Cartoon showing a child with a speech bubble above their head containing a question mark.

Respond to the Scottish government’s consultation on flawed religious observance bill

December 10, 2024

The Scottish government is consulting the public on a new bill which it claims will give pupils greater say over religious observance at schools. However, it is deeply flawed. Use our guide below to have your say.

The Scottish government has recently launched a consultation on a new bill to set in law some of its guidance around religious observance (RO). The bill would amend Section 9 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to make it a law that schools must consider pupils’ views when developing religious observance and religious and moral education.

My beliefs, my choice

We have been campaigning for many years for pupils to have the right to opt themselves out of religious observance. This is in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which includes the right to freedom of religion and belief. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly called for the end of compulsory RO in state-funded schools in Scotland. Our position is also supported by the children’s rights charity Together and has been backed by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.

The new bill does not change the government’s stance on religious observance, which gives children and young people a voice but no choice

A flawed bill

The new bill is wholly inadequate in upholding children’s rights according to the UNCRC, even though that is its stated aim. It does not give pupils the right to opt out of religious observance. Therefore it does not change the government’s stance on religious observance, which is to give children and young people a voice, but not a choice. This is particularly problematic as the government recently passed the UNCRC Incorporation Act, which requires all Scottish legislation to be compliant with children’s rights as defined by the UNCRC.

The Scottish Government must go much further and give pupils the independent right to opt out of religious observance. We would also favour moving to a solely opt-in system for religious observance, in recognition of the secular and religiously diverse profile of our school-age population.

Read our detailed position on the proposed bill in this briefing paper.

Have your say

If you agree with us, respond to the Scottish government consultation before it closes on 26 January 2025. The consultation is short, but feel free to answer as many or few of the questions as you wish. Ministers are especially keen to hear from teachers, parents, guardians, school councillors, and others on their experience of religious observance in school. You can tell your own story under question three (“What insights or experiences do you have regarding how to right to withdraw…works”).

We also invite you to consider question four, which asks if the proposals offer “a reasonable way forward [on] UNCRC compliance.” Under question five (“What mechanisms would be most effective…for giving due weight to pupils’ views”), we suggest proposing that pupils should have the right to opt themselves out of religious observance.

Respond to the Scottish government consultation