Historically it has been the custom for Religious Observance to be practised and Instruction in religion to be provided in Scottish schools (based on the 1872 Education Act)  and this tradition has been reflected in more recent Education Acts which allow education authorities to continue this provision. However it should be noted that while the statutory Education Acts continue to talk of Religious Instruction, government policy statements and all other documents on the subject now describe it as Religious Education or Religious and Moral Education.

Every school run by the education authorities must be open to pupils of all denominations and faiths, but the law continues to provide the 'conscience clause' whereby parents may withdraw their children from RME or any Religious Observance in the school.

In 1968 the Secretary of State for Scotland appointed a committee to investigate the current practice in relation to moral and religious education in Scottish schools and to make proposals for its improvement. The results of this committee's work, published in 1972 in what became known as the Millar Report, were to revolutionise Religious Education in Scotland.

Prior to this report Religious Education in Scotland had in many ways been confessional not educational as well as being poorly delivered and poorly resourced. During the 1950's the Church of Scotland's Education Committee and ATRESS (Association of Teachers of RE in Secondary Schools - a forerunner of the present ATRES (Association for the Teaching of Religious Education in Scotland) began to agitate to have the whole matter investigated and to suggest that Religious Education should become an examinable subject like any other. This was supported by the teacher training colleges which were moving to educational aims for Religious Education in schools.

On the advice of the Millar Report a number of steps were taken to rectify matters and salvage Religious Education. The Religious Education curriculum in non-denominational schools became the responsibility of a statutory body, the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum (now Learning and Teaching Scotland), which established the Scottish Central Committee on Religious Education to advise and promote Religious Education in primary and secondary schools.

Religious Education became a subject in its own right for teacher training in 1974 so we had specialist Religious Education Teachers for the first time and in 1978 Religious Education became part of the secondary school core curriculum. In 1983 Inspection of Religious Education began and in 1984 the first 'O' Grade examinations took place with the Higher in Religious Studies being introduced in 1986. RE had finally become a subject with its own status and recognition.

Current Situation

In 1992 the Scottish Office Education Department produced National Guidelines for Religious and Moral Education for ages 5-14. A Roman Catholic version of this was also produced for use in Roman Catholic schools. Guidance on the provision of RME and Religious Observance in both primary and secondary schools is now issued by the Scottish Executive Education Department and local authorities formulate their own policies based on these guidelines

The National Guidelines for Religious and Moral Education 5-14 state,

"It is important that while recognising the role of Christianity as the major religious tradition in Scotland, pupils should also be encouraged to develop understanding of and respect for people of other faiths and people who adopt a non-religious stance for living".

This approach to RME is significant today when in non-denominational schools there are significant numbers of pupils who belong to no faith community or profess a faith other than Christianity. In many city schools the multi-faith nature of the community will be reflected in the school population. However tolerance of others and learning from others must be actively promoted in all schools even in those parts of Scotland where the pupils may have a limited experience of, or contact with, people of faiths and life stances different from their own. This is what RME in Scottish schools seeks to do. In non-denominational state schools the curriculum is designed to be teachable with integrity by teachers of any faith or none to pupils of any faith or none. This is part of what it means to understand Religious and Moral Education as an educational requirement for all, rather than an optional support for some particular faith-nurture.Religious and Moral Education should enable the individual to explore questions concerning the meaning, value and purpose in life.

Denominational schools (mainly Roman Catholic although there is one Jewish primary school and several Episcopalian schools) in Scotland provide their own specific programmes of Religious and Moral Education and forms of Religious Observance, often adapting Government Guidelines in accordance with their particular faith traditions.

Time Allocation

Government guidelines recommend that in primary schools RME is allocated 15% of the curriculum along with Health Education and PSD, although it is recognised that RME does not have the monopoly on moral education and that some aspects of moral education will fall within other areas of the curriculum. For pupils age 5-14 years RME is structured under three broad attainment outcomes - Christianity, Other World Religions, and Personal Search. The Personal Search element is perhaps seen as being the key area of RME in Scotland and it is defined by Kincaid and McVeigh (2001) as:

".... a process by which pupils can discover and develop their own beliefs and values. It involves them in making up their own minds on religious and moral issues by developing skills associated with critical thinking and evaluation".

For secondary schools it is recommended that a minimum of 5% of curriculum time should be spent specifically on RME in S1/2, a minimum of 80 hours over two years in S3/4 and thereafter it should have a continuing place as an element within the context of personal and social development. Though it is true to say that these time allocations are often not applied due to staffing situations in each particular school.

In addition many pupils take examinable courses at S3 and beyond. Courses certificated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority currently include Short Course in RME, Standard Grade Courses in Religious Studies and the National Qualifications courses in Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies. The courses in RMPS can be sat at a variety of levels including Higher and Advanced Higher. These courses include units on World Religions, Christianity: Critiques and Challenges, the Nature of Belief, Religion and Politics, Justice in the World, Ethics, Metaphysics, and Language and Philosophy of Religion. Some schools also run courses on Philosophy which include units on Classic Texts in Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Problems in Philosophy and Logic . The number of pupils sitting these courses is continuously increasing.

RME is therefore seen as a crucial part of the Scottish Education system and the current teaching of RME seeks to help pupils develop their own meaning, purpose and value in life.

ATRES has constantly sought to help raise the standards of the teaching of RME in Scottish schools and it does so by working with teachers and others involved in the delivery of RME in Scotland. As the professional teaching organisation for RME in Scotland it is both widely respected by all agencies involved in Scottish RME as well as by RME teachers themselves.