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
Islamic faith schools endorsing misogyny, dossier reveals
Posted: Tue, 28 Nov 2017 12:50
The Government's former integration tsar has called for a moratorium on the opening of new faith schools after a dossier revealed endorsements of wife-beating and misogyny in Islamic schools.
The contents of a file which showed examples of discrimination and sexism witnessed by Ofsted inspectors were reported in The Times. The findings prompted Dame Louise Casey – who wrote a major report on social integration last year – to accuse the Government of inaction.
Dame Louise told The Times no faith schools should be opened until the problems were addressed – a move advocated by the National Secular Society in its December 2016 report Rethinking religion and belief in public life.
"Some schools are teaching a segregated way of life and misogyny and the government isn't taking enough of a stand," she said. "The public expects them to do that. The DfE (Department for Education) turns a blind eye and hopes that Ofsted will deal with the problem. It's all in the 'too difficult' box."
In one example from it a school library stocked a book entitled Women who deserve to go to hell, by Mansoor Abdul Rahim. This says women should be "disallowed to go out of the house unnecessarily" and should not show "ingratitude to their husband" or have "tall ambitions".
Its lines include: "Of the women who are liable to be cursed is one who refuses her husband's advances for a sexual intercourse, saying that she is experiencing menses." It also says women and men who imitate each other, or women who alter their appearance, are "cursed". A man who does not mind his wife appearing unveiled is a "cuckold".
The book says women will be a "majority in Hell" and a woman's entry to paradise "is dependent on her husband's pleasure". Twentieth-century feminism, it adds, had "the basic objective of driving women towards aberrant ways" and was "patronised by Jews and Christians" to "lead astray the aliens". It also promotes an intolerant view of religious freedom, for example by calling polytheism "a grave sin".
In one school children were encouraged to read a text which contrasted the "noble women of the East" with the "internally torn woman of the West". The western woman attracted men and left her home to spend time aimlessly in cinemas and cafés.
Other library books said women were not allowed to refuse to have sex with their husbands or leave the house without permission, and men could beat their wives "by way of correction". Work which had been marked by teachers said women had a responsibility "only to bear children and bring them up as Muslims" and men should be "protectors of women".
Ofsted insiders said the examples made for "uncomfortable reading" and expressed concern that mainstream schools may also be accommodating extreme forms of Islam in an attempt to be inclusive.
Alastair Lichten, the NSS's education and schools campaigner, said the dossier was "a damning insight into the intolerant attitudes being promoted in too many Islamic schools".
"Our response must take place first and foremost in a context of safeguarding children's rights. For too long a faith ethos has been a free pass, but whatever their background no child should be failed by schools inculcating them in misogyny and closing their horizons so they are prepared only for life in a religious community."
The revelations come as Ofsted applies increasing pressure on religious fundamentalism in Islamic schools. In October the High Court ruled in the inspectorate's favour in an appeal over Al-Hijrah, the school it placed in special measures for separating boys and girls from the age of nine.
Last week Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, said Ofsted would crack down on schools which forced children to wear the hijab – a problem highlighted by NSS research. She added that inspectors could speak with girls about why they wore the hijab in schools in an attempt to root out fundamentalist influences.
Half of independent faith schools failing
Posted: Sat, 25 Nov 2017 11:18
Almost half of independent faith schools have been rated as 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement' since Ofsted introduced new standards for inspections.
According to Ofsted, who called the changes "stark", 49% of faith schools (including 33% of Christian schools, 53% of Jewish schools and 58% of Muslim schools) were rated below 'good', compared to 25% of non-faith independent schools, in their latest inspection.
Alastair Lichten, the NSS's education and schools campaigner, said: "We've long called on these faith schools to be held to the same standards as other schools. Now they are, and are finding it difficult."
In 2014 the NSS supported the introduction of new independent school standards, which reinforcing principles of equality and fundamental values. Independent schools are now required to promote the "fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs".
Independent faith schools judged below 'good' are around three times more likely than non-faith schools in the same position to not meet requirements for these values through their "written policies" or the "spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils" and around five times more likely to fail in terms of the "quality of teaching". 69% of failing faith schools were found to have deficiencies in leadership in and management, compared to 55% of similar non-faith schools.
Much of the rise in failing schools was down to Ofsted taking over inspection of Christian and Muslim schools previously inspected by the Bridge Schools Inspectorate (BSI), 28 out of 39 which were found to be below 'good'. The BSI ceased operations in October 2015 after the National Secular Society and others had warned that their inspectors' links to extremist views were inappropriate.
Mr Lichten said the changes "vindicated" criticisms of the BSI and showed faith schools shouldn't be allowed to "mark their own homework", saying: "Whatever type of school they attend, every young person deserves their right to education protected, they deserve the right to be prepared for life in modern Britain, rather than siloed into inward looking groups, preparing them only for life within a religious community."
The number of independent faith schools inspected by Ofsted has risen in recent years, possibly due to previously (illegally) unregistered schools becoming registered. In September the NSS reported that Ofsted had repeatedly failed dozens of independent faith schools, which were continuing to operate.
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)
