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.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Please call on your MP to support a secular, inclusive education system for all.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
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
Consultation launched on relationship & sex education guidance
Posted: Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:56
The government has launched a consultation on new statutory guidance and regulations intended to make Relationships Education and Relationships & Sex Education (RSE) compulsory.
As the National Secular Society reported on Tuesday, the delay in bringing out the guidance for consultation means that it will not come into force until a year later than first planned – September 2020.
Parents will have the right to withdraw their children from some or all of sex education (apart from that in the science curriculum), but not relationships education. However, pupils up to three school terms from turning 16 will be able to override this and decide for themselves, "except in exceptional circumstances".
NSS education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "The changes on withdraw go a long way to recognising the independent rights of young people, particularly as they approach maturity. But it's not clear what the educational justification for withdrawal is when the subject is taught objectively. In some cases this could put an unreasonable pressure on headteachers, in others it could seriously undermine sex education in schools that don't want it to start with."
Faith schools will still be able to promote their "distinctive faith perspective on relationships", and all schools are "free to determine how they address LGBT specific content" but all schools are "required to comply with relevant requirements of the Equality Act". Schools are advised that: "A good understanding of pupils' faith backgrounds and positive relationships between the school and local faith communities and leaders help to create a constructive context for the teaching of these subjects"
Mr Lichten said "It remains to be seen how much leeway schools will be given in practice, and if they will be held to account for discriminatory teaching. While the guidance is a positive step forwards, commitments to equality need to be made more explicit, to prevent loopholes being exploited by faith schools deeply opposed to contraceptives/abortion and LGBT issues."
The recommended content includes many proposals supported by the NSS, including on healthy relationships, "how stereotypes, in particular stereotypes based on sex, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability, can cause damage (e.g. how they might normalise non-consensual behaviour or encourage prejudice)", "the legal rights and responsibilities regarding equality" and "the facts about the full range of contraceptive choices and options available".
The guidance advises schools to ensure teaching delivered by external groups enhances rather than replaces "teaching by an appropriate member of the teaching staff" and is appropriate, advising "schools discuss the detail of how the visitor will deliver their sessions and ensure that the content is age-appropriate and accessible for the pupils. Schools should ask to see the materials visitors will use in the sessions as well as a session plan in advance, so that they can co-plan".
Mr Lichten said: "RSE is an area where 'working with external agencies" can make a valuable contribution to schools, and we're pleases to see the government supporting best practice in this area. External groups seeking to exploit access to schools to proselytize or promote biased RSE shouldn't be given a free pass."
Along with the launch of the consultation, the DfE set out their response to the call for evidence which proceeded it. To which there were around 23,000 responses. The call for evidence found widespread support for teaching about healthy relationships, consent and respect. While the "most frequently mentioned topic of consultation" was "the potential for PSHE and RSE teaching to conflict with religious views" – mentioned by 22% of respondents. The DfE's analysis also stated that "adult respondents who identify as Muslim or Jewish are overrepresented in the responses, whereas those identifying as Christian are under-represented."
In their response to the call for evidence, the NSS warned that a "strand of fearmongering runs through" misinformation circulated by some faith groups hostile to the changes, "along with a lack of concern for young people's rights and the arrogant assumption that faith schools should be free to advance dogma, without any concern for equality or accuracy."
The consultation is now open (closed Wednesday 7 November 2018)
High Court dismisses school religious designation review
Posted: Wed, 18 Jul 2018 15:52
The High Court has refused to grant a judicial review of a decision to merge a non-religious school into a Christian one, resulting in a new faith school.
Amie Falconer, whose child attends Trafalgar College, sought action against the secretary of state for education for making a decision which resulted in changing a school from non-religious to Christian.
The hearing, held on Tuesday at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, was attended by a number of parents and pupils of Trafalgar College, as well as Great Yarmouth councillor Mike Smith who also opposes the change.
The change in religious designation is part of a process that will see Trafalgar College moved to the site of the Christian Great Yarmouth Charter Academy (GYCA) and GYCA officially closing. The pupils from both schools will be merged into the new site, and Trafalgar College will adopt both the name and the religious character of GYCA.
The decision to effectively merge Trafalgar College into GYCA cannot be implemented until a religious designation order (RDO) is made to change Trafalgar College into a Christian school.
Ms Falconer applied for judicial review on the grounds that the education secretary had failed to consider whether it would be possible for an RDO to be approved, and that he had failed to follow his own guidance regarding faith-related changes.
Additionally, Ms Falconer argued that the education secretary had failed to pay due regard to the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the impact that changing Trafalgar College from a secular school to a Christian one would have on the pupils.
Ms Falconer's representatives argued that she is "deeply aggrieved and upset" that the education secretary had taken a decision "whose practical effect is to close a successful areligious academy and to replace it with a Christian school on a different site." They added, "Pupils wishing to remain at [Trafalgar College] will be compelled to attend a school with a Christian religious designation.
"The alternative for the Claimant's children is a long journey to the closest areligious school with places available."
The court heard that an RDO would result in giving the school significant additional powers, including exemptions from the Equality Act allowing the school to discriminate against pupils and staff on the basis of religion. Lawyers said that the education secretary had "failed to have due regard to the impact of the Decision on students who are atheists, agnostic or adherents to non-Christian religions of transfer from an areligious school…to a school with a Christian religious designation".
The March 2016 guidance 'Making significant changes to an open academy' states that an academy trust "must show that there is support for this change from their school and wider local community and have the express consent of the relevant religious body to become a school designated with a religious character." However, the court heard that a significant number of objections were raised to the proposed changes, including through a petition signed by 643 people.
Parents of children at Trafalgar College have made a sustained campaign against the imposed Christian designation, including holding a march in October 2017 and a protest outside Trafalgar College in May 2018.
Mr Justice Walker rejected the arguments given on behalf of Ms Falconer, saying "there is no such sufficiently arguable case as would justify the grant of permission [for judicial review]."
He added: "It is not part of the statute that the minister should second-guess what would happen once the initial academy agreement was made."
Cllr Mike Smith expressed his disappointment at the ruling.
"This is not the outcome that parents nor the local community wanted, as it represents a loss of preferred school, educational choice and wider trust in the decision making process," he said.
Megan Manson, campaigns officer at the National Secular Society, was also present at the hearing. "The issue of non-religious schools losing their secular ethos is a growing one around the country," she said.
"This hearing illustrates that even when there is clear opposition from parents and communities, it can be exceedingly difficult to challenge the imposition of religion on a school without a religious designation."
See also: Parents protest imposition of religious status on Norfolk school
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)
