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
Islamic school leader banned for misogynistic and homophobic sermons
Posted: Mon, 20 Jun 2022 16:11
The National Secular Society has welcomed a decision to ban a former faith school proprietor after he published hateful sermons about women and gay people.
The Department for Education today announced Waheed Alam, also known as Abu Khadeejah, has been prohibited from managing schools for engaging in conduct that is "aimed at undermining the fundamental value of individual liberty".
Alam is the former proprietor of Redstone Educational Academy, an independent Islamic school in Birmingham.
The DfE said Alam produced a number of online sermons and articles between 2015 and 2019 which "fail to show tolerance of, and respect for, the rights of others".
This includes material expressing views that seek to "restrict the activities of women" and "denigrate and demonise gay men".
Alam's views came to light during an Ofsted inspection in 2019, as part of Redstone Educational Academy's move to register separate boys' and girls' schools.
Redstone Educational Academy had been segregating boys and girls within the same school despite a 2017 judgement finding such segregation to be unlawful discrimination.
The inspection found the proposed girls' school was "unlikely to meet" all independent school standards because the proprietor "publicly extols views that should not be promoted by the owner of an independent school in England".
Ofsted said Alam's views are "well known, published widely and pupils are more able to access them as the proprietor is known to them".
Ofsted cited material published by Alam that equated homosexuality with paedophilia.
He also said Muslim scholars "state that homosexuality comes about due to a corruption of the natural state which can be triggered by various events", including "school indoctrination of children from an early age that goes against nature, health and wellbeing".
In a 2019 sermon he said women should not leave the home without permission from their husband or father, and that the ways of Western women are worse "even than the beasts".
Redstone Educational Academy also failed its inspection in 2020 after Ofsted found boys at the school were "treated favourably", "have more privileges" than girls and "enjoy school more than girls".
In the 2019 inspection, Ofsted said the school "has a history of failing to meet standards since 2014".
NSS comment
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "It is shocking that the proprietor of a school in the UK could openly publish these hate-filled sermons that contradict the fundamental values schools are meant to teach: equality, liberty and tolerance.
"It's not hard to see why this school has a substantial history of failure – particularly in regard to discrimination against female pupils.
"Ofsted must continue to take action to protect the rights and welfare of the children at the school. If the school cannot prioritise pupils' educational needs above archaic and fundamentalist religious dogma, it must be closed down."
Image: From Waheed Alam (a.k.a. Abu Khadeejah)'s website.
Government opposes moves to protect secular schools’ ethos
Posted: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:56
The government has refused to support amendments to a bill which would help nonreligious academies protect their secular ethos.
Amendments to the Schools Bill, which was debated in the House of Lords on Monday, aimed to replace compulsory collective worship at nonreligious academies in England with inclusive assemblies, and religious education with pluralistic religion and worldviews education.
It would also require greater scrutiny of the potential impact to the school's ethos if a nonreligious academy applied to join a religious multi academy trust (MAT).
But Baroness Joanna Penn, responding on behalf of the government, said the government "do not agree" with the amendments, which were subsequently dropped.
The moves were also opposed by the bishop of Chichester Martin Warner, who "strongly" urged Lords not to support them.
Collective worship
Baroness Molly Meacher and Baroness Janet Whitaker moved two amendments on collective worship – one to remove the duty from nonreligious academies, and one requiring faith-based academies to provide pupils with a meaningful alternative to collective worship if they are withdrawn.
Meacher said it was "pretty remarkable" that the UK is the only sovereign state to impose worship in all state schools, despite the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child repeatedly urging the UK to repeal these laws. She said most parents were not aware of the law but out of those who were, 60% opposed it being enforced. She added that most parents consider religious worship to be inappropriate content for school assemblies.
She highlighted that many parents have "no option but to send their child to a religious school", and those withdrawn from worship at these schools "often just have to sit outside the door—almost like a naughty child—or are left in an empty classroom with nothing to do".
But Penn rejected the amendments as "not necessary". Warner said an end to compulsory worship in schools would be "excessive".
Religious education
Lord Jim Knight moved amendments to replace religious education (RE) with religious and worldviews education which is "objective, critical and pluralistic" in nonreligious academies and as an option in religious academies.
They also required religion and worldviews education in nonreligious academies to be "explicitly inclusive of non-religious beliefs".
The amendments would bring England closer in line with Wales, which last year replaced RE with religion, values and ethics education.
Penn objected to the amendments, saying that when children are admitted to a faith school, "their parents are aware of this and expect it to be part of the school's ethos and culture", despite Meacher highlighting that faith schools are unavoidable for many parents.
Penn added: "I am unaware of significant demand from parents who withdraw their children from religious education to have this replaced by education representative of a wider range of religious and non-religious beliefs".
The National Secular Society regularly assists parents who wish to withdraw their children from RE at faith schools because they object to its biased and confessional nature.
Protecting secular academies joining religious MATs
Baroness Christine Blower moved an amendment to ensure nonreligious academies intending to join a religious MAT must hold a comprehensive consultation focused on the impact on the secular ethos of the school.
Blower said there are parents and carers "who would seek to avoid institutions of a religious character, believing that for them education should be in institutions with a secular ethos".
Warner called the amendment "unhelpful" and said church MATs "provide a commitment to supporting the individual ethos of the school".
But NSS research has demonstrated how the development of mixed multi-academy trusts has enabled religious groups to increase their influence in thousands of schools in England, including those with no religious character.
Employment discrimination in religious academies
Baroness Meacher also moved an amendment to remove exemptions from equality and education law that allow religious academies to discriminate on the basis of religion or belief for the purposes of appointment, promotion, remuneration or termination of employment of teachers.
Meacher said many schools "currently do discriminate even where the employment equality directive makes it clear that this is not allowed".
She pointed to recent reforms in Northern Ireland which removed similar exemptions.
Penn said the government supports the "freedoms and protections" enabling faith schools to discriminate on the basis of religion or belief.
NSS comment
The NSS, which has met with the Department for Education to discuss the Schools Bill, said the withdrawal of these amendments was "deeply disappointing, but not wholly surprising."
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "If accepted, the amendments would have gone a long way to making academies in England more inclusive for all, and to protecting the secular ethos of academies with no religious character.
"They would also have helped bring England in line with Wales and Northern Ireland, which have recently made progressive steps towards inclusive education.
"In this debate, the government showed a highly dismissive and contemptuous attitude to the concerns raised by the public regarding collective worship, RE and faith schools.
"It must start listening more to the public about what schools they want, and less to religious interests including the bishops appointed to the House of Lords".
Image: 14995841 from Pixabay
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)
