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
NSS welcomes updated guidance on relationships & sex education
Posted: Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:26
The government has resisted religious pressure to extend parents' right to withdraw their children from relationships and sex education (RSE) in a move welcomed by the National Secular Society.
Draft guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) has removed parents' explicit right to withdraw their children from sex education in secondary schools in England. The guidance replaces that right with a "right to request" withdrawal.
There remains no right to withdraw children from relationships education, which begins in primary school, or the newly-introduced subject of health education.
When parents request withdrawal from sex education schools will be expected to hold conversations with them. They will be expected to honour the request up until three terms before the child turns 16, except in "exceptional circumstances".
Children who are almost 16 who do not wish to be withdrawn from sex education, but whose parents have requested it, will be entitled to one term's worth of teaching.
The guidance includes dispensations for faith schools, which "may teach the distinctive faith perspective on relationships". It adds that "balanced debate may take place about issues that are seen as contentious" in faith schools. Schools may "reflect" on ways "faith institutions may support people in matters of relationships and sex".
All schools are allowed to "teach about faith perspectives" on RSE.
The guidance also says "the religious background of all pupils must be taken into account when planning teaching" in all schools.
All schools are told to comply with the Equality Act of 2010.
The government assessed the impact of the guidance on schools' duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relationships between groups. Its assessment found "no impact" or a "potential positive impact" for people with all relevant protected characteristics.
Ahead of publication, the NSS met with the DfE and wrote to the education secretary Damian Hinds urging him not to dilute the guidance.
The NSS's letter came in response to pressure from religious organisations opposed to RSE. On Monday MPs debated a petition calling for a parental opt-out from RSE after it received more than 100,000 signatures.
Earlier this month the NSS revealed the bigoted messages being promoted by some religious anti-RSE campaigners. Dr Kate Godfrey-Faussett, who organised the petition which was debated in parliament, has encouraged Muslims to adopt a "psychological" or "mental health" response to same-sex attraction.
The government also faced pressure to dilute the guidance from some orthodox Jewish and Christian groups.
In response to the guidance NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "We welcome this new guidance as step in the right direction for children's rights.
"Parents' rights and religious freedoms aren't absolute and must be balanced against the need to ensure that all young people are equipped with the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to keep themselves safe and cope with the many pressures and challenges of growing up.
"All pupils should have the right to an education that gives them clear and accurate information on the issues that matter to their health and wellbeing. This includes learning that LGBT people and same-sex relationships exist. Religious objections can't be allowed to override attempts to ensure that happens.
"We remain concerned that faith schools will be given far too much leeway to teach these subjects in accordance with their faith, distorting the subject and providing a disservice to their pupils.
"We also fear that the parental opt-out from sex education will lead to important information being denied to some of the children and young people who stand to most benefit from it. We urge the government and school leaders not to neglect the rights of pupils in the face of demands from parents."
The guidance comes in response to a consultation on the topic which took place last year. The NSS warned of the risk that faith groups would continue to distort RSE when it responded to the consultation.
In a major report on sex education in England last year the NSS revealed that more than three-quarters of faith schools in England were failing to teach sex and relationships education impartially.
Image: © Shairyar Khan, via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0]
Ofsted head defends relationships education amid religious pressure
Posted: Thu, 21 Feb 2019 16:13
The chief inspector of England's schools has said all children should learn about same-sex couples amid increasingly loud religious campaigns against education about relationships and sex.
Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, told the BBC children should be exposed to social differences and know "there are families that have two mummies or two daddies".
Her intervention comes as MPs prepare to debate a petition calling for a parental opt-out from relationships and sex education (RSE) next Monday.
Last week the National Secular Society highlighted the bigoted messages being promoted by prominent anti-RSE campaigners including Kate Godfrey-Faussett, who created the petition.
Godfrey-Faussett has encouraged Muslims to adopt a "psychological" or "mental health" response to same-sex attraction and said homosexuality results from a lack of "guidance".
RSE is due to become mandatory in all schools in September 2020. Parents already have the right to opt their children out of the sex education part of RSE, which is taught in secondary schools.
Spielman said primary school lessons were designed to teach children "just enough to know that some people prefer not to get married to somebody of the opposite sex and that sometimes there are families that have two mummies or two daddies".
"It's about making sure that children who do happen to realise that they themselves may not fit a conventional pattern know that they're not bad or ill."
She said there needed to be a "careful exploration of the middle ground" but lessons covering LGBT topics were important.
The petition will be debated as religious campaigners increase the pressure for a dilution of teaching about sex and relationships.
In recent weeks predominantly Muslim campaigners have held demonstrations against a programme designed to counter homophobia at a school in Birmingham. The teacher running the programme has reported receiving threats and abuse from some parents.
There has also been a backlash against RSE from some orthodox Jewish groups. Last month an activist father threatened the government with legal action over requirements to teach children about LGBT+ relationships.
And this week a Charedi Jewish group wrote to the education secretary to say "under no circumstances will Charedi schools dilute their passionately held beliefs and sexualise their children".
The NSS's education and schools officer Alastair Lichten described Spielman's intervention as "timely and welcome".
"Amanda Spielman is right to defend RSE teaching in the face of unreasonable religious pressure. It's also helpful for her to push back against some of the myths that have taken hold among some of the more hysterical anti-RSE campaigners.
"MPs and the government would do well to heed her words when the subject comes before parliament on Monday."
The NSS wrote to the education secretary Damian Hinds last week to urge him not to water the guidance down in the face of religious pressure. The society has also sent a briefing on the issue to MPs with a particular interest in the subject and is urging supporters to write to their MPs on the subject.
In response to the petition the government has said the parental opt-out from sex education will continue. The education secretary also said it would continue last year.
One anonymous mother whose child was at the school in Birmingham told the BBC she felt the school was "forcing" the teaching "upon us".
"It's just not what we're about and we don't agree with it".
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)
