Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that school curriculums include teaching on freedom of religion or belief.

The National Curriculum is broad and balanced for pupils to learn about how different groups and societies have contributed to the development of the UK. The curriculum offers many opportunities for schools to do this, notably through citizenship education and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). The RSHE curriculum has a strong focus on equality, respect, and the harmful impact of stereotyping, as well as the importance of valuing difference.

Within the citizenship curriculum pupils should be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities and the need for mutual respect and understanding.

In delivering the curriculum, schools should be aware of their duties relating to political impartiality, as set out under the Education Act 1996, and must ensure that, where political issues are discussed in the classroom, they are presented in a balanced way. The Department has published guidance on political impartiality in schools which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.

Legal duties on political impartiality do not supersede other important requirements for schools, including their responsibility to promote fundamental British values, including the mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Developing and deepening pupils’ understanding of these values is part of the Ofsted inspection framework, alongside expectations that schools develop responsible citizens and promote an inclusive environment that meets the needs of all pupils, irrespective of their characteristics.