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
Failed Orthodox school prioritised “narrow” religious education over reading, maths and science -Ofsted
Posted: Mon, 13 Apr 2015 13:21
An Independent Jewish faith school has failed all five Ofsted assessment criteria and been branded "inadequate" for its "narrow" focus on religious studies and students' lack of basic skills.
Pupils in some older cohorts were found to be "five years behind" the national average, and fundamental skills like maths and literacy were "significantly behind" national standards.
Ofsted found that insufficient time was allowed for students to "develop their literacy and mathematical skills" and that pupils had "minimal or no opportunities" to develop understanding of "technological, scientific, human and social and aesthetic and creative subjects."
Pupils attend the school for six days every week, and "the majority of the school day is taken up with Jewish religious studies (Kodesh), which are taught in Yiddish."
The report concludes: "The curriculum is narrow, primarily because the school's aim is to secure a place for every pupil at a yeshiva (Jewish religious college) at the age of 15. As a result, pupils spend most of the time in school learning Jewish Studies. The rest of the school day involves pupils learning a very restricted set of secular subjects, resulting in inadequate achievement for all groups of pupils."
The school, Talmud Torah Tiferes Shlomoh, has an ultra-Orthodox Jewish ethos, and was previously rated "good."
The most recent report states that students: "spend a significant amount of time learning to read in Hebrew to the detriment of developing their ability to read in English."
While pupils were able to read, they lacked "intonation, expression and fluency when reading in English."
Pupils were found to have "no appreciation of authors" and were "not able to talk about different kinds of books."
Ofsted said reading books at the school "are scruffy and dog-eared" and "do not inspire pupils to develop a love of reading."
Deficiencies were also found in the way the school measured children's attainment, and the report concluded that most subjects were not tested sufficiently, except Jewish religious studies where "progress is regularly tested."
Furthermore, Ofsted reported that "pupils do not have the opportunity to work scientifically. They are not able to use tools and equipment, because there are no technology lessons. There is a dearth of experiences to develop pupils' aesthetic and creative skills in, for example, art, music or drama. Physical education is too often restricted to playing football, mainly at break times."
The snap Ofsted investigation found that "pupils are not informed about other cultures and religions" and were "inadequately prepared for life in modern Britain."
There were also serious concerns raised about the students' lack of knowledge about online risks, and Ofsted fund that pupils were "not able to keep themselves safe" online.
The report states: "The ethos of the school means that pupils are only taught about physical and verbal forms of bullying. They are not taught about e-safety, including cyber-bullying and the potential dangers of the internet. Neither are they provided with drugs or sex and relationships education, or able to discuss issues around homophobic bullying."
In 2010 the school was rated "good" and was praised for its religious education. The 2010 report said "the well-planned kodesh curriculum is a major feature of the school's provision. Consequently, a spiritual ethos permeates the whole school. The school successfully promotes the progression of knowledge, skills and understanding of all relevant aspects of the Jewish religion."
Five years ago, Ofsted found pupils' "spiritual, moral, social and cultural development" to be "outstanding." Now, however, Ofsted reports that the school is inadequate in all areas and that "the curriculum is too narrow. The majority of teaching time is spent on Jewish religious studies."
Ofsted inspections of faith schools have been heavily criticised in recent months, after a string of schools failed or were downgraded. The executive director of the National Association for Orthodox Jewish schools said that Ofsted "used insensitive and inappropriate questions with faith schools" and accused inspectors of using "secular standards."
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said, "The goalposts have clearly moved for religious schools. But complaints that they are being unfairly targeted are nonsense. All schools, including faith-based schools, should have been preparing students for life in the real world already.
"The real scandal is that a school in 2010, that left some pupils five years behind their peers by 2015, was rated as 'good' at all. Clearly the fixation with religious education has been extremely detrimental in this school, and the many others that have been downgraded.
"Pupils should receive a thorough education, regardless of the school's religious ethos. The rights of the pupils are the most important issue at stake here."
The full Ofsted report can be read here
Educate Together describes religious monopoly over Irish schools as “shocking”
Posted: Thu, 9 Apr 2015 12:44
Educate Together, the independent NGO that runs non-faith schools in Ireland, has warned of the "shocking" control of religious groups over Irish education.
The new Admissions to School Bill 2015, which clarifies the process of enrolling children in schools, has been criticised by Educate Together for failing to address "the issue of religious discrimination in access to schools."
While the group welcomed much of the Bill as a "step forward" and recognised the "practical difficulties" in designing fair enrolment policies, their CEO Paul Rowe said that the reforms failed to tackle the domination of religious schools in the Irish education system.
"The fact that an increasing number of Irish parents consider that it is necessary to get their children baptised in the Catholic faith in order to access publicly funded schools, rather than out of personal religious conviction, is a shocking alarm note for a modern democratic state.
"There are still large areas of the country where parents have no alternative but to send their children to denominational schools, and the proposed legislation does nothing to address this.
"Genuine choice of school type that is compatible with the constitutional and human rights of all families can only be achieved if equality-based schools such as those provided under the Educate Together model are available all over Ireland."
The Irish Department of Education and Skills said that they could not take away the right of religious schools to "protect their own ethos" because the Bill had to be drafted "in the context of the Constitution."
Like the National Secular Society in the UK, Educate Together argues that state-funded schools should not be allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion. It says it is "not aware of any situation in which such discrimination is necessary in order to maintain the ethos of a school" and adds that "children of all religious, cultural and social backgrounds should be able to access all state-funded education."
Pointing out that 97% of the Irish primary school system is controlled by denominational schools, Educate Together is calling on the Government of Ireland to "provide an alternative to the overwhelming monopoly of denominational schools."
Educate Together currently operates 74 primary schools in Ireland. An Educate Together primary school was also opened in September 2014 in Bristol. Their schools "guarantee equality of access and esteem to children irrespective of their social, cultural or religious background".
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented: "Offering school places to young people on the basis of their parents' religious beliefs or activities is an indefensible way of deciding who can or can't access local schools. But as long as faith schools are encouraged, there will be demands to privilege children from certain backgrounds in their admissions – leaving others disadvantaged whilst at the same time contributing to social segregation.
"Meanwhile, parents unwilling or unable to play the system, and feign interest in religion in order to get their children into the local top performing faith school are increasingly finding their options restricted.
"The solution is for all publicly funded schools to be secular – welcoming to children of all religion and belief backgrounds, but not in the business of promoting a particular belief position. If the purpose of publicly funded schools is to provide children with a broad and balanced education, there's no good reason for allowing schools to operate a 'religious ethos', or allowing them to discriminate in order to preserve that 'ethos'."
Around one-third of all state-maintained schools in England and Wales have a religious character. Of a total of 2,722 state funded schools in Scotland, 377 are 'denominational' – the vast majority of these are Roman Catholic.
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)
