Proposals to amend the legislation on religious observance and religious education in schools

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Closes 26 Jan 2025

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Questions

This consultation seeks views on proposed changes to section 9 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (“the 1980 Act”). The proposed changes will support the alignment of legislation with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by requiring that children and young people’s views are taken into account in relation to their participation in religious observance (“RO”) and religious and moral education (“RME”) as a curricular area, also called religious education in denominational schools (“RE”), as part of their attendance at a public or grant-aided school.

The current legislation gives parents a right to withdraw their child (of any age) from both RO and from RME as a subject, without taking into account the views of the child. This also applies to denominational schools.

The Scottish Government proposes to amend section 9 of the 1980 Act to require due weight to be given to the pupil’s views when parents are exercising their right to withdraw their child from RO/RME, which would bring legislation into line with existing guidance on RO. 

Related Information

RO, sometimes also called ‘collective worship’ or ‘time for reflection’, plays an important role in promoting the spiritual development of pupils, as well as expressing and celebrating the shared values of the school community. This might be woven throughout the school day, or take the form of specific assemblies, and sometimes includes parents, carers and community representatives from faith and non-faith groups, as well as pupils and staff.

Scotland is a multi-faith and multi-cultural society, where people of all faiths and none can flourish. Therefore as noted in current Scottish Government guidance, RO in schools must be sensitive to individual spiritual needs and beliefs, whether these come from a faith or non-faith perspective, while being equally sensitive to Scotland’s longstanding religious traditions and origins, including Christianity, and seeking to reflect these.

1. What are your views on the proposed changes, including in terms of practicality for schools and ease of implementation?
2. What do you anticipate being the main positive and negative implications of these changes, including for schools, pupils, parents and any financial implications?
3. What insights or experiences do you have regarding how the right to withdraw from religious observance and RME/RE currently works in schools, including how schools communicate with parents, the pupil’s voice and the practical application of the withdrawal process?
4. Do you think the proposed changes offer a reasonable way forward at this time to address questions about UNCRC compliance?
5. What mechanisms do you think would be most effective for ensuring that schools and parents give due weight to pupils’ views when considering withdrawal from religious observance or RME/RE?
6. As part of our work to bring forward amendments to legislation, we will finalise a Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment, and an Equality Impact Assessment. To help inform this work, we would welcome your views on the impact of our proposals on children's rights and equalities, as well as any related evidence/research you may be aware of.

More information

A Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) asks a range of questions to encourage and guide thinking around potential impacts. This includes questions around impacts on specific groups of children, and potential positive and potential negative impacts.

The CRWIA uses two frameworks in its assessment:

An Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) helps us think about how a policy might affect different groups. This includes people with protected characteristics. It is evidence-based and helps public bodies to ensure policies, practices, events and decision-making processes support equal opportunities, are fair and produce better results.

Equality means creating a fairer society where everyone can participate and have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, though this does not mean treating everyone as if they were the same.