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
Do faith schools have a place in modern education? - Video
Posted: Thu, 7 Apr 2022 16:53
No More Faith Schools campaign coordinator Alastair Lichten made the case for an inclusive community ethos approach to education at a 'ThinkIn' discussion hosted by Tortoise Media.
State-funded faith school unlawfully segregates girls, Ofsted finds
Posted: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:07
A state-funded faith school is breaking the law by segregating girls, the school inspectorate has said.
Ofsted downgraded the King David High School, a Jewish academy in Manchester, from "outstanding" to "inadequate" after it found pupils in the school's single-sex unit suffered discrimination.
King David High School operates a mixed-sex "main school" unit and single-sex "Yavneh" units for boys and girls. The school says pupils "are free to move between the units at any time".
But an Ofsted inspection in November found pupils who attend Yavneh Girls are "separated from all other pupils at the school throughout the school day, including during breaks and at lunchtime".
In contrast, pupils who attend Yavneh Boys can mix socially with both male and female pupils in the main school.
The inspection report, published today, said Yavneh Girls pupils "do not have the same access to extra-curricular activities" as the pupils who attend Yavneh Boys and the main school.
Yavneh Girls pupils told inspectors they "feel isolated" and that the current arrangements, and "the behaviour of some staff", prevent them from mixing socially with pupils in the main school and Yavneh Boys.
Ofsted said Yavneh Girls pupils are "subject to a detriment because of their sex", which constitutes "unlawful direct discrimination on the ground of sex, contrary to the Equality Act 2010".
Segregating pupils according to sex within mixed sex schools was found to amount to unlawful sex discrimination in a landmark ruling in 2017, after the NSS and other campaigning organisations highlighted the issue.
In 2019, Ofsted criticised several independent faith schools after they were found to be unlawfully segregating pupils by sex. It also failed a Jewish independent school in 2021 for segregating male and female pupils in lessons.
Concerns were also raised regarding King David High School's relationships and sex education (RSE). Some teachers felt "ill-equipped" to teach about contraception, and older pupils said they "do not learn enough about different types of families or relationships". Faith schools are permitted to teach RSE according to their religious ethos.
Inspectors also found "widespread failures" in safeguarding. They said some pupils are "reluctant" to report safeguarding concerns to staff, particularly on issues relating to mental health, physical safety and peer-on-peer abuse, due to the way that some staff might react.
NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said: "It's shocking to see sex-based discrimination against pupils at any school, particularly a publicly funded institution.
"The convoluted steps some mixed-sex faith schools are taking to avoid legal restrictions on gender segregation continue to cause real harm to pupils, particularly girls from conservative religious backgrounds.
"This is sadly not an issue that has disappeared, and education authorities must continue work to ensure no school, whatever its religious justification may be, engages in sexist discrimination of any kind."
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)
