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
Joint faith school campus brings segregation under one roof
Posted: Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:29
A new £17m campus which houses Catholic and Jewish faith schools together has opened in East Renfrewshire.
St Clare's Primary, a Catholic school, will share its premises with the Jewish Calderwood Lodge and a non-denominational nursery class. The campus in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, will include features such as a shared central amphitheatre, outdoor obstacle trails and two sports pitches.
East Renfrewshire Council welcomed the news of the joint campus. "By sharing ideas and knowledge, all our pupils at this new joint campus will enjoy an enriched learning environment," said Paul O'Kane, the council's convener of education.
But Alistair McBay, NSS vice-president and spokesperson for Scotland, said the new campus "clears a remarkably low bar".
"This is not an example of inclusive education. The children involved are still being defined and segregated according to their parents' religion. And faith groups are still responsible for running their education.
"Bringing two faith schools together under one roof does not create a cohesive society. In many countries organised religion plays no special role in schooling. Scotland should follow their lead."
Religious groups have previously obstructed plans to introduce joint campuses in Scotland by demanding segregation. In 2004 the Catholic Church withdrew support for plans to create seven shared sites for Catholic and non-denominational schools in North Lanarkshire. Its representatives said the campuses would require separate entrances, staff rooms, toilets, gyms and nurseries for 'Catholic children'.
There are also concerns that segregated education has fostered sectarianism in Scotland. Last month the leader of Scotland's biggest teachers' union said non-Catholics were being deterred from applying to Catholic schools because teachers could be vetted according to their religious views.
This was despite the fact that the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found that a record number of Scots – almost six in ten – had no religion.
Religious groups have a long history of involvement in Scottish education. In 1872 the state took responsibility for schools away from churches and some other private groups. But in return churches were granted a statutory role on education issues.
Its representatives still enjoy a legal right to places on council education committees. In 2014 a report suggested church representatives held the balance of power on 19 local authority education committees. Meanwhile one MSP said churches had "exerted undue influence" over decisions on joint campus proposals in these committees.
But there are signs that faith-based education may soon be rolled back in Scotland. Last month The Times reported that the Scottish government was planning to hand over councils' responsibilities to new bodies which will have no automatic religious seats on them. Mr McBay said church leaders had "held unearned power in Scotland's schools for too long" and added: "It is high time to put our children's interests ahead of those of established religion."
Government plans mass expansion of CofE faith schools across England
Posted: Thu, 27 Jul 2017 11:04
The Department for Education hopes to open at least another 140 Church of England schools in the next five years, according to the Church Times.
And the Church of England's chief education officer, Revd Nigel Genders, has confirmed that 40 new church schools will be opened within the government's next wave of free schools.
"We want to be proactive in opening as many new schools as we can because we know parents love our schools," he said last week.
"We have schools lined up to put into the next phase. We want to do more, and our conversations with the department continue to be encouraging."
Genders said the C of E would bid for "every school where appropriate".
Twelve faith schools were among the 131 new free schools approved in April. The faith-based Oasis Multi Academy Trust also gained the right to open three more.
Last year the government declared that it "values and is committed to" its formal partnerships with the National Society, which promotes and resources almost 5,000 church schools in England and Wales, and the Catholic Church. It added that the government "remains committed to securing the religious character and ethos" of religious schools.
The Church of England claims that its "Church schools are not 'faith schools' for Christians but Christian schools for all and, as such, are committed to serving the needs of the local community."
However, the Church's Education Office says it has a "deeply Christian" vision and "seeks to promote an education that allows children, young people and adults to live out Jesus's promise of 'life in all its fullness'.
In 2012 the church published a review laying out its plans for education. It said church provision "must include a wholehearted commitment to putting faith and spiritual development at the heart of the curriculum and ensuring that a Christian ethos permeates the whole educational experience."
It added that "high-quality religious education and collective worship should continue to make major contributions to the Church school's Christian ethos, to allow pupils to engage seriously with and develop an understanding of the person and teachings of Jesus Christ".
In 2013, the former chair of the Church of England's Board of Education said there was no need to attract children, young people and parents to church "if we embrace our church schools fully."
The National Secular Society is campaigning against the expansion of faith schools and argues that they should eventually be phased out.
Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns director, said: "Despite its somewhat disingenuous claims of being inclusive, it's clear that the Church of England regards schools an opportunity to proselytise and gain access to pupils and parents who wouldn't otherwise go anywhere near a church.
"The way in which such schools portray virtues such as tolerance, reciprocity, generosity and kindness as specifically 'Christian' values is also divisive, dishonest and gives pupils a skewed understanding of ethics.
"Exposing children and young people to this insidious form of evangelism usurps parental rights and stifles children's own ability to think clearly for themselves about religion."
The DfE did not respond to a request to clarify its plans.
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)
