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
Government announces clampdown on complaints about faith school admissions code violations
Posted: Mon, 25 Jan 2016 16:07
The National Secular Society has warned that Government plans to stop secularist campaign groups from challenging the admissions processes of faith schools will enable faith schools to break the admissions code with impunity.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has set our proposals to limit objections to admission arrangements to "only local parents and councils". She has said this is in response to "vexatious complaints against faith schools by secularist campaign groups."
The Department for Education has said that "secular campaign groups have targeted faith school admissions as part of a particular agenda. We plan to put a stop to this by restricting who can object to school admissions arrangements to local parents and the local authority."
Currently, civil society groups and individuals can challenge admissions problems with the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. The Government will not stop this – in a specific attack on secularists and those opposed to faith-based discrimination in the education system.
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented: "It's disgraceful to begin with that the law allows faith schools to discriminate against pupils on the basis of their parents' faith. Many religious schools have been shown to be been abusing the admissions system and it's incredible that the Government now wishes to prevent us from challenging that abuse of religious privilege.
"Many parents will understandably not wish to be named as a complainant and look to groups such ourselves to challenge unfair admissions on their behalf. These plans will ensure that this route is now effectively blocked, allowing faith schools to break the admission code with impunity.
"The Government knows very well that its unwavering support of faith schools is contentious; this appears to be an attempt to insulate such schools from further criticism and negative publicity."
The plans will "simplify" the school admissions system, the DfE claims.
The Fair Admissions Campaign, which published a report exposing the extent of admissions code breaches by faith schools, says the ban "will allow religiously selective schools to continue abusing the system and unfairly discriminate against a huge number of children in the process."
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain said "there is evidence of systemic problems in schools – for instance, when faith schools use criteria about the religious involvement of parents" and that it was "vital" that secularist groups be able to "expose" unlawful admissions policies.
The Government "will be conducting a full public consultation on the proposed changes in due course."
Ultra-Orthodox schools still use corporal punishment, say campaigners
Posted: Wed, 13 Jan 2016 16:28
A charity and support group for former Ultra-Orthodox Jews has warned the Government that corporal punishment is widely used in unregistered Orthodox schools.
In a submission on the regulation of "out-of-school education settings" which provide more than six hours of education per week, the GesherEU support network said that "corporal punishment is still in use in a number of the yeshivot and unregistered ultra-Orthodox primary schools." The group said up to 5,500 pupils could be studying in such settings.
One former pupil quoted in the consultation response reported that "hitting children was part of [the] routine; I personally was hit almost on a daily basis."
Proposals set out by the Government include plans to ensure that corporal punishment is not a practice adopted in out-of-school settings – a move welcomed by the National Secular Society.
In 2011 the NSS called on the Government to implement the recommendations of an independent report on physical punishment and extend the ban on physical punishment in schools and other children's settings to supplementary schools.
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "Corporal punishment of children breaches their fundamental rights to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity. Its legality in out-of-school educational settings breaches their right to equal protection under the law. The lack of progress on this issue has given us cause for concern, especially in light of the well-documented evidence of abuse of children in out-of-school settings, including madrassas and yeshiva. Like GesherEU, we're keen to see children in such settings adequately safeguarded."
In addition to concerns about corporal punishment and poor hygiene standards at Orthodox schools, GesherEU made strong criticisms of the teaching at such institutions.
The group cited anonymous testimony from a former pupil of one Orthodox school, who said that "no secular studies were taught at all" during long school days from 8 until 6, and classes would "sit all day long and study religious texts."
GesherEU said that schools were failing their pupils: "In many cases they do not even teach them to speak English or simple arithmetic. They teach in Yiddish and Yiddish is spoken at home. Many young men leave with almost no ability to speak English. We have to support young men in particular that do not have one GCSE to their name, cannot get a job, and have no skills to manage their lives."
An emergency inspection of one strict Charedi school recently reported that the careers advice "focuses only on steering boys towards continuing with their academic studies in religious institutions."
The inspectorate was criticised by GesherEU for failing to challenge registered Charedi schools which "teach only in Yiddish, indoctrinate the young children and fail to teach the basics."
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)
