Faith schools undermine equality, choice and social cohesion.
Let's build an inclusive education system today, to ensure an inclusive society tomorrow.
Our education system should be open and welcoming to all. That's why we want publicly funded faith schools phased out and an end to religiously selective school admissions.
Around a third of publicly funded schools in England and Wales are faith schools – schools with a religious character. Scottish and Northern Irish schools are still divided along sectarian lines.
Separating children according to religion is divisive and leads to religious, ethnic and socio-economic segregation.
To make matters worse, many faith schools can discriminate against pupils and teachers who do not share the religion of the school.
Parents are entitled to raise their children within a faith tradition, but they are not entitled to enlist the help of the state to do so. The state should not allow the schools it funds to inculcate children into a particular religion.
Faith schools seriously limit choice for parents who do not want a religious education for their children, or do not share the faith of the local school. Our research has found that 18,000 families were assigned faith schools against their wishes in England in 2017 alone.
Despite a consistent and dramatic decline in church attendance, and a growing majority of non-religious citizens, successive governments have paved the way for ever greater religious involvement in education, often to the detriment of inclusive community schools.
A secular approach to education would ensure publicly funded schools are equally welcoming to all children, regardless of their backgrounds.
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1. Write to your MP
Please call on your MP to support a secular, inclusive education system for all.
2. Share your story
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3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Government threatens Jewish schools’ “purity”, rabbi claims
Posted: Tue, 6 Nov 2018 12:57
A rabbi has called on Orthodox Jewish schools to resist requirements to teach evolution and about non-traditional relationships in the latest sign of defiance of the government and inspectors.
In an article published on EverywhereK, Mordechai Rose said the government and Ofsted threatened the "survival and purity" of Orthodox Jewish schools.
Mr Rose is an orthodox rabbi affiliated with Chinuch UK, a pressure group which opposes secular influence in Orthodox Jewish faith schools.
In the article he described evolution as "the scientific theory of creation" and criticised rules which prevent creationism being presented as fact, as well as "seemingly perverse alternative relationships". He also expressed opposition to plans to make relationships and sex education (RSE) compulsory in all English schools from 2020.
"The government is about to introduce obligatory relationship education which would force Jewish schools to teach about same-sex relationships and other immoral subjects which are totally unacceptable for our community", he said.
Rose said it was "self-evident that Charedi schools will find it impossible to fulfil the requirements of the new proposed RSE legislation". A government consultation on relationships and sex education is due to close on 7 November.
Rose criticised measures to give pupils "contact with other communities and other faiths" and prepare them "for a lifestyle where men and women mix and intermingle". He claimed this showed "how the government's new legislation discriminates particularly against our schools since we wish to keep ourselves separate from the non-Jewish way of life".
In the final line of the article he wrote: "It is time for strong and united action in order to protect ourselves from these threats to the survival and purity of our schools."
He noted that 19 Charedi Jewish schools could be under threat of closure in the coming year after Ofsted rated them inadequate over their failure to prepare children for life in modern Britain.
The article quoted Ofsted reports at length, apparently critically, including when leaders and staff were criticised for restricting "pupils' access to any information that they perceive to be in conflict with the school's faith teachings". Another report he cited noted that school leaders had arranged for textbooks and other resources to be censored before pupils used them.
The independent school standards were strengthened in 2014, with National Secular Society support. Rose opposes proposals which would allow failing schools to be closed quicker if they fail to make improvements.
The article is the latest sign that Orthodox Jewish groups are prepared to resist even relatively modest requirements to provide a secular education. In June almost 7,000 Charedi Jews gathered for a demonstration of concern against the government and Ofsted.
Alastair Lichten, the NSS's education and schools officer, said the government should "hold all schools to consistent standards regardless of religion".
"The promotion of strict gender roles and creationism, and the shielding of young people from knowledge about different faiths and beliefs, relationships and lifestyles, undermines their education and leaves them hopelessly unprepared for life in modern Britain. This is why the government and Ofsted must ignore religious groups' pleading for special treatment and exemptions from equality law.
"Rabbi Rose's eleven-page screed actually does a pretty good job of documenting the shocking failings of many Orthodox Jewish faith schools. He just doesn't see these as problems and would rather they weren't pointed out. At the heart of this is a view which completely neglects the rights of children and regards schools as places to mould young people into specific and narrow religious roles."
New guidance supports teaching RSE and evolution to young Muslims
Posted: Mon, 5 Nov 2018 17:31
Pupils should be taught about evolution, art, and sexual relationships and no child should be forced to wear a hijab, says new guidance by a Muslim advocacy group.
The revised "Advice for Schools" guidance, published this week by British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSDemocracy), aims "to support schools and parents in meeting the needs of young Muslim people".
BMSDemocracy supports relationships and sex education (RSE) for every child, "including children at faith schools". Its guidance states that schools should adopt a "clear and assertive approach" which argues that withdrawing children from RSE "would not be in the best interest of the child". It also says that sex outside of marriage should not be stigmatised, and that LGBT issues be taught as part of a wider discussion on human rights.
The National Secular Society campaigns for impartial and objective RSE to be taught in all state-funded schools, including faith schools. Our 2018 study found that most state-funded secondary faith schools distort RSE by teaching it within the tenets of their faith.
BMSDemocracy's guidance also states that parents should not be able to withdraw children from cultural lessons such as art and music saying that "conservative religious taboos shouldn't stymie the prospective development of children". An independent Islamic school, Leicester Community Academy, was deregistered in September due to multiple failings, including denying boys the opportunity to study art.
The guidance also asserts concerns over 'modesty' should not prevent children from taking part in PE or swimming, saying "the only exemptions that should be allowed from swimming and PE are illness, justified leave, and menstruation". BMSDemocracy says that "the health of students takes priority over religious practice while pupils are in school".
Regarding science, the guidance states that teachers must "firmly back and teach" evolution as scientific fact "that is compulsory to learn". It adds, "Relativism is not an option."
On the issue of religious worship in schools, BMSDemocracy calls the law requiring daily Christian worship in all state schools "surprising" and highlights the fact parents have the legal right to withdraw from collective worship. The guidance references an NSS report that indicates schools can interpret the collective worship law "how they see fit". BMSDemocracy encourages "a neutral and inclusive assembly". The NSS has long campaigned for the law requiring acts of worship in schools to be repealed, and for all school activities to be secular and inclusive.
BMSDemocracy's guidance also responds to concerns regarding Islamic dress in schools. It highlights that challenges to school rules often "create an uncomfortable atmosphere" and "impede natural integration". The guidance upholds schools' right to decide uniform policies "without being unfairly or unjustly stigmatised and organised against", adding that "a uniform must mean a uniform."
The guidance gives the example of St Stephen's Primary School in Newham, which was forced to back down on its policies restricting hijabs and fasting following a campaign of "intimidation" from opponents.
BMSDemocracy acknowledges that while some adult women adopt Islamic dress through personal choice, others are "coerced" into wearing Islamic veils. It states that is against "prescribed veiling uniform policies". NSS research in 2017 found that the hijab is compulsory at dozens of schools in England.
The guidance also addresses the serious topics of forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). BMSDemocracy supports government policies to tackle these illegal practises.
On the subject of halal diets, the guidance says that vegetarian options are "often sufficient" to meet halal requirements. The NSS advocated vegetarian options in its response to Lancashire County Council's consultation on whether to cease supplying halal meat from animals not stunned before slaughter in school meals. The council voted last month to end supplies of most kinds of unstunned meat.
The NSS has identified at least 17 other councils supplying unstunned halal meat to schools, despite the controversial nature of non-stun halal slaughter.
NSS CEO Stephen Evans welcomed the guidance, saying it contained "some sensible and timely guidance for schools trying to navigate thorny issues concerning the manifestation of religion in schools.
"There are many points that we welcome in this guidance. We are concerned that religious practice is all too often prioritised over the education and welfare of school children, and we too have long advocated a secular, inclusive approach that puts the rights and needs of children first."
BMSDemocracy states its mission as "to advocate and support secularism (the separation of faith and state), tolerance, and equal rights, in both general British and specifically Muslim contexts". It also campaigns for "a secular British education system" and encourages "Muslim engagement within secular spaces".
More information
Protect relationships and sex education
Age-appropriate relationships and sex education should be every child’s right.
Remove religious appointees from Scottish councils
Religion shouldn’t grant people privileged places in local democracy.
Research and reports
The faith schools research bank
The choice delusion: how faith schools restrict school choice
Three in ten families across England live in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools and thousands are being assigned faith schools against their wishes.
Power grab: Academisation and the threat to secular education
Academisation has enabled faith groups to increase their influence over all schools, including those with no religious character. With little public debate, religious governance has increased, while secular oversight has diminished.
Religiosity inspections: the case against faith-based reviews of state schools
Faith based inspections of state schools are an unnecessary drain on public finds, frame widely held values as exclusive, and promote biased religious education.
Faith-shaped holes: How religious privilege is undermining equality law (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
