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Publication - Research and analysis

Initial Findings - Barnardo's Scotland Children and Young People Engagement - Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill

Published
16 February 2026
From
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, +5 more … Director for Children and Families, Director of Education Reform, Director of Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights, Director-General Education and Justice, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise
Directorate
Education Reform Directorate, +2 more … Children and Families Directorate, Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Directorate
Topic
Children and families, Education, Equality and rights
ISBN
9781806437832

Initial findings from Barnardo’s Scotland consultation with children and young people, on behalf of the Scottish Government to seek their views on the Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Theme 2 – Joint decision making with trusted people

Young people want their view to be given significant weight within the decision making, but stress that they want to have constructive conversations with those they trust to enable them to make informed decisions about opting back into RME and RO.

‘It is good to have lots of people to talk to, don’t want it to be a blind decision, at the end of the day it should be your choice’

‘let me speak for the whole time and ask questions and they would understand’

‘unsure - not that I think they [parents] should make the decision but should again be a discussion with the parents’

‘parents should have a say… if you drop RE completely, [there is an] imbalance, some would know more about religions than others’

For the younger groups we focused on what decision making looked like for them through a creative activity of making ‘decision-making machines’. See appendix 1.

Contact

Email: ROandRME@gov.scot

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