The Free Church of Scotland’s Public Engagement Group has responded to the Scottish Government’s proposals to amend the legislation on religious observance and religious education in schools.
The Scottish Government’s consultation document states: “The proposed changes will support the alignment of legislation with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 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.”
It added that the Scottish Government proposals to amend the legislation seeks to “ensure clarity and put the position in relation to UNCRC compliance beyond doubt as soon as possible”.
But, the Public Engagement Group say that the proposal “does not provide clarity”. The Group believes the current legislative position in Scotland is already compliant with United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and says that “existing law should remain unchanged”.
The Group says: “The current provisions respect parental rights by allowing parents to withdraw their children from RO and, in practice, from certain elements of RE if these conflict with their beliefs. This approach aligns with Article 5 of the UNCRC, which emphasizes the importance of parental guidance in line with the child’s evolving capacities.”
“We believe religious observance and religious education should be maintained as a meaningful and distinctive component of the curriculum as it fosters moral and spiritual reflection among pupils. Whilst we note the proposals are not to abolish religious observance and religious education, we are concerned that the proposed reforms will undermine them and dilute their impact. The changes could lead to confusion or unintentional marginalisation of religious perspectives in the curriculum.”
The Group highlighted four negative implications if the proposals go ahead:
1. Greater religious illiteracy is Scotland – potentially leading to less community cohesion and understanding of difference.
2. Reduction in moral and spiritual reflection which will result in more people in Scotland being unable to engage in public debate on ethical issues in a meaningful way.
3. Undermining of parental rights – including introduction of potential conflict between parent and child. This undermining of parental rights could result in Scotland no longer being compliant with other international human rights treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights.
4. Additional burden on staff as they seek to assess maturity of children to opt out and process opt outs / provide suitable alternative arrangements.
The Group concluded: “We believe these proposals will undermine children’s rights and equalities by depriving them of the benefits of RO and RE – particularly as it is often within these contexts that children’s rights are taught and explored in the context of ethical discussions. Children will be less equipped to contribute to Scottish public life and society due to a lack of understanding of the various religious and non-religious traditions in Scotland and the wider world.”
To view the consultation response, go to: Respondent Information Form