On 6 July 2020, the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill was introduced in the Senedd, together with its explanatory memorandum. Clause 6 of the Bill required schools to teach the six Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs), of which Humanities is one, and four mandatory elements (English; Relationships and Sexuality Education; RVE; and Welsh). RVE would also form part of the Humanities AoLE. The main changes in relation to RVE were twofold. First, Schedule 1 stipulated requirements on how RVE would operate in different types of schools. Second, a number of changes were made under Schedule 2 which affects the local authority level, amending existing legislation on agreed syllabuses and advisory councils. This chapter explores these two main changes.

RVE in Schools

Schedule 1 to the Bill made provision for how RVE is to operate and would replace the requirements in Schedule 19 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 in Wales (those provisions would now apply only to schools in England, under Schedule 2, para 42). Schedule 1 continued to distinguish between the different types of school following the precedent set by the Butler Act. Maintained schools without a religious character are dealt with by paragraphs 2 and 6, which stated that RVE must be ‘designed having regard to the agreed syllabus’. This differs from the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 which states that provision for RE ‘must be in accordance with an agreed syllabus adopted for the school or for those pupils’. This change from ‘in accordance’ with to ‘having regard to’ was one of the changes subject to consultation at the time the Bill was introduced. The Explanatory Memorandum stated that schools have the choice whether to deliver RVE as an individual subject or as part of a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary Humanities approach.

The parental right to opt out found in Schedule 19 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 would no longer apply in Wales. Paragraphs 34 and 35 of Schedule 2 provided that the duty to provide religious education under section 69 of the 1998 Act would now only apply in England. Paragraph 36 would amend section 71(1) of the 1998 Act to provide that the parental right to opt out of religious education only applies in England. The right of parents and sixth formers to opt out of religious worship under section 71 (1A–1B) would not be amended.