No more faith schools

No more faith schools

Page 168 of 310: We need inclusive schools free from religious discrimination, privilege or control.

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.

  • 58% of Brits oppose faith schools and only 30% say they have "no objection" to faith schools being funded by the state.
  • 72% of voters, including 68% of Christians, oppose state funded schools being allowed to discriminate against prospective pupils on religious grounds in their admissions policy.

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.

  • Other representatives

    We also have template letters to write to your Members of the Scottish or Welsh Parliaments or Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly.

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

MP calls for Scotland to embrace a secular education system

Posted: Mon, 13 Mar 2017 14:14

Tommy Sheppard MP has called for Scotland to move towards a secular education system and expressed his hope that secularist campaigners can "chip away" at religion's role in state schools.

The SNP parliamentarian was speaking to the Humanist Society Scotland for a fringe event at the SNP conference in 2016 but his comments have only recently been reported.

In his recorded comments he considered the "strategy to get [to a secular system]" and said progress had to be made "bit by bit".

He urged the audience, "Chip away at the power of organised religion has within our school system. Take those little victories and use them to move onto the next campaign were we actually advocate that the role of religion in schools is for people to learn about it about it but not for it to define the value system in the school."

In response to his speech the Bishops' Conference of Scotland said claimed that because religious belief is a protected characteristic under equality law, "it should not come under attack".

A spokesman said that it was a "blatant attack on religious freedom and chillingly intolerant."

Alistair McBay, vice president of the National Secular Society, said, "Genuine religious freedom should mean the right to not have religion imposed on you and your children through the education system.

"Yet local councils are still made to include totally unelected religious representatives. Schools are still made to hold religious observance, and pupils are still made to attend without the right to opt out.

"Tommy Sheppard has just called for a 'secular school system'. In many countries, such as the United States, that is totally normal. It is no infringement on religious freedom to say that religious schools should be funded by religious groups and not by the taxpayer."

The SNP distanced itself from Sheppard's speech, describing his remarks as "the personal views of Mr Sheppard."

The party said it was a "strong supporter of faith schools."

After the 2016 recording came to light and was reported Mr Sheppard said there were "excellent" faith schools in his constituency and that his comments were about "the composition of education authorities and whether it's right that unelected people should sit in those boards and make education policy in Scotland."

He added that while schools might have a religious ethos, "the content of the teaching [faith schools provide] should not … be conditioned by religious belief, particularly in sciences and humanities."

Commons passes ‘mandatory’ sex education, but includes religious opt outs

Posted: Wed, 8 Mar 2017 14:33

The passage of an amendment to the Children and Social Work Bill means that Relationships and Sex Education will become mandatory in all schools in England.

However campaign groups including the National Secular Society have criticised religious opt-outs that mean RSE will be taught in a way that is "sensitive to the needs of the local community".

The Government has said that faith schools "will continue to be able to teach in accordance with the tenets of their faith".

Stella Creasy MP said that "the devil is in the detail of the amendments" and pressed the Government to support the inclusion of same-sex relationships in the curriculum.

During the debate the Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families Edward Timpson MP stressed the involvement of religious organisations.

He said: "Having engaged with the Church and with representatives of other faiths throughout the process, I am aware of that support. The religious faith that brings many people into the education system will be respected as it has been in the past: that is reflected in the Bill, and will be reflected in the regulations and statutory guidance that will follow."

Mr Timpson said that while RSE will "become a statutory part of the curriculum, so schools will have to provide it."

But he added that the power the Government was creating "will enable schools to teach the new subjects in an age-appropriate way that is commensurate with their religious faith and will best suit their pupils in the setting in which they happen to be".

The minister also cited the support of the Church of England's chief education officer Nigel Genders and Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, chairman of the Catholic Education Service.

Caroline Lucas MP asked "whether it can ever be right [for parents] to deny a child their entitlement to vital education through good, age-appropriate information, not least because we know how important that is to keeping them safe".

Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, commented: "The provision of age appropriate sex education is vital to the well-being of children and young people growing up in modern Britain and we very much welcome the fact that it will now become a statutory part of the curriculum.

"We will continue to work to work with Department for Education ministers as they draw up the guidance and regulations around RSE to ensure that the rights of children attending faith schools are not neglected. Good quality, comprehensive RSE should be every child's right."

More information

Research and reports