![\"Education](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1eeedccd-6759-407a-b471-3408b88b6c41.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn a letter to principals, Paul Givan admitted his department will look to reform the RE syllabus in the wake of the judgement.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court ruled that RE had not been taught in an \u201cobjective, critical and pluralist manner, that collective worship was similarly not conveyed in such a way\u201d in schools and that the Christian-focused RE taught in Northern Ireland was unlawful.<\/p>\n
The Minister has now informed schools that while the judgement was \u201ccomplex\u201d, it remained the case that schools \u201chave a legal requirement to hold collective worship like assemblies each day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last Wednesday\u2019s ruling by the UK Supreme Court had brought a long running case taken by a anonymous father and daughter from Belfast to a close.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the High Court in Belfast had ruled that the Christian-based RE taught at primary schools in Northern Ireland was unlawful. However, the Department of Education then won an appeal against that judgement.<\/p>\n
But last week the Supreme Court unanimously allowed the father and daughter\u2019s subsequent appeal and dismissed the Department\u2019s cross-appeal.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for The Department of Education had said: \u201cWe will carefully consider the complex judgement and its implications and will provide advice to schools in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Mr Givan has now informed schools that the Department has \u201crequested further legal advice to understand the full implications of the judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n
Informing schools they are expected to continue following the legislation by \u201cteaching religious education based on the Holy Scriptures,\u201d he added that \u201cthe area of collective worship requires further consideration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile parents have the right to withdraw their child, the Supreme Court found that current arrangements did not meet legal requirements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The court had also ruled that exercising the right to withdraw a child from RE lessons and worship could place an undue burden on an objecting parent.<\/p>\n
The judges stressed the case was \u201cnot about secularism\u201d in education and insisted that no-one was suggesting that RE should not be provided in schools.<\/p>\n
Mr Givan added that judgement \u201crecognised that Christianity is the main religion in Northern Ireland, and the greater part of RE would still focus on knowledge of Christianity\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said that schools can expect \u201cfurther comprehensive and legally sound guidance\u201d soon, but that the department had now \u201crequested further legal advice to understand the full implications of the judgment\u201d.<\/p>\n
While unionist politicians, notably from the DUP and TUV, had expressed disappointment at the Supreme Court ruling, Reverend Andrew Forster, the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and Chair of the Transferor Representatives\u2019 Council (TRC) said his organisation \u201cwill take some time to consider the ruling\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judgement brings a long court process to a conclusion and once the ruling is considered,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope it will provide clarity and direction in respect of both the teaching of religious education and collective worship in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
The leader of Northern Ireland\u2019s humanists, Boyd Sleator said the ruling provided \u201ca great opportunity\u201d for the Department of Education to revisit and re-write the curriculum, while Bishop Donal McKeown, from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools said: \u201cNorthern Ireland has changed a lot since the last core curriculum was put together. This is an opportunity for all of us to be involved in renewing the RE curriculum to enable us to create a healthy, forward-looking society.\u201d<\/p>\n
TUV leader Jim Allister had called the verdict \u2018deeply disturbing\u2019 and \u201can affront not only to teachers and parents but to the Christian foundations upon which our education system has long rested,<\/p>\n
He said the court ruling was \u201canother insidious elevation of rights of non-Christian parents over those of Christian parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Allister also urged the Education Minister to \u201cprotect Christian values in our schools\u201d and he was joined in criticising the judgement by DUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen, a former Education Minister, who said the ruling was \u201cdeeply disappointing,\u201d and \u201cwould \u201cconcern many parents, governors, teachers and faith communities for whom the ethos is so important\u201d.<\/p>\n
David Smyth, Head of Evangelical Alliance NI, though, added that: \u201cThis is not suggesting that religious education should not be provided in schools in Northern Ireland. Nor is this the end of Christian collective worship in schools<\/p>\n
\u201cSchools will continue to teach about Christianity but may be required to do so in a more objective, critical and pluralistic manner. This is not a moment for fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Assembly earlier this week the Minister told MLAs: \u201cWe have parents contacting schools demanding that Nativity plays are cancelled. Not just in light of this Supreme Court judgment but years before this has happened… I can give an absolute, categorical answer: Nativity plays can continue to take place within our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Education Minister Paul Givan at his office in Parliament Buildings at Stormont.<\/p>\n
News Catch Up – Friday 28 November<\/p>\n
Mr Givan added that school principals had contacted his department seeking advice on the issue, which he has now provided, pending the further exploration of legal implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a letter to principals, Paul Givan admitted his department will look to reform the RE syllabus in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[60801,50259,17698,1144,64806,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-599057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-department-of-education","9":"tag-jim-allister","10":"tag-mark-bain","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-paul-givan","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115626955213540481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}