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
Church ‘using academisation to increase religious influence in schools’
Posted: Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:20
The National Secular Society has written to the Department for Education over concerns that the Church of England is using academisation to strengthen its influence in schools – over the objections of school governors.
Fresh concerns were prompted after the Diocese of Winchester announced that all its voluntary controlled (VC) schools had to join the Diocese's academy chain when the schools become academies, dramatically increasing the power of the Church over the schools.
The VC schools are to be prevented from joining any other academy chain and must sign up to the Diocese's "King Alfred Trust" even though the governors of one affected school are "unanimously" opposed "as they feel it will erase the distinction between VC and Voluntary Aided schools."
Voluntary controlled schools are generally considered to be less explicitly religious than voluntary aided (VA) schools. In VA schools, a majority of the governing body is appointed by the church to maintain "the Church of England character of the school."
In contrast, the church-appointed governors of a VC school are in a minority.
The loss of this distinction as VC schools convert to become academies has prompted "utter outrage" among headteachers of affected schools.
One headteacher told the National Secular Society that other headteachers of church schools are "furious that their schools are to be handed over en masse to the Diocese" and that no other conversion options will be considered.
The NSS wrote to the Department for Education, "In Hampshire approximately 60% of schools with a religious ethos are VC. If these plans go through, 73 schools who currently have a minority of church appointed governors will suddenly find themselves under the direct control of the Diocese."
A similar situation has occurred in Norwich, where the Diocese has stated VC schools will be required to "adopt a VA model of governance before being admitted to the Trust".
The National Secular Society told schools minister Lord Nash: "The NSS regularly receives contact from governors and staff at church schools who feel under pressure to replace the 'light touch' faith ethos they may feel is more appropriate to their school community with a more explicit ethos.
"We are also hearing from parents and staff at church schools concerned that academisation will lead to their diocese imposing a more rigorous religious ethos."
Given the volume of recent examples, the Society said it expected dicoeses to "routinely misuse" powers in an agreement between churches and the Government to block VC schools from choosing what multi-academy trust to join, in order to advance the church's "control and other policy aims."
It is a long-established principle "that the boards of VC schools are not wholly dominated by the Church," the Society wrote.
The NSS has now called on the DfE to require VC schools converting to academy status to maintain the balance of governors appointed by the Church and by other sources.
Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society said of the plans: "The influence of the church in VC schools has traditionally been limited, but it's becoming increasingly clear that academisation is paving the way for the Church to strengthen its control over state education.
"With around a million pupils attending church schools, it will be a concern to many parents that the education they receive is increasingly being controlled by clerics.
"As the population drifts away from the church, the church is unabashedly looking to taxpayer funded schools to act as its pulpit, and many church schools converting to academy status and joining diocesan trusts may soon be asserting a much stronger 'Christian ethos' than they have done previously. This stands to benefit the Church, but not the local communities, parents and pupils that publicly-funded schools are supposed to serve."
Inclusive schools needed to tackle radicalisation, says European Commission
Posted: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 10:54
The European Commission has called for inclusive education to help tackle radicalisation across the continent.
Preventing radicalisation must include the promotion of "an inclusive, open and resilient society and reaching out to young people," the Commission said, while presenting its work on further steps the EU can take to help national governments counter radicalisation.
"In the long run, high quality education from pre-school onwards remains the best safety net against social exclusion, which can be for some a factor in radicalisation."
While Members States assume primary responsibility for countering radicalisation which leads to violent extremism, the Commission said that the "EU has a supporting role to play not least because the similar nature of the challenges faced by Member States, and the scale and interconnected nature of the problem".
"Schools have a key role in fostering inclusion and, as core parts of communities, work closely with parents and local associations. Regular contacts with representatives of civil society and role models can make a difference in motivating young people and preventing them from drifting to the margins of society."
The Commission also said that "transmitting" common European values to young people was "critical" in preventing radicalisation.
At a meeting of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights in 2015, the NSS called for integrated schools that promoted common citizenship.
NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans commented: "There's an overwhelming case in favour of an inclusive model of education that promotes shared values rather than one organised around religious identities. Reducing religious segregation in our school system should be an urgent priority.
"Even if this separatism in education is only a partial cause of radicalisation, it is fostering the creation of a fragmented society that can only be storing up problems for the future."
Teachers were key to detecting early signs of radicalisation in pupils, the Commission said, something which the UK government has stressed with the Prevent strategy.
First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said: "Recent terrorist attacks have shown how some young Europeans have fallen prey to an ideology of death and destruction, breaking away from their own families and friends and turning against their own societies. This calls for a determined response by society as a whole, to prevent radicalisation and strengthen the ties that bind us together. The EU should help wherever it can."
In addition to sharing good practice on education among Member States, the Commission, in presenting further steps to help Member States combat radicalisation, stressed the need for EU support for work on research on radicalisation, countering hate speech and addressing radicalisation in prisoners.
The United Nations recently criticised Northern Ireland's failure to tackle segregation of schools by religion and called on it to "actively promote a fully integrated education system and carefully monitor the provision of shared education, with the participation of children, in order to ensure that it facilitates social integration".
The Committee on the Rights of the Child also called on the UK Government to repeal the legal requirement for an act of broadly Christian worship in schools.
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)
