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 calls for new inspection of Islamic school that bans “socialising with outsiders”
Posted: Mon, 27 Jul 2015 11:07
The National Secular Society has written to the Department for Education and Ofsted calling for a fresh inspection of an Islamic school where pupils are reportedly banned from socialising with "outsiders".
Sky News reported on 25 July that the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic Institute of Education in Dewsbury threatens students with expulsion if they socialise with non-Muslims, and that boarders are banned from using televisions and cameras, as well as music players, mobile phones and other "items that are prohibited in Islam".
Pupils must wear strict Islamic dress and receive no formal sex education at the independent faith school.
However despite this, the last inspection by Ofsted in 2011 rated the school as "good".
Ofsted praised the school for the "excellent tracking and assessment system in place" for lessons on the memorisation of the Quran. The inspection report said that "Qur'anic memorisation [is] outstanding."
The 2011 inspection found that "students have an excellent understanding of their own Muslim culture" but have "no first-hand experiences" at all to "extend their empathy with differing cultural groups in society both at home and overseas."
The school says it aims to "create competent native Islamic scholars."
The Ofsted report recommended that the school develop "links with other schools to provide students with opportunities to socialise and learn with their peers in different environments", which is in stark contrast to the rules uncovered by Sky News which prohibit social interactions with non-Muslims.
Since 2014, independent schools have been required to "actively promote" the fundamental values "of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs."
The National Secular Society has written to the Department for Education and Ofsted calling for an inspection to take place under the new rules as a matter of urgency.
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "The most recent inspection of the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic Institute of Education predates the revision of the regulations, but we believe there are serious doubts as to whether the school sufficiently met the standards in operation at the time of its previous inspection.
"A fresh inspection is therefore necessary to ensure that the school is meeting the New Independent School Standards and adequately preparing its students for life in modern Britain.
"It is important that throughout all aspects of education there is an emphasis on the basic values that underpin a free, equal and progressive society. No establishment found to be involved in promoting ideas that are counter-cohesive, separatist and contrary to the values outlined in the standards should be permitted to operate as registered school."
The National Secular Society responded to a Government consultation on the new standards for independent schools in August 2014, and warned at the time that any attempt to tackle extremism in schools would be "undermined by an education system that encourages faith based schools and allows children … to be separated according to the religious beliefs of their parents."
The new guidance states that "pupils must be encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance".
The Prime Minister recently made a significant speech on tackling extremism in which he said that "it cannot be right" that "people can grow up and go to school and hardly ever come into meaningful contact with people from other backgrounds and faiths."
While the NSS welcomed much of his speech, his refusal to tackle faith schools ignored a key factor which drives ethnic and social segregation in the UK today.
David Cameron added that "you don't have to support violence to subscribe to certain intolerant ideas which create a climate in which extremists can flourish."
Mr Evans added, "The insular nature of the Institute of Islamic Education and its prohibition on socialising with non-Muslims sounds like a case study in what the Prime Minister warned about. We hope a new investigation is carried out as soon as possible."
Prime Minister 'blinkered to ignore role faith schools play in segregating communities'
Posted: Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:45
Despite criticising "segregated" education, Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the continuation of faith schools in a speech on counter extremism.
In a wide-ranging speech, delivered in Birmingham, Mr Cameron set out his thinking on how to confront extremism and Islamist ideology and rejected what he called the "grievance justification" for Islamist violence.
He talked about Britain as a "multi-racial, multi-faith democracy" and as a "beacon to the world". He said no-one should be demonised but said there was a need to "confront, head on, the extreme ideology" behind Islamism.
He said that Britain needed to be bolder in asserting "liberal values", which he called "our strongest weapon".
The Prime Minister issued a strong challenge to "the cultish worldview" of extremists and the "conspiracy theories" that support it, and he said the UK should contrast the "bigotry, aggression and theocracy" of the Islamists with our own values."
Mr Cameron indicated that funding would be made available for groups willing to lead reform and spread an "alternative narrative". He also committed to do more to tackle extremism in prisons.
Turning his attention to the newly introduced "Prevent duty" for public sector bodies, Cameron said that it is "not about criminalising or spying on Muslim children" and accused some of its opponents of "paranoia in the extreme."
However, despite warning that "the education that our young people receive" in schools in "divided communities" is "even more segregated than the neighbourhoods they live in", David Cameron said the UK should not "dismantle faith schools."
Instead, he said "it is right to look again more broadly at how we can move away from segregated schooling in our most divided communities." The Prime Minister suggested that faith schools could share sites or facilities.
"It cannot be right that children can grow up and go to school and not come into contact with people of other backgrounds [and] faiths," he said.
Research by Demos recently found that "some faith schools effectively exclude other ethnic groups" and that minority faith schools were particularly segregated.
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans said, "Much of this speech is very welcome – and echoes what secularists have been saying for a long time. But it is blinkered to ignore the role that faith schools play in creating the segregated communities that Mr Cameron rightly criticises. The potential of faith schools to exacerbate the separation of communities is obvious for all to see.
"Children from different backgrounds need to mix with each other on a daily basis if we are to break down the barriers. They will never truly understand and trust each other if their schools are encouraging an us-and-them mentality. Tinkering round the edges with occasional visits and shared resources is not good enough – in fact it can be counterproductive, reinforcing the feeling of being from different worlds."
The Prime Minister also said action was needed on unregulated religious 'schools', an issue previously raised by the NSS.
On hate preachers and Islamist speakers invited onto university campuses, the Prime Minister said: "When David Irving goes to a university to deny the Holocaust university leaders rightly come out and condemn him. They don't deny his right to speak but they do challenge what he says."
In contrast, Cameron argued that university leaders "look the other way through a mixture of misguided liberalism and cultural sensitivity" when Islamist speakers attend university events.
He also issued a strong rebuke to the National Union of Students.
"When you choose to ally yourselves with an organisation like CAGE, which called Jihadi John a 'beautiful young man' and told people to 'support the jihad' in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said, it brings "shame" to your organisation and "your noble history of campaigning for justice."
The Prime Minister cited the review of sharia 'courts' among measured to crackdown on non-violent extremism, and promised a consultation on lifetime anonymity for victims of forced marriage, in a proposal welcomed by the National Secular Society.
He spent much of the speech dealing with non-violent extremism, and argued that "if you say 'yes I condemn terror – but the Kuffar are inferior'… then you too are part of the problem."
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "This all sounds very familiar, and we are glad that the Prime Minister is catching up with the NSS's thinking and suggestions. All he has to do now is carry out his plans, which may be more difficult than he thinks. There is a lot of resistance not just from the Islamists but from the liberals who imagine that taking a stand against the Islamist threat is equivalent to attacking all Muslims. It is not and for all our sakes we must not be put off tackling the bad guys for fear of offending the good ones."
The Government will publish its counter-extremism strategy in the autumn.
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)
