The next petition was lodged by James Robertson, on behalf of Families in Support of Evolutionary Studies, and it calls on the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to add evolutionary studies to the primary school curriculum. As our briefing for the petition explains, very little of the school curriculum is statutory in Scotland. The non-statutory curriculum for excellence is intended to be an outcomes-based approach whereby education authorities and schools have a great deal of autonomy on what is taught and how.
Religious instruction and observance have a statutory position within Scottish education under sections 8 and 9 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Section 8 provides that, where it has been the custom for schools to have religious instruction and observance, an education authority may not discontinue that without such a proposal having been confirmed by a local referendum. Section 9 is titled “Conscience clause” and provides that
“any pupil may be withdrawn by his parents from any instruction in religious subjects and from any religious observance in any”
public or grant aided
“school.”
In curriculum for excellence, one of the headings under which experiences and outcomes in sciences are organised is “biological systems”, which has a sub-heading of “inheritance”. The following benchmarks are relevant to these experiences and outcomes:
“Knows that genetic information determines characteristics such as colour of eyes and shape of petals.”
“Knows that genetics is the study of inherited characteristics and that inherited characteristics are carried on genes and can sometime skip a generation.”
In response to a written question in 2013, Alasdair Allan MSP, then Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, advised:
“Evolution is specifically covered in the experiences and outcomes for the sciences that form a core element of the Curriculum for Excellence”.—[Written Answers, 29 October 2013; S4W-17514.]
Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?