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
Three independent faith schools still open after multiple failures
Posted: Mon, 22 Oct 2018 15:25
The National Secular Society has questioned why three independent faith schools remain open despite failing multiple inspections.
On Friday Schools Week reported that three of the 10 non-association private schools that most frequently failed to meet independent school standards remain open. Two of these are Orthodox Jewish schools; the other is Islamic.
Non-association private schools are small independent schools that do not belong to the Independent Schools Council and are inspected by Ofsted. Last year Schools Week found 190 of these schools had failed to meet independent school standards.
Rabia Girls' and Boys' School, an independent Islamic school in Luton, is the worst offender statistically of the schools which remain open. It has been graded 'inadequate' in four full inspections, and failed the independent school standards eight times since 2014.
Last year the NSS reported that Rabia School was failing to teach British values adequately, limiting girls to "knitting and sewing" in design and technology and separating male and female staff during training sessions. In 2016, then-Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said the pattern of gender segregation "clearly does not conform to the spirit of the equalities legislation".
Rabia School is run by Rabia Educational Trust, a registered charity with a 2017 income of £285,291. It states one of its charitable objects as "to advance academic as well as Islamic education in accordance with the holy Quoran [sic] and Ahadith within the bounds of Ahle-Sunnah Wal Jamaat" (Sunni Islam).
The Charity Commission published a report on its inquiry into Rabia Educational Trust in 2017. The inquiry found that trustees were unable to show accounting records to explain all of the charity's financial transactions.
The report said about 40% of the charity's income was not being banked and some staff were paid in cash. Additionally, it failed to get Charity Commission consent before renting out part of its office space to a nursery.
The other two failing schools that remain open are Mechinoh School in Lancashire and T T T Y Y School in London. Both are Orthodox Jewish schools.
Mechinoh School has been graded inadequate three times and has failed the independent school standards five times. Its most recent Ofsted report highlighted that pupils' progress in secular subjects is slower than in religious studies, and that pupils have few opportunities to learn about "the broad range of people and experiences within modern British society". This "sheltered approach" was adopted to "ensure that the education offered meets orthodox Jewish principles," according to "leaders".
T T T Y Y School was placed in special measures for the second time in June, and has failed the independent school standards five times.
According to its 2017 Ofsted report, pupils have "limited opportunities to learn about other customs, beliefs and ways of life". They have "no access to sufficient resources to enable them to make adequate progress in creative and aesthetic subjects" and the range of books in English to read is described as "very limited".
Pupils' progress in reading and writing is poor, and nearly all pupils speak English as an additional language. These pupils make "inadequate progress" across a wide range of subjects.
Alastair Lichten, education and schools officer at the NSS, said: "It is clear that these schools are failing to respect children's rights to a well-rounded education that prepares them for their future life as British citizens.
"The fact that these three faith schools have remained open, while similar schools have been closed down, should prompt us to ask whether these schools are being regulated effectively, and held to the same standards as schools without a religious ethos."
Ten more independent faith schools issued warnings by DfE
Posted: Thu, 18 Oct 2018 12:08
An Islamic school that breached the Equality Act by treating boys and girls unequally was among 10 failing independent faith schools recently issued warning notices by the government.
The Department for Education (DfE) published 25 warning notices to independent schools last Friday. The schools included five Christian schools, three Islamic schools and two Jewish schools. The notices were sent between June and August.
Schools that receive warnings must improve within a specified period or they will be removed from the independent schools register.
One school, Leicester Community Academy, was deregistered at the beginning of September. Its failures included its "unlawfully discriminatory" curriculum delivery, "narrow curriculum and insular ethos" that left pupils "ill-prepared for life in British society", and resources that "undermine the fundamental British values", according to its January 2018 Ofsted inspection.
An Islamic school with a capacity of 150 pupils, Leicester Community Academy routinely treated male and female pupils unequally and on multiple occasions was found to be "in breach of the Equality Act 2010". Boys and girls made "uneven rates of progress in different subjects", and while girls had the opportunity to study art, boys did not. Girls were also given opportunities to visit museums that were denied to boys.
Furthermore, while the boys had access to a "well-appointed" library, the girls were not allowed to use the library because it was "located in the boys' section". Instead, the limited reading material available for girls was stored in a filing cabinet within a classroom that could not be accessed during lessons.
The boys' library contained books that condoned violence towards women by their husbands, encouraged men to divorce wives who "refuse to bear a child", and incorrectly stated that women who use contraceptives are "at risk of becoming barren".
The school's report noted that teachers failed to challenge "stereotypical and belittling views about women" in lessons. And while the girls' section of the school had displays celebrating the fact that women have equal opportunities to men in British society, there were no such displays in the boys' section.
Two other Islamic schools, Mazahirul Uloom London School and Read Academy in Essex, were also sent warning notices for failures in teaching standards and safeguarding.
At Talmud Torah Bobov Primary School, one of the two Jewish schools issues warnings, inspectors found that the quality of teaching and learning was "weak", apart from in religious studies. They also found that the teaching and curriculum are "confined to religious studies" in Year 8, impeding pupils' development of English communication.
At the other Jewish school, Talmud Torah London, pupils' experience of art, music, technology and PE is "limited", according to its Ofsted inspection in April. Additionally, plans for teaching PSHE "do not exist", and pupils do not have enough opportunities "to learn about the diversity of the United Kingdom".
All five Christian schools sent warnings had failed on issues relating to safeguarding of pupils.
National Secular Society education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said: "It is unacceptable for any independent school, regardless of its faith ethos, to breach the Equality Act by treating pupils unequally because of their gender.
"It is right for the DfE to hold schools promoting sexist attitudes to account, and to use its powers to close them if they fail to change their ways.
"Our concern now is that the pupils who attended Leicester Community Academy are re-located to suitable schools. It would be a great failing if those pupils ended up in illegal unregistered schools."
Since the introduction of new independent school standards in 2014, which the NSS supported, there has been a marked increase in independent faith schools failing inspections. In May the NSS supported revisions to the Independent School Standards to secure all young people's "rights to an open future".
In July the NSS reported that seven Christian and four Islamic schools were among 26 private schools served with warning notices in the last round published by the DfE.
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)
