VVThe first of the two policies that this paper considers is that allowing for state provision of funds to schools affiliated with and administered in part by religious organizations. Such a policy began in earnest with the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act, which allowed schools to volunteer to come under the purview of the state. While many Presbyterian schools took advantage of the funding offered under this policy and become nominally non-denominational, the Bishops of Scotland decided, out of fear of potential secularization or Protestant domination of their schools, to forego the funding and remain independent.18 Catholic schools were again offered funding under the Education (Scotland) Act 1918. Under this act of Parliament, however, Scottish Catholic schools would receive state funds without having to declare themselves non- denominational and therefore reserving for religious authorities the right to design theological curricula and “to retain their own ethos and identity in order to serve the needs of the Catholic community.”19 As of 1972, the Scottish Catholic Education Service administers state-funded Catholic schools in Scotland, while historically Protestant schools are labeled by the state as non- denominational. As is noted above, non-denominational schools in Scotland are relatively accommodating to non-Protestants. Despite the absence of nominally Protestant schools, the laws on the books clearly demonstrate the state’s adoption of the impartiality, rather than the separation, interpretation delineated above. All state-funded schools are open to any member of the public and subject to the same academic standards; however, their curricula are allowed to differ along strictly religious lines.
VVThe state moved to further incorporate religion into state-funded school when it mandated daily periods of religious observance in all state-funded schools in 1980 with the passage of the 1980 Education (Scotland) Act. This and subsequent acts of Parliament, which remain law today,
88818. James C. Conroy, “A Very Scottish Affair: Catholic Education and the State,” in Oxford Review of Education 27 (2001), 7.
88819. “Schools past and present,” last modified February 11, 2010, Scottish Catholic Education Service, http://www.sces.uk.com/schools-past-and-present.html.
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