VICTORIA'S teachers' union is calling for an end to religious education in state schools, increasing pressure on the Baillieu government over the controversial program.

The Victorian branch, representing 46,000 state school teachers, passed a resolution at its Friday council meeting calling for Special Religious Instruction during school hours to be scrapped.

Its resolution stated that public education must remain ''free and secular''.

The union's push was supported by three Victorian state school principals contacted by The Sunday Age, who said religious education - predominantly Christian in its focus - was often badly taught, sent the wrong message to students and was a waste of valuable classroom time.

The developments follow mounting criticism by parents, teachers and principals of the program, and damaging revelations about how it is administered and what is being taught .