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
Thousands of missing children at risk of religious extremism in illegal faith schools
Posted: Wed, 30 Nov 2016 16:43
Research by the BBC has found that more than 30,000 children went missing from English and Welsh schools for "substantial" periods during the 2014-15 academic year.
Stephen Evans, campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said that the figures revealed the "absolutely shocking extent to which children living in Britain are being denied their fundamental right to education".
"The NSS has been calling on the Government to tackle this issue for many years, and action is now being taken. But it is clear that local authorities and police need to put aside sensitivity about religion and minority groups and act robustly to ensure that children's right to an education is protected. That should be the absolute priority."
The figures were obtained from Freedom of Information requests to local education authorities, sent by the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
The BBC reported that of the 30,000 children who had been absent for an extended period of time, almost 4,000 "could not be traced by the authorities."
In Bradford alone 321 children could not be found, despite "extensive enquiries". There was of a total of 985 children in Bradford who were "missing" for at least part of the 2014-15 school year.
Figures obtained by the National Secular Society reveal that in the last three years Bradford has launched just one investigation into a possible unregistered school in the borough.
Earlier this year Bradford MP Naz Shah said that the council was in "denial" over the extent of illegal schooling in the area, and the BBC's figures show just how severe the problem is.
At the same meeting in March, one Bradford councillor said the council was "not aware of any" unregistered and illegal schools. Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said officials were being "naïve".
In less than five months Ofsted inspectors identified more than 100 illegal schools nationally. But education officials have said there may be as many as 35 unregistered Jewish schools in Hackney alone – more than the number of legally operating Jewish schools in the borough.
A report recently published by the Board of Deputies and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that "half of strictly Orthodox boys aged 11-15 years do not appear in the strictly Orthodox school system."
"We are not the first to identify this issue; indeed, the Department for Education is aware of it, and it has been covered by the national press," the report's authors noted.
Mr Evans added: "It is vital that local authorities take the necessary action to identify illegal schools and register or close them. That will account for many of these 'missing' children's whereabouts. Tighter inspection and regulation of home schooling should also be considered.
"All children living in the Britain should be entitled to a decent education whatever their parents' religious beliefs and that right must be protected."
The National Children's Bureau told the BBC that the missing children could be at "serious risk" of religious extremism, FGM and forced marriage.
The charity said that "Some councils do a fantastic job, but unfortunately some councils don't do a good enough job by any stretch of the imagination.
"There shouldn't be one child in the country who isn't in school and can't be tracked, because of the potential risks.
'We know [of some] horrendous cases, of sexual exploitation. We also know about the correlation between missing children and the possibility that they may be involved in forced marriage, and of course, issues relating to young people's involvement in extremist activity."
They also warned that the BBC's figures were probably underestimates.
The Department for Education told the broadcaster that "local authorities and the police have clear powers to take action."
Record numbers attending Jewish faith schools as Orthodox numbers grow
Posted: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 14:28
Almost two-thirds of Jewish children in Britain attend Jewish faith schools, the majority of which are "strictly Orthodox", according to new research.
A report published by the Board of Deputies and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that Jewish pupils are disproportionately more likely to attend a faith school than non-Jewish children.
63% of Jewish schoolchildren attend a faith school, compared to one in four of all children in the UK.
The Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies Gillian Merron said the growth in Jewish schools was "huge".
The report, 'The rise and rise of Jewish schools in the United Kingdom', found that "Both the number of Jewish schools and the number of Jewish pupils in these schools have almost doubled since the mid-1990s."
Despite a "declining Jewish population" in the UK between the 1950s and the present day, the percentage of Jewish parents sending their children to a Jewish faith school has dramatically increased, the research found.
"Whereas one in five children attended Jewish schools in the 1970s, today the proportion is about two-thirds," the report notes.
Among the most striking of the research's findings was the dominance of ultra-Orthodox schools. Many more Jewish children are enrolled in "strictly Orthodox" than what the authors call "mainstream" Jewish faith schools.
"Of the 30,900 Jewish children enrolled in Jewish schools across the United Kingdom in the academic year 2014/15, 13,400 were in mainstream Jewish schools and 17,500 were in strictly Orthodox Jewish schools," the report found.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools overwhelmingly outnumber "mainstream" schools, with 97 "strictly Orthodox" schools compared with 42 "mainstream" ones.
The report also noted that "as children age in the strictly Orthodox sector, they become increasingly unlikely to be found within the registered school system."
"About half of strictly Orthodox boys aged 11-15 years do not appear in the strictly Orthodox school system," the research found.
The authors of the report also warned that "there is little discussion about the effects of the concurrent decline in the number of Jews in non-Jewish schools".
The Board of Deputies had been lobbying the Government to remove the 50% faith-based admissions cap on new faith academies for some time.
When Government plans to remove the cap were announced Vice President of the Board of Deputies, Sheila Gewolb, said: "We have been advocating for this for some time ... We look forward to working with the Government to enable more Jewish free schools to open and developing more effective means of their contributing to community cohesion."
NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said, "It is worrying to see segregation on such a large scale of Jewish children away from children of other backgrounds. It is very hard to see how this helps to build an integrated and cohesive society. If as a society we are to break down the barriers that too often divide us, children need more contact with their peers from other backgrounds, not more division."
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)
