The number of primary school pupils opting out of religious observance in school assemblies in the Scottish capital has more than doubled in a year.
An Edinburgh City Council report said a review of some practices had been carried out and changes made after concerns were lodged.
Out of 88 primary schools, a total of 181 individuals in 31 schools opt out of religious observance for all or part of the programme.
This is an increase of 107 since last year and a rise of 19 primary schools with pupils who opt out.
Out of 23 secondary schools, a total of 14 young people from three schools opt out.
This represents an increase of 11 young people from session 2013-14, when it also involved three schools.
Gillian Tees, director of children and families at the council, lists the range of organisations visiting schools in the city.
It includes the Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic Church, The Gideons, Scripture Union, Baptist Church, representatives from Sikh, Hindu and Jewish communities, the Army Padre, Prayer Space, Bible Alive, the Edinburgh City Mission and Young Life.
Of the 11 special schools in the city, two pupils from two schools opt out. There is no comparative data from last year in the report.
The nursery and early years sector is excluded from the legislation.
The report is to go the city's education, children and families committee next week.
Ms Tees said: "The religious observance programmes in a small number of schools were causing concern because of their limited nature and lack of balance.
"The headteachers of these schools have been contacted, phased programmes of improvements have been agreed, and revised programmes are now being implemented.
"In particular, one cluster received significant support: the public stance of the chaplain did not meet the expectations of the majority of the school community, or of the authority in terms of the City of Edinburgh Council Equalities Policy.
"A series of meetings were held where the role of the chaplain was discussed and, as a result, his approach in schools changed.
"Members of the Quality Improvement Team will continue to sample Time for Reflection events in schools as part of their ongoing support and challenge visits."
Last month a council at the centre of a row over the promotion of young earth creationism in one of its primary schools became the first to introduce tough new measures to protect children.
South Lanarkshire Council adopted a raft of new rules for non-denominational schools including criminal records checks for chaplains and the insistence that teachers should be present during visits by religious groups.
It also drew up guidance to ensure homophobic or creationist teaching is barred and parents are to be told who is talking to their children in school.
That came after, in 2013, it emerged that a member of the West Mains Church of Christ, a US-based sect that does not believe in evolution and condemns gay relationships, had been invited to become a chaplain at Kirktonholme Primary, in East Kilbride.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article