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
Faith school not teaching students about consent in sex education
Posted: Thu, 5 Jan 2023 16:00
An independent faith school is failing to teach students about consent as part of its sex education program, inspectors have found.
In a recently published report from a July inspection, Ofsted found that students at Ateres Girls High School, an independent Orthodox Jewish school in Gateshead, were not being taught about "sexual orientation, different types of stable relationships and vocabulary such as consent and the implications of this word", as part of their Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).
Whilst the report judged safeguarding measures to be effective, it noted that this lack of discussion relating to sexual harassment and violence – which is required by statutory RSE guidance – limited the ability of students to "understand what these mean and why these actions are always unacceptable."
It said more could be done to make them aware of situations where they may be at risk of harmful relationships.
Jewish counter-extremists have highlighted how a lack of sex education contributes to forced marriage in strictly-Orthodox Jewish communities.
The school also failed to encourage respect for all of the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The report noted this failure was due to the schools leadership following "the wishes of parents by not making pupils aware of two of the protected characteristics".
Orthodox Jewish faith schools frequently refuse to teach about the protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment due to religious objections to same-sex relationships.
The school has not been judged to be of an acceptable standard by Ofsted since 2016.
Ofsted also found major failings in the teaching of RSE during an inspection of another independent Orthodox Jewish faith school in November.
Lubavitch Senior Boys School in Barnet was found to have made "no progress" in the delivery of RSE since its previous inspection, which judged the school to be inadequate.
The report said that the inaction of the school's leadership continued to prevent students acquiring the necessary knowledge regarding "what a healthy relationship looks like" and "what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in relationships".
It also said the school had done nothing to rectify its failure to promote respect for all groups of people, including those of other cultures and faiths.
Ofsted also said pupils were "at risk" due to serious safeguarding concerns at the school. It found that no full time leaders had an appropriate level of safeguarding training. Many lacked the "most basic knowledge" of safeguarding processes, and the record of pre-employment checks on adults was not compliant.
The school was also found to have ignored a restriction issued by the secretary of state for education in late 2021 which prohibited the school's proprietor from admitting any new pupils.
The school has not been judged to be of an acceptable standard since its first inspection in 2018.
NSS: Failure to deliver RSE puts students at risk
National Secular Society campaigns officer Jack Rivington said: "As both reports from Ofsted make clear, the failure by some faith schools to deliver adequate relationships and sex education puts their students at risk.
"It is unacceptable for faith schools to ignore legal requirements relating to the teaching of RSE which they feel don't fit their fundamentalist religious views. That such schools are allowed to continue to operate in this way, despite being found inadequate for years on end, represents a major failing.
"The government must address why faith schools of this kind are allowed to consistently disregard Ofsted without significant consequences, to ensure a full and proper RSE curriculum is available to all young people."
Over 100 new unregistered school investigations opened this year
Posted: Tue, 13 Dec 2022 15:01
Ofsted opened over 100 new investigations into unregistered schools, many of them faith schools, in the last 12 months.
In its annual report published today, Ofsted said approximately a fifth of the unregistered schools it inspected show evidence of having a faith ethos. Most offered a "poor standard of education, where children are restricted to an extremely narrow curriculum", often not learning basic skills such as English and mathematics.
The report also noted that children at unregistered schools were sometimes exposed to "misogynistic, homophobic, and extremist materials that are contrary to British values".
Unregistered schools are illegal and those who run them are committing a criminal offence. The National Secular Society has long warned of the use of unregistered schools by religious groups to evade scrutiny of their activities so they can prioritise fundamentalist religious ideology over the education and welfare needs of children.
Yet despite the large number of new investigations and the additional 120 inspections which were carried out in previously inspected unregistered schools, just 19 warning notices were issued with only a single prosecution.
Since being established in 2016, Ofsted's unregistered schools team said it has carried out 960 investigations into potentially illegal schools across England. During the same period, it has repeatedly raised concerns with the government about the scale of unregistered schooling.
It said many unregistered schools "remain on the cusp of the law by exploiting loopholes". Eighty-one unregistered schools investigated by Ofsted changed their service to comply with the law by reducing their hours of operation or the number of children attending. Only 16 registered as schools.
Citing its "limited powers", Ofsted noted it has only been able to bring six successful prosecutions against unregistered schools since 2016. It welcomed provisions which would have expanded its powers to investigate illegal schools in the 2022 Schools Bill. But the government confirmed last week it has scrapped this bill.
Ofsted's report also highlighted that registered independent faith schools "have worse inspection outcomes than non-faith independent schools". This is partly due to some schools limiting the curriculum in areas they "consider to conflict directly with their religion" and serving communities "that want children's education to prepare them only for life within that community". Six of the 11 warning notices to independent schools published this year were sent to faith schools.
NSS: 'New powers for Ofsted urgently needed"
NSS campaigns officer Jack Rivington said: "Ofsted's annual report demonstrates why it requires new powers to tackle unregistered schools as a matter of urgency.
"The use of unregistered schools by fundamentalist religious groups to avoid teaching anything contrary to their regressive worldviews is well documented.
"By failing to address Ofsted's impotent state, the government is betraying the thousands of children currently exposed to harmful practices and ideologies in unregistered schools.
"With its abandonment of the Schools Bill, the government must therefore set out provisions for how the concerns highlighted by Ofsted's report will be addressed."
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)
