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 urges councils to resist religiously selective faith schools
Posted: Fri, 4 Jan 2019 11:15
The National Secular Society has urged councils to support inclusive schooling and not to open faith schools which can select all their children based on their families' faith.
In a letter to all local education authorities (LEAs) in England NSS chief executive Stephen Evans called on the councils to resist proposals to open new voluntary aided (VA) schools.
VA schools are allowed to select all their children on a faith basis, select teachers on religious grounds and teach denominational religious education.
The government announced the details of a new wave of VA schools in November.
Mr Evans said LEAs should "prioritise the importance of inclusive schools in all decisions".
The NSS added that it would support LEAs if England's schools adjudicator attempts to override their opposition to new faith schools.
The letter also urged councils to monitor the impact of faith-based education on school choice in the wake of the publication of the NSS's recent report The Choice Delusion. The report found that almost three in 10 families in England live in areas where most or all local primary schools are faith-based.
The NSS noted that there was "little interest" in creating VA schools from local authorities. But it said few local authorities "explicitly seek inclusive schools modelled on a community school ethos" when identifying the need for new schools. This can mean the government selects faith-based providers who undermine inclusion and choice.
The NSS also called on LEAs to review policies which allow voluntary controlled (VC) schools – schools where they, rather than religious groups, control admissions – to select pupils on religious grounds.
Mr Evans wrote: "Schools with mixed intakes and without religious barriers to entry are more representative of the communities they serve."
Religious selection is far rarer in VC schools than in VA schools.
Explaining the decision to write the letter, Mr Evans said: "Councils should promote inclusive education where children from different faith and belief backgrounds are educated together.
"We encourage supporters to ask their local representatives what they are doing promote inclusive, secular education and to lobby for local action plans."
In 2017 a consultation by Hackney Council in London revealed extensive support for inclusive secular education, with just six per cent of residents supporting denominational schooling. Respondents felt Hackney's state schools had "comparatively low segregation between pupils from different backgrounds" and this should "be safeguarded by the local authority".
Update: In December the No More Faith Schools campaign reported on a government equality impact assessment on possible new voluntary aided faith schools which may be approved by local authorities. The government's assessment found that the new schools are likely to disadvantage families and teachers who don't share the schools' faith.
NSS writes to councillors over discretionary faith school transport
Posted: Thu, 20 Dec 2018 16:56
The National Secular Society has urged councillors in Wrexham in north Wales to take a decision on transport to faith schools based on "equality for all families and taxpayers".
The letter comes as Wrexham Council considers proposals to stop providing discretionary free travel for children who live more than two or three miles from faith schools.
The council's executive board will now consider the plans in the new year.
In a letter to all councillors the NSS's education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said it was "not reasonable to expect residents to fund services which give some parents a particular chance to send their children to schools which suit their ideological preferences".
"Decisions over the allocation of scarce public funds are always difficult and emotional. However, we urge you to take this decision on the basis of equality for all families and taxpayers in Wrexham. Those who choose to send their children long distances to faith schools should not receive privileged treatment."
Mr Lichten added that "an increasing number of councils" in Wales and England were deciding to reduce discretionary funding for free transport to faith schools.
Councils are required to provide free transport in a way that gives children at faith schools a degree of preferential treatment. Statutory school transport arrangements entitle low-income children to free travel over longer distances if they attend faith schools.
Wrexham is among councils which provide preferential treatment beyond the statutory minimum requirements. It currently provides a long-distance service to 17 faith schools. It estimates that the discretionary service costs £302,000 and benefits 406 children.
The council is reviewing the provision of some of its services in a bid to save £9m more than it has already budgeted for in 2019-20. Its review is also considering the future of services such as local libraries and fortnightly bin collections. It has proposed a six per cent increase in council tax.
It has said it has "no choice but to consider reviewing a large number of services" because of the "current financial challenge is it facing".
This week a council committee voted against taking the plans forward. But a poll in local newspaper The Leader suggested most Wrexham residents supported the removal of preferential treatment.
Some councillors who oppose changes to the service have claimed they would be discriminatory, but the council's lead member for environment and transport is among those who has refuted this claim.
Explaining his decision to write the letter, Mr Lichten said: "Councils should spend their residents' money in a way that benefits all of them based on genuine need. They shouldn't fund services which give unreasonable privileges to some while giving a raw deal to others.
"This review is also a reminder that the government should look again at the requirement to provide special treatment to families who send their children to faith schools nationally."
Local authorities are legally allowed to discriminate on the grounds of religion and belief when providing school transport as a result of exemptions contained in the Equality Act 2010.
Image: School bus, © Thomas Nugent, via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 2.0]
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)
