ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the constitutional, legislative and policy framework that regulates religious observances in the educational context, specifically in schools. The accommodation of religion in the public sphere is particularly prominent in relation to religious observance in the school context. In maintaining the curriculum standards with respect to religion education, both independent schools and public schools on private property with a recognised religious character are required to achieve the minimum outcomes for religion education. The Department of Education adopted the National Policy on Religion in Education in 2003 in order to give full expression to the invocation of religion in the Constitution and the principles governing religious freedom. The Interim Constitution explicitly stated the right ‘to establish, where practicable, educational institutions based on a common culture, language or religion’. Religious expression in schools will always create tension because often it pits conflicting interests against one another.
