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Written question asked by Shivani Raja (Conservative) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Religion: Education

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of the proportion of unqualified teaching hours in Religious Education at Key Stage 4 relative to History and Geography.

Answer

Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

This publication includes information on the proportion of timetabled hours delivered by specialist teachers for each subject and key stage for secondary schools at national level. The latest available figures, for November 2025, for religious education, history and geography at key stage 4 are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/3ba6e5c3-e5e7-43f3-2df3-08df07a6df71.

Timetabled teaching is reported for a typical week in November, as determined by the school. It does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the department.

Data on the subject taught and specialist teaching are only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce data in the format required. Data is then weighted to provide national totals. Breakdowns by local authority are therefore not available.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
22513
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Education Qualifications Teachers Religion
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk