Campaigners call for end to compulsory worship in Welsh schools
Nation.Cymru staff
A campaign group has called for compulsory religious worship in Welsh schools to be scrapped and replaced with inclusive assemblies.
Wales Humanists has urged the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee to examine the law on collective worship during the Seventh Senedd and consider legislative reform.
Schools in Wales are legally required to provide a daily act of collective worship. In schools without a religious character, this must be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character.
Wales Humanists argues that the requirement is increasingly out of step with modern Wales and the approach taken by the Curriculum for Wales.
Under the curriculum, Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) includes both religious and non-religious philosophical convictions.
The group wants compulsory worship in schools without a religious character replaced by inclusive assemblies where pupils could consider shared values, ethical questions, significant events and issues affecting their communities.
It has also called on the Senedd committee to examine pupils’ experiences of collective worship, arrangements for withdrawing children and whether the existing system is compatible with freedom of religion or belief.
The Welsh Government has committed to reviewing guidance on collective worship, but Wales Humanists says changing guidance would not address the underlying legal requirement.
The statutory requirement for collective worship in state schools dates back to 1944.
Kathy Riddick, Wales Humanists policy and campaigns manager, said: “Children should not have to choose between taking part in religious worship they do not share, and being separated from their classmates. Our schools should be places where every child can participate equally.
“Wales has already recognised the importance of representing both religious and non-religious beliefs in the curriculum. It is now time to bring our approach to school assemblies into line with those values.”
Wales Humanists is part of Humanists UK, a charity which campaigns on behalf of non-religious people.
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That… doesn’t gel with Welsh identity even I know that much. Though arguable the worship should be Druidism rather than Christianity, but even then Christianity is very much embedded in Welsh culture nowadays. Also there is Eglwys yng Nghymru (I am not sure how to pronounce this) which very much could use some support. Worth reminding that the UK has a state religion, it’s called Christianity. It’s a bit odd for State schools in a country with a nation religion, not to be teaching that religion. (Bit rich, since I got kicked out of RE class because I was a… Read more »