A Critical Policy Analysis of Local Religious Education in England.

This critical policy analysis investigates the opinions and activities of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs) in England. It uses the five fundamental concerns of critical approaches to educational policy of Diem, et al (2014) to examine the diffuse power structure of SACREs and give voice to those local councils. Using data gathered in an online survey of SACREs, conducted between January and May 2017, it critiques the activities of SACREs and in identifying what they see as their future role, questions whether the complex, producer-based governance structure of religious education (RE) is preferable to a simple, neo-liberal centralised legal settlement. It suggests that those individuals and groups which are successful in surviving in the increasingly competitive, marketised, local RE policy landscape become intrinsic parts of the national neo-liberal solution.