new pastors in evangelical churches often receive their training in seminaries or Bible schools which are not linked to universities.
This situation concerns many British faith leaders, academics and public figures, who have written an open letter, compiled by the Theos think thank, warning that the decline of RE studies “narrows the opportunities available to these young people as they take their studies forward”, and it also “has adverse effects for society”.
“Theology plays a crucial role in the intellectual, ethical and cultural development of communities. It equips people with the tools to engage more thoughtfully with global cultures and traditions and deeply with complex sacred texts”, underlines the letter.
Moreover, "in an increasingly polarised world, it helps us understand other points of view”.
“We owe it to the citizens of tomorrow to equip them with the tools to navigate this future and live together better. We can think of few better tools within our education system than theology and religious studies”, concludes the letter, which can be read in full here.
Meanwhile, recent data from the German Federal Statistical Office showed that the number of Protestant and Roman Catholic students choosing to study theology in Germany has fallen by around a third in the last five years.
The authors of the study point out that this crisis in theological education “is causing problems both in terms of replacing retired pastors and establishing new churches”.
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