No right to remove pupils from RE in new Welsh Curriculum – but several questions remain

Welsh Government Education Minister Kirsty Williams AM has confirmed the Government’s decision on religion, relationships and sexuality education and announced plans for ‘sensitive and careful implementation’. In a piece cross-posted with permission from his blog, Russell Sandberg comments on the announcement.

The Welsh Government has announced that pupils in Wales will have ‘universal access’ to the new Welsh Curriculum from September 2022. Further to a consultation last year, there will be no parental right to opt out of either Relationship and Sexuality Education (the new name for Sex Education) or Religious Education.

The press release also stated that the consultation showed support for renaming the subject Religious Education, that the most popular choice was ‘Religion, Values and Ethics’ and that the name would be changed when the new curriculum comes into effect. This doesn’t seem to confirm that ‘Religion, Values and Ethics’ will be the new name but that is the inference. This is different from the proposal in the consultation for ‘Religions and Worldviews’. Continue reading