In a guest post, Russell Sandberg compares and contrasts the Scottish proposals for reforming the law on religion in schools with the position in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government is currently consulting on amending the law on religious observance in schools. Section 9 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 gives parents the right to withdraw their children from both ‘religious observance’ and ‘the provision of instruction on religion’. In light of United Nations’ concerns about the right of children to have their views considered in matters that affect them and their right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, it is proposed to strengthen existing guidance that schools should take into account learners’ views and to require due weight to be given to the parents’ views when parents are exercising their rights to withdraw their children. As argued by Gemma Clark in The National, this stops short of actually giving children themselves the right to withdraw.

This issue has arisen in the other parts of Great Britain. Continue reading →