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 segregating by sex despite ruling it’s unlawful
Posted: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 12:30
An independent Islamic school has been found in breach of standards after inspectors found it segregated children by sex, two years after the practice was ruled unlawful.
An Ofsted report published last week said Markazul Uloom in Blackburn separated children by sex "for the whole of their education and at social times" during an inspection in September.
The report added that the segregation caused detriment to the children's education. Markazul Uloom has 176 pupils on roll aged between 11 and 19.
In 2017 the Court of Appeal ruled that segregating children by sex within an individual school was unlawful.
The Ofsted report into Markazul Uloom said:
- Pupils are taught in two separate buildings and follow different timetables and curriculums.
- The sex segregation causes pupils detriment because they cannot study some subjects. For example, boys can study history in key stage 4, but girls cannot; girls can study textiles or geography, but boys cannot.
- The school has one science laboratory. This is in the building designated as the girls' section, so the boys cannot access it to undertake practical experiments.
The report said the school's leaders "intend to make changes to the structural organisation of the school" which will see it become two separate single-sex schools. But it added that the leaders have not yet started the process of registering two separate schools.
In response, National Secular Society spokesperson Megan Manson said: "Segregating children by sex harms children's education and undermines their ability to form relationships with children of the opposite sex.
"But alarmingly some schools are continuing to segregate within the same school long after the practice was ruled unlawful.
"The next government must ensure that schools such as Markazul Uloom do not get away with it. All schools, including independent faith schools, must be obliged to follow the law and treat male and female pupils equally."
Other independent faith schools segregating by sex
- Another Islamic school, Rochdale Islamic Academy, was also found in breach of the independent school standards this term after Ofsted inspectors found it was segregating children by sex, causing detriment to pupils.
- The government issued warning notices to two independent faith schools - one Islamic and one Jewish - which were segregating boys and girls earlier this year.
Notes
- The report came after the school was subject to an emergency inspection on 17 September. Emergency inspections are designed only to assess schools' compliance with particular standards.
Government warns Islamic school with pro-Taliban book in library
Posted: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:01
An Islamic school which stocked books promoting support for the Taliban, anti-semitic and anti-Christian messages and misogyny is among nine independent faith schools which have been warned over failings in newly-published notices.
The Department for Education sent Jamia Islamia Birmingham, an independent Islamic school for boys aged 11-19, a warning notice after the school failed an inspection in June.
School inspectorate Ofsted found one book in the library that set out aims including "to help the Taliban government in the accomplishment of enforcement of Shari'ah in Afghanistan" and "to struggle for the creation of Islamic states".
The book's front page also said "Don't make the Jews and the Christians your friends".
Other books contained "misogynistic messages" and condoned physical punishment, Ofsted said. The books were stamped with the school's name.
The school was also criticised for:
- Having a "poorly designed" and "too narrow" curriculum. Pupils studied religious education for three hours every morning and the key stage 4 curriculum did not include opportunities to study art, music, drama, technology, history or geography.
- Excluding students with special educational needs and disabilities, which is not compliant with the Equality Act 2010.
- Giving pupils no opportunities to socialise outside and leaving pupils to sit on the floor with no planned activities during their lunch break.
- Having a "poorly maintained" and "damp" school building and a "dangerous" playground area.
In total 28 independent schools were issued warning notices in July, including two Jewish schools and six Christian schools. The notices were published online last week.
Schools that receive warnings must improve within a specified period or they will be removed from the independent schools register.
At Gateshead Cheder Primary School, an Orthodox Jewish school for boys, the curriculum was "narrow" and at Year 10 pupils studied only English, maths and Hebrew. The school was not registered to educate Year 10 pupils. It also did not ensure secondary-aged pupils had access to impartial careers advice.
Leeds Menorah School, also Jewish, was criticised over the lack of time allocated to secular subjects. Its admissions register was also incomplete because the destinations of pupils who had recently left were not recorded.
Both Jewish schools refused to teach about LGBT+ people.
All but one of the six Christian schools that received warning notices failed in their safeguarding duties. They included Ampleforth College, a Catholic boarding school where "serious incidents of peer-on-peer abuse" were not always treated according to the safeguarding policy.
In 2018 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found that children as young as seven were sexually abused at Ampleforth College since the 1960s.
National Secular Society education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "This latest round of warnings issued by the government to independent schools once again reveals how too many faith schools put religious ideology above the education and wellbeing of their pupils.
"It is truly alarming that we've got to the point where some of these schools are promoting intolerant and extremist messages in the name of religion.
"No child, regardless of their background, should be educated in such an environment."
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)
