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
“Unacceptable” for Ultra-Orthodox faith schools to shun children with transgender parents, says DfE
Posted: Tue, 21 Mar 2017 16:36
The Department for Education is to investigate faith schools implicated in the ostracisation of children of transgender parents highlighted by a recent family court ruling.
In a letter to the National Secular Society, schools minister Lord Nash said the behaviour by schools referred to in the ruling was "unacceptable".
A family court judge raised serious concerns about the behaviour of Ultra-Orthodox Charedi schools when dealing with a case involving a transgender father who sought contact with their five children, who remained with their mother in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Mr Justice Peter Jackson ultimately ruled that the reaction of adults in the community would be so hostile that he could not permit the father's request. Despite Mr Justice Jackson believing the children could adapt to the changed circumstances and contact with their father, he found that the children would face severe ostracism from the community, were they to have any contact.
During the case the headteacher at one of the children's schools said that "the school would face tremendous pressure from the parent body, private donors and the governors, to suggest that the child find a more suitable educational environment" if they were in contact with their transgender father.
A teacher at another school attended by one of the children said there would be "pressure… not to allocate a place to any child who will bring these potential risks."
This teacher said it would be "very difficult" for the school to even "process an application for a child who fits the above description."
The National Secular Society was extremely concerned by the attitude of the schools exposed in the case, and wrote to the Department for Education.
The case "is clearly not an isolated incident," NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood wrote.
"We fear that these examples are symptomatic of a total unwillingness to expose children attending Orthodox religious schools to anything that does not fit in the 'fundamentalist communities' (the judge's words) world view."
"The court was even told of a case of a 15-year-old girl who was forced to move schools after being ostracised by parents and pupils because she had been 'sexually abused in the community'."
Lord Nash said "Schools must actively promote principles which encourage respect for other people".
"We are working with Ofsted to ensure that the relevant schools are inspected, paying particular attention to these standards. Where failings are found, we will not hesitate to take action".
The NSS also asked the Department for Education to set out what was being done to regulate illegal unregistered where intolerant attitudes were "likely to be particularly acute."
Lord Nash said the Government shared the NSS's concerns about unregistered schools, saying they were "illegal, unsafe and are denying pupils a good education."
The minister said that where "we find evidence that a school is operating illegally we will not hesitate to take action, which could include closing the school or working with the police as necessary."
He added that since January 2016 Ofsted inspections into unregistered schools had "escalated", with new inspectors "dedicated to identifying such schools" and a "tougher approach to prosecuting them".
Keep education and religion separate to boost science attainment, study suggests
Posted: Tue, 21 Mar 2017 08:06
A study by academics at Leeds Beckett University and the University of Missouri has found a strong "negative correlation" between time spent on religion in schools, and maths and science achievement.
The paper, published in Intelligence, demonstrates that more religious countries have lower educational performance in mathematics and science than less religious nations.
Researchers ranked 76 countries, including the UK, by their religiosity, using questionnaires carried out for the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey.
They found that time spent on religion in school has a negative correlation with educational performance in mathematics and science.
The academics suggested that an excess of religion in some country's curricula could lead to a "displacement of non-religious activities".
Professor Gijsbert Stoet of Leeds Beckett University, who led the research, said: "The findings support the idea of a 'displacement hypothesis' that when children spent more of their time on religion, they will spend less time on other things."
The study's authors suggested that this should be considered in the context of the UK government's plans for more faith-based free schools.
"Science and mathematics education [is] key for modern societies. Our research suggests that education might benefit from a stronger secular approach. In that context, the current UK policy of investing more money in faith-based [schools] should be reconsidered," Professor Stoet said.
"My advice for policy makers is to keep education and religion separate and take a secular approach to education and educational policy.
"The success of schools and education in general directly translates in more productive societies and higher standards of living. Given the strong negative link between religiosity and educational performance, governments might be able to raise educational standards and so standards of living by keeping religion out of schools and out of educational policy making."
He added that while it is "already known that faith schooling leads to segregation of communities", their research made clear that "religiosity is actually directly associated with lower performance."
Professor Stoet called for more research to be done into the impact of religiosity on education.
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)
