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
BBC Trust upholds NSS complaint over conflation of race and religion
Posted: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:12
The National Secular Society has welcomed a ruling from the BBC Trust upholding its complaint over the way in which the BBC framed a story concerning the allocation of places at a Sikh faith school as a 'race issue', rather than as an issue of religious freedom.
A news package aired by BBC Asian Network on 23 April 2014 focused on children of non-Sikh parents being allocated places at a Sikh faith school against their parents' wishes. In the piece, which featured NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans, several non-Sikh parents expressed their unhappiness about their children being allocated places at Khalsa Secondary Academy, a Sikh ethos free school in South Buckinghamshire.
The NSS had no complaint with the news package itself, but was concerned about the way in which the story was trailed on social media, and in broadcast introductions, with BBC Asian Network repeatedly referring to the non-Sikh parents as "white parents."
In a formal complaint to the BBC, the NSS argued that the repeated reference to "white parents" left the clear insinuation that those parents had racial grounds for objecting to their children attending the school, when in fact the issue was one of religious freedom in education.
An initial complaint from the NSS was rejected by the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit after BBC Asian Network's Head of News, Kevin Silverton, argued that the word "white" was used to make it clear the parents involved were "not Asian." He said an alternative such as "non-Sikh" would have been inappropriate because that would usually be taken by the audience to refer to Hindus and Muslims. On appeal, the director of the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit said he was "persuaded by Mr Silverton's reasoning."
However, after an appeal to the Editorial Standards Committee to review the ECU's decision, the BBC Trust has upheld the complaint, agreeing that the story was about religious freedom in education and not about race, or racial prejudice.
Communicating its findings to the NSS, the BBC Trust said; "The impression was given that white (rather than simply non-Sikh) parents objected to their children being sent to Sikh schools. This did not present an impartial account of the reasons for the parents' position. The Committee concluded that there had been a lack of due impartiality (albeit unwittingly and accidentally) in that it was implied that the parents' objections to faith education were on the grounds of race."
The Trust therefore upheld the NSS complaint on grounds of impartiality and accuracy. The Committee did not uphold a complaint "in relation to Fairness, Contributors and Consent", but the central premise of the NSS criticism has now been recognised by the BBC.
Responding to the finding, Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns manager, said; "The conflation of race with religion is highly problematic in that it seeks to stifle reasonable debate by equating criticism of religious ideas with racism and xenophobia.
"The repeated references to non-Sikh parents as 'white parents' inaccurately framed the story as a 'race issue' and unfairly insinuated that the parents had racial – possibly even racist – reasons for their objections to their children attending this school.
"The current shortage of school places, coupled with the spread of religious free schools, means more and more children can expect to be allocated schools with a faith ethos against their parents' wishes. It's vital that parents can raise legitimate objections to their children being allocated places at minority faith schools without being portrayed as 'racist'.
"Desiring a secular education for your child has nothing to do with your ethnicity. I am pleased that the BBC has now recognised this."
Jewish faith school’s admission policy amounts to “discrimination on the basis of race”
Posted: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 13:50
The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) has instructed two Jewish faith schools to revise their admissions policies after it found they breached the Admissions Code, with one of the schools found to have a policy which amounted to "discrimination on the basis of race."
In their most recent finding, about King David High School, the OSA wrote that "Jewish Schools cannot base their oversubscription criteria on whether a child is halachically Jewish." The school in question is an Orthodox Jewish Academy.
The complaint was brought about by the Fair Admissions Campaign, who argued that "Orthodox Jewish synagogues typically (if not always?) refuse membership to individuals on the basis of whether or not an individual's mother is Jewish." Given this, the Fair Admissions Campaign questioned "whether giving preference to children who have a parent who is a member of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue makes it much harder for children whose mother is not ethnically Jewish to gain admittance, and therefore is discrimination."
In the event of the school being oversubscribed, the academy prioritised children "whose family are members of an Orthodox synagogue," over "children whose parent/parents or guardian/guardian are members of a Non-Orthodox synagogue" and both of those categories above "all other applicants."
In response, the OSA determined that "in significant ways the admission arrangements for King David High School do not comply with the requirements relating to admissions. The faith-based oversubscription criteria cannot be based as now on membership of a synagogue and the oversubscription criteria as whole lack the required clarity and objectivity."
The Fair Admissions Campaign also argued that the admissions policy "requested other information which was not necessary to apply the oversubscription criteria. This included the child's gender, details of both parents/guardians, whether the child resides with their natural parents and whether parents/guardians reside at the same address and the mother's maiden name."
The OSA concluded that this "information is not necessary to apply the admission arrangements" and cited guidance that states that admissions documents "must not ask for 'any personal details about parents and families, such as maiden names … marital status."
The OSA also concluded that this additional information "is not necessary to apply the oversubscription criteria and which cannot therefore be lawfully sought."
The objection from the Fair Admissions Campaign was "partially upheld" and the OSA determined that "the arrangements for both years do not conform with the requirements relating to admissions arrangements."
On 8 December 2014, the OSA published a similar finding about the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School.
Yesodey Hatorah, a strict Charedi school, stated that "Charedi homes do not have TV or other inappropriate media and parents will ensure that their children will not have access to the internet and any other media which do not meet the stringent moral criteria of the Charedi community."
The school also said that "families will also dress at all times in accordance with the strictest standards of Tznius (modesty) as laid down by the Rabbinate of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew congregations."
The school's admissions documents included a statement for parents to sign that said "I/We understand that if at any time I/we do not conform to the standard set by the Rabbinate this endorsement will be rescinded." The OSA adjudicator wrote that "I was concerned that this could imply that a place might be removed perhaps even after a girl had started to attend the school. The circumstances in which offers of places can be withdrawn once offered … do not include where parents change their religious practice." Yesodey Hatorah was thus required to changes its admissions documentation "as quickly as possible."
According to The Hackney Citizen the school's headteacher, Rabbi Abraham Pinter, argued that the admissions policy was "academic" and, due to the school being undersubscribed, was "untested."
In conclusion however, the OSA wrote that "the arrangements for this school do not conform in a significant number of ways with the requirements relating to admissions. The fact that the school is not usually oversubscribed does not relieve it of the duty to have Code compliant arrangements." The objection was therefore partially upheld.
Yesodey Hatorah has been embroiled in a long-running row over the redaction of exam questions, followed by Rabbi Pinter telling students not to answer exam questions which conflicted with the school's religious "ethos." The Schools Minister has now written to the Rabbi.
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)
