The Church of Scotland has spoken out against plans to permit children to overrule their parents in the event that they withdraw them from religious education.
The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 permits parents to take their children out of spiritual education and acts of spiritual observance in school.
This arrangement went on undisturbed until last 12 months when Scotland passed a law that includes parts of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law. One such provision is the suitable for youngsters to be heard.
This has left Scotland with a legal contradiction. The 1980 Act gives parents the suitable to choose on behalf of their child whether or not they might be withdrawn from religious education, but currently gives no weight to the opinion of the kid on the matter.
To resolve this, the Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill 2025 was proposed in April of this 12 months.
Currently at Stage 1 of the legislative process, various experts and interested parties have been invited to offer evidence on the matter.
Speaking on behalf of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Stephen Miller said that opting out of spiritual education left children prone to having no knowledge of the beliefs and practices which have shaped the society around them.
Despite this, he said that the Church supported the suitable of fogeys to withdraw their children from religious education and observance.
“The bill’s aim of ensuring that a baby’s voice is heard in discussions about withdrawal is welcome, and we fully support this. However, the proposals go further: they might allow a baby’s view about potential withdrawal … to override that of a legally responsible parent/carer,” he said.
Rev Miller noted that the plans are unclear as to the extent of maturity a baby would want to ensure that their views to be taken under consideration and added that the bill may lead to the exacerbation of tensions between schools, students and fogeys.
“We also fear that legislating as suggested could effectively tie the hands of faculties, learners and fogeys/carers to give you the chance to have constructive conversations on this matter and will exacerbate potential disagreements between parents/carers and youngsters – and even, possibly, between parents or carers,” he said.
“To introduce two conflicting priority rights doesn’t seem sensible or desirable in obtaining a harmonious solution.”
Sandra Blair, Youth for Christ Scotland Lead and Christian Values in Education Scotland Management Committee member, said it was to be welcomed that kid’s views may very well be heard and that the bill “will not be pushing for automatic removal of all religious observance/education”.
However, she voiced concerns concerning the implications for schools having to “follow the kid’s wishes” and striking a balance, noting that a variety of teaching to pupils about their rights “has missed the messaging about how ‘with rights come responsibilities’”.
“Sometimes parents try to do what’s best for his or her child when the kid doesn’t see it that way so I don’t think it needs to be an automatic default to regardless of the child wants,” she said.
She added that having to facilitate conversations between parents and pupils may lead to extra administrative burdens for varsity staff, adding to “an already heavily loaded amount of faculty paperwork”.
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