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
State-funded faith school warned by government for sex discrimination
Posted: Fri, 13 May 2022 15:46
A state-funded faith school has been warned by the government after failing an inspection for discriminating against girls.
The Department for Education issued a termination warning notice to King David High School's academy trust after it failed an Ofsted inspection in March.
Ofsted downgraded the King David High School, a Jewish academy in Manchester, from "outstanding" to "inadequate" after discovering pupils in the single-sex unit suffered discrimination.
A termination warning notice is issued when a school must take special measures to improve. If the school does not improve, the government can shut the school down or appoint additional directors.
The school's trust board "has not ensured that the school fulfils its statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010" regarding pupils who attend the school's Yavneh Girls unit, the warning notice said.
An Ofsted inspection in November 2021 found pupils who attend Yavneh Girls are "separated from all other pupils at the school throughout the school day, including during breaks and at lunchtime".
Segregating pupils according to sex within mixed-sex schools was found to amount to unlawful sex discrimination in a landmark ruling in 2017, after the National Secular Society and other campaigning organisations highlighted the issue.
The notice also said leaders and trustees "have not ensured that effective safeguarding arrangements are in place".
In addition, students lack a decent careers education to help them make decisions about their future.
NSS comment
NSS education campaigns officer Ella Sen said: "We welcome the DfE's actions to hold this school to account.
"All girls should be given access to high-quality education whereby they are not isolated and treated fairly.
"Unfortunately, sex discrimination is a consequence of allowing schools to be run according to a conservative religious ethos. Education authorities must continue make it clear a religious ethos can never be used to justify discrimination."
Inspectors criticise Catholic Church for banning gay author’s school talk
Posted: Thu, 28 Apr 2022 08:51
School inspectorate Ofsted has criticised the Catholic Church for forcing a school to cancel a talk by a gay children's author.
In a letter to the John Fisher School in Croydon, Ofsted said the Archdiocese of Southwark's actions had "unnerved and upset many in the school community".
The letter follows a snap inspection of the school in March prompted by the diocese's actions.
Simon James Green (pictured), an award-winning children's author, had been invited by school leaders to visit John Fisher School in March to talk about his career.
But the diocese, which oversees the Catholic secondary school for boys, called on leaders to cancel the visit because it fell "outside the scope of what is permissible in a Catholic school".
Its intervention followed a campaign by the website Catholic Truth and an email from the school's chaplain to parents protesting the talk.
The school's governing body voted in favour of the leaders' decision not to cancel the visit. In response, the diocese sacked school governors supportive of Green.
The diocese intended to replace the governing body with an interim executive board (IEB), but Sutton Council found that this did not comply with the law.
Ofsted also criticised the move, saying: "While the Catholic Church retains control of governance in Catholic schools, the archdiocese's attempt to impose an IEB was made unilaterally and without due regard to the published statutory guidance regarding the appointment of IEBs."
Ofsted said some leaders, staff and pupils "have been left feeling angry, confused and frustrated" by the events. It said some are "worried about the impression these events might give of the school's ethos".
Members of the National Education Union at the school are on strike today to protest the diocese's actions, despite threats to sack them by the governors appointed by the Catholic Church.
NSS comment
The National Secular Society has previously highlighted how faith schools, included those that are state-funded, are permitted to teach stigmatising ideas about gay people and same-sex relationships.
The government permits faith schools to teach about relationships and sex "according to the tenets of their faith". This has resulted in some faith schools teaching that same-sex relationships are morally wrong.
Alastair Lichten, head of education at the NSS, said: "This case demonstrates the tensions caused by having state-funded schools controlled by religious institutions.
"Leaders and governors at the school were overwhelmingly supportive of Green's visit. But for the Catholic diocese that ultimately controls the school, the idea of an openly gay man talking to pupils was clearly beyond the pale.
"Teachers' desires for the school to be an inclusive place of learning were brutally undermined by the diocese's homophobic religious agenda. This could lead to a chilling effect on other faith schools that want to be more inclusive.
"The only way to ensure such tensions do not arise again is for all state-funded schools to have an inclusive, secular, community ethos – without interference or imposition from religious groups."
Image from Simon James Green's website.
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)
