Scottish Children’s Commissioner calls for changes to collective worship in schools

The Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland has warned the Scottish Government that its proposed changes on religious observance in schools do not go far enough to ‘empower children to make a decision on their participation in collective worship.’ Similar issues with collective worship exist across the UK and a Private Members’ Bill is to be debated in the House of Lords next week seeking to tackle the issue. Humanists UK has welcomed the call.

Collective worship: what the law says

Throughout the UK, the law requires that there be periodic collective worship in state schools. Where schools are religious, this must be in line with the faith of the school, whereas in other schools it must be Christian.

In Scotland such assemblies have to happen six times a year, whereas in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland the law says they must happen every day.

Issues with Scottish Bill

In seeking to give children more power over their engagement with collective worship, the Scottish Government has proposed schools have the power to reject parental requests to remove them from collective worship if the child wants to remain. The Commissioner has instead recommended that ‘Children should be able to independently exercise a legal right to withdraw from religious observance.’

Humanist Society Scotland is similarly calling for children to be able to remove themselves independently from collective worship, with Chief Executive Fraser Sutherland saying ‘It is not right that in this day and age, in a majority non-religious country such as Scotland, young people are being made to sit through compulsory Christian worship regardless of their beliefs, religious or not.’

Humanists UK agrees, and has said these points should be heard by the UK Government and Parliament as they consider the Private Member’s Bill.

Campaign in England: replacing collective worship with inclusive assemblies

Baroness Burt of Solihull, Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG), has introduced a Bill to replace mandatory daily collective worship with inclusive assemblies in England. It will have its Second Reading in the House of Lords on Friday 7 February.

The Education (Assemblies) Bill would require schools to deliver assemblies that develop the ‘spiritual, moral, social, and cultural education’ of all pupils, regardless of religion or belief. Pupils would be permitted to opt in to voluntary acts of worship if they wished, with parents retaining the right to withdraw those aged under 16 from such sessions.

The UK remains the only sovereign state in the world where Christian worship is compulsory in state schools without a religious character.

Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Kieran Aldred commented:

‘Both the UK and Scottish Governments should take note of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner’s feedback. It is not acceptable that young people across the UK are forced to attend religious worship – even when they attend schools with no religious character. It is time for mandatory collective worship to be removed from all nations in the UK, and we hope in England parliamentarians will enable this by supporting Baroness Burt’s Bill to replace collective worship with inclusive assemblies.’