Yesterday, the Scottish Executive's 'Religious Observance Review Group' published a final report entitled Religious Observance in the 21 st Century. The report was also submitted to the General Assembly 2004 of the Church of Scotland, which starts today.

One of the most encouraging parts of the report for the Church of Scotland is the suggestion that every school should provide opportunities for religious observance at least six times per school year, as well as considering requests for opportunities for acts of worship.

The Church of Scotland’s 'Committee on Education' has been very concerned by this report as it defined religious observance as a community act that aims to promote the spiritual development of all members of the school community. This will help maintain the Christian culture amongst the general public outside of the church. Overall, the Kirk’s Committee on Education believe that the final document ‘offers a strengthening of the position of Christianity’.

A statement in the report shows that the Scottish Executive shares the same viewpoint as the Kirk, “The report is aimed at creating a situation where the school chaplain, usually a Church of Scotland minister, can participate in school assembly in such a way as to ‘develop the spiritual well-being of school children by drawing on the rich traditions of the Christian faith’.”

To facilitate spiritual education in school, it was also recommended in the report that local authorities should include an appropriate area for religious observance in the design brief for any newly built schools. Moreover, 'seed guidance' should be provided to schools for the role of chaplains in religious observance and school life in general, whilst at the same time helping non-Christian members of school staff lead observance in the absence of the chaplain.

Responding to the report, the Kirk’s Committee on Education had some advice for the frequency of religious observance. In the past, there had been religious observances for every single school assembly. However, in the view that quality of religious observance is more important than quantity and with concerns about overburdening of school chaplains in leading observances at every single school assembly, they support the retention of monthly assemblies in secondary schools, as is proposed in the Report on Religious Observance.

They agree with the report that rather than having religious observance, there can be a more meaningful, yet less frequent, regular act of religious observance. In addition, pupils who wish to do so would be able to participate in acts of worship outside the formal curriculum, either before or after school, or during lunch hour.

However, they are vigorously opposed to the suggestion that primary school assemblies should take place on a monthly basis, rather than weekly as at present. They will put forward this opinion to the General Assembly for review.

In the UK, many parents actually prefer sending their children to study in denominational schools, because they usually have excellent records of achievement.

A week ago, Education Minister Peter Peacock told the annual conference of the Catholic Head Teachers’ Association of Scotland (CHAS) that faith-based schools had "an important role" to play in Scottish education. The minister also praised the record of Catholic schools and said they would continue to receive government support.

In collaborating with the government sector, Christian Education is hoping that it will be well reinforced within Scotland's new generations. The Kirk’s Committee on Education concludes that, "The final Report on Religious Observance provides a wonderful opportunity for the Church and for schools to improve substantially the quality of religious observance for all young people in Scotland’s schools.”