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
New faith schools announced in latest round of free schools
Posted: Wed, 12 Apr 2017 13:21
A number of new faith schools have been approved to open by the Department for Education (DfE) in the twelfth wave of free schools applications.
Twelve faith school are included in the 131 free schools approved – with a further three schools to be run by the faith-based Oasis Multi Academy Trust (MAT).
The approved faith schools include three Islamic designated schools in Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester.
In Bradford the local council had wanted a co-educational school to meet local demand, however the DfE approved the Eden Boys' Leadership Academy. Speaking to the Telegraph and Argus Cllr David Ward, the Liberal Democrat group's education spokesman, said "This is a complete step in the wrong direction that we as a society should be going, I don't believe in segregating children by faith. What is the logic in this? I don't understand it."
NSS campaigns officer Alastair Lichten said: "As this case demonstrates, academisation is leaving local authorities with little power to ensure new schools are inclusive and suitable for the local community. Minority faith ethos schools – for which there is little demand within or outside of the schools' faith group – are likely to remain undersubscribed, meaning that either parents will be expect6ed to take up places in such schools against their wishes, or the increased capacity will fail to alleviate the demand for spaces."
The NSS's analysis focussed on 111 schools, excluded the twenty special free schools which local authorities have identified a need for.
Eight of the new free schools will be designated as Church of England Academies – one in Cambridgeshire will be coordination with the Catholic Church. Between three and six further academies will have a Christian religious ethos.
Mr Lichten said the rise of Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) with a religious ethos and faith ethos schools had 'blurred the line' between faith and community schools.
"The lack of clear information about the schools' ethos in the announcement is concerning. This, and the issues we are seeing with non-religious schools taken over by religious MATs, means many parents will continue to find it difficult to know what role religious groups are playing in their children's schools."
“No evidence” that denominational schools are academically superior, study finds
Posted: Mon, 3 Apr 2017 12:08
A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research has found that there is "no evidence" to suggest Scotland's denominational schools achieve better results than their non-denominational counterparts.
The study, on efforts to reform the governance of Scottish schools, reviewed policies aimed at closing the "persistent and entrenched gap in attainment" between students from richer and poorer households.
The analysis considered both denominational and non-denominational schools "to consider whether school types in Scotland have an effect on attainment."
When controlling for intake, the researchers found that, "overall attainment does not differ significantly between denominational and non-denominational schools, and there is no evidence to suggest that one school type or the other has better performance."
The director of IPPR Scotland Russell Gunson, who worked on the report, said: "Once you take account of intake, there is no evidence to suggest that denominational schools, or non-denominational schools see better school performance or attainment.
"It may or may not be the case that different school types add value in other ways, but on the issue of pupil attainment, the hard evidence shows that a religious ethos in itself doesn't make a difference."
Claims of superior academic results are one of the arguments made by proponents of more faith schools in England. But recent research by the Education Policy Institute found that after adjusting for "disadvantage, prior attainment and ethnicity" pupils in primary schools with a faith ethos "seem to do little or no better than in non-faith schools".
Pupils in secondary schools with a faith ethos record only "small average gains" over non-faith schools or "just one-seventh of a grade higher" in GCSE results.
The Education Policy Institute study concluded that such minute gains came with a risk "of increased social segregation".
It also noted that "the average faith school admits fewer pupils from poor backgrounds than the average non faith school."
Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said: "This research demonstrates again the falsity of arguing that faith or denominational schools are more rigorous and successful.
"Faith schools can operate extremely convoluted admissions procedures and many are able to select their pupils from more affluent backgrounds than non-faith schools."
Academics at Leeds Beckett and Missouri universities published a paper last month arguing that excess time spent on religion in schools harmed progression in other subjects including maths and science.
Professor Gijsbert Stoet of Leeds Beckett University said, "Our research suggests that education might benefit from a stronger secular approach."
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)
