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
Four religious representatives appointed to Hebrides education committee
Posted: Thu, 18 May 2017 15:38
The Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the local authority for the Hebrides, has appointed four religious figures to its education committee, as it is required to do by law.
The National Secular Society has criticised the legal requirement for one third of education committee places to be reserved for religious representatives, and last year the Scottish Secular Society launched a petition calling for an end to unelected church officials being handed seats on education committees.
Local media reported that the officials appointed are from the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church.
The Scottish Secular Society petition said that the appointees are "immune from electoral scrutiny and do not even have to declare their outside interests.
"They sit and vote on these important Committees whether the elected Councillors want them or not, and hold the balance of power on 19 of Scotland's 32 Education Committees."
It said religious figures should be free to contribute to the committees like anybody else, but should not have a privileged and automatic place.
In England local authorities are required to appoint a Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE). SACREs are responsible for advising local authorities on RE and Collective Worship. SACREs are dominated by religious appointments. There is no automatic non-religious representatives and where Humanists are appointed to represent the non-religious, they are the only non-voting representatives. The NSS is campaigning to overhaul this system, and to create a nation entitlement to a 21st century religion and belief education for all.
NSS rejects Church’s call for end to RE right to withdraw, without meaningful reform
Posted: Thu, 27 Apr 2017 16:43
The National Secular Society has said that Religious Education must be fundamentally reformed before the existing right to withdraw children from RE can be removed.
The Society was responding to a statement released by the Church which said "the right of withdrawal from RE should be repealed."
The Church has expressed its concerns that parents are withdrawing their children from lessons on Islam, partial withdrawal is currently permitted. It also said there were concerns that religious fundamentalists were withdrawing their children from lessons on other religions.
Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said, "We share concerns about some parents attempting to shield children from knowledge about other religions and beliefs. However, the fundamental problem is that Religious Education remains a confused subject area, still sometimes taught in a biased or partisan way.
"If RE was reformed into an objective academic study of religious and non-religious worldviews, as a part of the National Curriculum, the right to withdraw may no longer be necessary. But until such time the right of withdrawal is required to protect parental rights and freedoms.
"The Church isn't exactly whiter than white when it comes to partisan teaching, we have dealt with plenty of examples of Church of England schools teaching RE in an unsuitable way."
Mr Evans added, "Unless the Church of England support an end to the exemptions allowing faith schools to teach RE in a partisan way according to the school's own religious ethos, talk of ending the right of withdrawal is clearly premature."
The NSS has launched a new campaign calling for a '21st century RE for all', arguing that every pupil should have the same entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religion and belief across the country, and that this shouldn't depend on where they lived or what school they attended. It said RE should be "broad, balanced and inclusive."
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)
