SCHOOL lessons are failing to teach Christianity properly, the Bishop of Oxford and Ofsted inspectors warned yesterday.
More than half of pupils in UK state schools are not being taught Religious Education properly, a report published by Ofsted said.
The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, who is also chairman of the Church of England’s education board, said Ofsted’s findings were no surprise to him.
He added: “I’m afraid it only confirms what we have been saying for the past two or three years — that there are some serious deficiencies in RE.”
Bishop John said he was concerned about the quality of RE teaching, with six out of 10 primaries and five out of 10 secondaries not giving adequate religious education.
Ofsted said 60 per cent of the 185 schools visited failed to teach the subject properly.
Ofsted’s director of schools, Michael Cladingbowl, said: “Often we found religious education lessons being squeezed out by other subjects and children and young people leaving school with little knowledge or understanding of different religions.”
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