Religious Observance

Religious Observance (RO) is the name given to statutory worship in Scottish Schools,[1] which may occur during the school day.

Religious observance may take the form of a religious element of a school morning assembly (e.g. prayers or hymn singing), a visit to a church for a service or a visit by a minister to a classroom where children are encouraged to join in prayer or are told that doctrinal material is fact, rather than it being discussed in a comparative or historical context.

All parents have the statutory right to withdraw their child from religious observance, all schools should inform parents of this right.[2]

Criticism

Whilst all parents should be informed of their right to opt out of Religious Observance, a YouGov poll of 1000 parents found 39% of parents were not aware of their right to withdraw.[3] This was commissioned by the Humanist Society Scotland in April 2012.

On 3 June 2013 the Scottish Secular Society launched a petition to ensure every parent gave express permission for their child to attend RO.[4]


References

  1. ↑ "Education Scotland: Religious Observance - About". Education Scotland. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Scottish Government : Provision of Religious Observance in Scottish Schools". Scottish Government. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "The Humanist Society Scotland: A Survey into Parental Knowledge and Attitudes Towards RME and Observance in Scottish Schools" (PDF). The Humanist Society Scotland. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "PE01487: Religious observance in schools - Getting Involved : Scottish Parliament". Scottish.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
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