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 segregates and treats girls unfavourably, says Ofsted
Posted: Wed, 8 Jan 2020 11:36
An independent Islamic school in Birmingham is segregating children by sex and treating girls unfavourably more than two years after the practice was ruled unlawful, inspectors have found.
In a report published this week Ofsted found that Redstone Educational Academy was unlawfully segregating boys and girls by sex for all school activities, except for weekly assemblies.
In 2017 the Court of Appeal ruled that segregating children by sex within an individual school was unlawful. But Redstone is one of several independent faith schools which have been found doing so in recent months.
Redstone's report found it 'inadequate' in all areas and also found pupils were not safe or being sufficiently prepared for life in modern Britain.
It said boys at the school were "treated favourably", "have more privileges" than girls and "enjoy school more than girls". Its evidence included that:
- A group of pupils told inspectors a member of staff, who has since left the school, had told them university was not for females.
- Boys had more opportunities to play sport than girls and were allowed to choose work experience placements first – a policy which some girls complained about.
- Boys had more opportunities to join after school clubs than girls.
- School trips were organised separately for boys and girls, with boys treated preferentially.
It said the school's leaders had recently applied to open a separate girls' school on the same premises, to stay within the law, but had been unsuccessful. They had no new plans to address the segregation issue.
The report said all pupils studied Islamic studies and learnt "a little about other faiths but not enough to prepare them well for life in modern Britain".
It added that the quality of education was inadequate and said: "Pupils say that they feel safe in school, but they are not."
National Secular Society campaigns officer Megan Manson said: "It's shocking that this level of sexist discrimination exists in a UK school.
"Such harmful attitudes towards male and female pupils are rooted in archaic notions of gender roles promoted by religious ideology.
"Nothing can justify treating girls and boys unequally and depriving children of the knowledge and skills they need for life in modern British society. Faith schools mustn't be allowed to use religion as an excuse to flout standards that all schools must follow."
Other independent faith schools still sex segregating
- In recent months Ofsted has found at least two other independent Islamic schools, both in Lancashire, still segregating children by sex: Markazul Uloom in Blackburn and Rochdale Islamic Academy.
- The government issued warning notices to two independent faith schools – one Islamic and one Jewish – which were segregating boys and girls last year.
Notes
- Redstone's report was based on an inspection held on 12-14 November 2019.
- The school's headmaster told The Telegraph that the school had no intention of defying the law "if it turns out that our application for a separate girls' school is formally refused". He also questioned Ofsted's findings.
Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay.
Government dismissed concerns about Jewish school in sex ed scandal
Posted: Thu, 2 Jan 2020 16:53
The government dismissed concerns about community pressures at a Jewish school which has encouraged parents to withdraw children from sex education, the National Secular Society can reveal.
Last month a BBC expose revealed that two state-funded schools in north London had encouraged parents to exercise their right to opt children out of relationships and sex education (RSE).
A parent at Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School who spoke to the programme said she would have been "alienated or ostracised" if she had defied the school.
The NSS can now reveal that the Department for Education dismissed concerns about pressure on parents at Yesodey Hatorah to conform to strict religious norms just a few months earlier.
The NSS wrote to education minister Theodore Agnew in July after obtaining a recording of a meeting which took place at the school on 15 May. Before the meeting the school told all mothers that "attendance is mandatory".
May meeting at Yesodey Hatorah
The May meeting was called to make mothers "aware of extremely disturbing trends in the local community", and came amid heightened efforts to resist RSE from some religious groups.
At the meeting, speakers said:
- "The values we want to pass along" were "not the values that Ofsted are telling us to pass along".
- The school and religious community were "teaching our children to be ehrliche yidden (pious Jews)" rather than "to be good citizens".
The meeting featured lengthy lectures on the moral failings of mothers who complained or exposed their children to secular influences:
- A speaker said that if mothers criticised schools, rabbis, religious courts or communities, children would "replicate those opinions faithfully".
- A speaker said mothers are "going to look after, nurture and feed" children and are "the main one moulding the child" while fathers are "not involved".
- Speakers urged mothers not to use smartphones or wear short skirts, saying "every inch counts".
- Speakers suggested women like to gossip and spend long periods of time discussing things without getting anything done.
One speaker also said Arabs "offer you a cup of tea, then they stab you in the back". Another said the current "threat" was unmatched by anything in "the last 200 years".
NSS raised meeting with DfE
The NSS's letter, sent in July, described the meeting as an example of state schools bringing "extreme social pressure" on families to encourage them to "conform to hardline religious standards".
The NSS also noted that a whistleblower who had highlighted the meeting had not felt able to refuse to attend or to complain due to fear that the school would retaliate.
DfE dismisses NSS concerns
The DfE responded to the NSS's letter in August and said it was "not in a position to police such meetings". It said "parents must make their own decisions on such matters".
The letter appeared to ignore the substantial community pressure to conform to strict religious expectations.
Responding to the latest developments, NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "RSE is designed to help children from all backgrounds build positive and safe relationships. Education ministers must ensure faith schools are not able to act with impunity when they seek to deny pupils this basic right.
"Last month's revelations demonstrate that the Department for Education was ill-advised to dismiss our concerns about community pressures at Yesodey Hatorah.
"This is just the latest episode which shows this school's willingness to resort to astonishingly draconian tactics to enforce its religious ethos. The government's position showed disregard for children's rights and blindness to the significant cultural pressure that exists in some closed religious communities.
"Ministers in the new government should rethink their laissez-faire approach."
Previous examples of community pressure at Yesodey Hatorah
- In 2018 an adjudicator ruled that Yesodey Hatorah was not breaching the school admissions code by requiring families not to wear leather or lycra, access the internet or use online entertainment.
- Yesodey Hatorah has also been at the centre of several scandals in recent years. In 2013 it censored questions on science exam papers. In 2018 it was revealed it had removed references to homosexuals from a section of a textbook about Nazi policies.
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)
