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
Government launches consultation on abolishing faith school admissions cap
Posted: Tue, 13 Sep 2016 15:02
The Government has launched a consultation on controversial plans to abolish the 50% admission cap on faith schools, which currently limits religious discrimination in the admissions policies of oversubscribed new faith schools.
The Department for Education claims that it will replace the admissions cap with measures that "promote inclusivity," an assessment the National Secular Society has rejected.
The proposals suggested in the Green Paper include twinning arrangements between schools of different faiths, and mixed-faith multi-academy trusts which the Department for Education claim would "promote greater cohesion".
The Government has also suggested that before new faith schools are set up that local demand must be proven and that "parents of other faiths would be happy to send their children there".
In addition the Green Paper says new faith schools should "Consider placing an independent member or director who is of a different faith or no faith at all on the governing body of new faith free schools. This will help ensure that there is independent input into the governance of the school and will help ensure that they have a wider perspective beyond their own faith."
NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans commented on the proposals:
"On reading the Green Paper it is clear that the glaring problem in promoting integration in our education system is the existence of faith schools. This is the elephant in the room, which the Government refuses to address in any meaningful or serious way. It is skirting around the main issue.
"Half-hearted measures, such as those included in the paper, are no substitute for pupils actually being educated alongside each other and forming enduring friendships across different groups.
"Faith schools are divisive, and by allowing 100% religious selection in new religious schools the Government will only worsen the segregation and discrimination that they create.
"I hope as many people as possible will contact their MPs, urging them to oppose these proposals and instead support schools that are open and inclusive, catering for all local children regardless of their religious or non-religious beliefs. The time has come to end the discrimination and segregation caused by faith schools – not extend it".
Senior Conservative MP Ken Clarke raised his concerns about the proposals in the House of Commons. He asked Education Secretary Justine Greening if she ought to "reconsider pretty fundamentally the announcement she has made about faith schools".
"We need to live in a society where we reduce barriers and improve contacts and integration between people of all faiths. If the system has been imperfect, we need to know why it has not worked. It may be right to modify it, but will not simply removing the cap altogether lead us into considerable danger?"
The Education Secretary claimed that she wanted to make sure that "all new faith free schools are truly inclusive".
NSS calls for inquiry into Government’s faith schools admissions reform
Posted: Tue, 13 Sep 2016 08:46
The National Secular Society has written to Neil Carmichael MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee, calling for an inquiry into the Government's plans to abolish the 50% cap on faith-based admissions to free schools.
The proposal to allow faith-based academies to select 100% of places on the basis of religion have been lambasted by critics, including the National Secular Society, for risking an increase in religious, ethnic and social segregation in state schools.
In a letter to Mr Carmichael, the NSS said that an inquiry would be the only way of ensuring parliamentary oversight for the reforms – which could otherwise be enacted without any debate in Parliament.
The cap was originally introduced to try and make faith schools more "inclusive", something which the Government says it has failed to achieve. Many minority faith schools are undersubscribed, with members of other faith and belief backgrounds particularly reluctant to send their children to them.
Stephen Evans, campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said: "Rather than lift the cap, religious discrimination in admissions to publicly funded schools should be abandoned. The removal of the cap has significant adverse implications for integration and social cohesion. It's alarming that the Government could give effect to this significant policy change without any reference to Parliament. We are therefore calling for a select committee inquiry provide a degree of parliamentary scrutiny."
The NSS also called on the Committee to consider "alternative remedies to the lack of inclusion that the cap was intended to counter".
"There is a significant and growing weight of academic opinion confirming that religiously-based admissions criteria produce more religiously, ethnically and socially segregated schools. We believe that an inquiry by your committee is essential to provide a forum for such evidence to influence the policy making process," the letter to Mr Carmichael said.
The Catholic Education Service will reportedly seek to open 35 to 40 new Catholic free schools across the country once they have more freedom to discriminate on the basis of faith.
Mr Evans said: "A proliferation of faith-based schools will seriously impede the integration of religious minorities and exacerbate the ghettoisation we're seeing in many of our towns and cities.
"The removal of the 50% faith-based admissions cap will also increase the already high levels of discrimination against children from non-religious families, who in many areas are already finding their options severely limited."
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)
