Barnardo's Scotland Children and Young People Engagement Report – Religious Observance and Religious Education in Schools

2. Background

The Scottish Government is updating legislation on religious observance (“RO”) and religious and moral education (“RME”, also known as “religious education” in denominational schools) in schools to reflect changes in the consideration of children and young people’s rights and views as part of any parental request to withdraw a child from RO/RME.

The Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Act 2026 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 17 February 2026 (after the conclusion of the engagement with children and young people for the purposes of this report). The Act creates a legal requirement for schools to consider children and young people’s views when their parent/carer submits a request to withdraw them from RO. It also separates RO and RME in relation to the parental right to withdraw, so that it is no longer possible for a parent to withdraw their child from RME.

The Act does not provide a right for pupils themselves to request withdrawal from RO, but it does give Scottish Ministers the power to make such provision in regulations, should they choose to do so.

Alongside the Parliamentary process, the Scottish Government wanted to engage directly with children and young people to inform the development of guidance on the updated withdrawal process to support schools, pupils and parents with the changes. They also wanted to seek views on a right to independently withdraw for pupils should this be considered at a future date.

The Scottish Government commissioned Barnardo’s Scotland to undertake a young person’s participation project to:

1. Engage meaningfully with children and young people to explore their experiences and views of RO and RME, including in denominational schools.

2. Gather children and young people’s views on the forthcoming legislative changes requiring their views to be considered when parents ask to withdraw them from RO or RME. (Though as noted above, the proposed legislation was amended during the Parliamentary process during the engagement period, so that it would no longer be possible to withdraw a child from RME.)

3. Explore children and young people’s perspectives on whether they should have an independent right to withdraw from RO, RME or both, and the potential implications of such a right.