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.
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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 transparency over discriminatory school admissions
Posted: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 11:37
The National Secular Society has urged the new schools' minister to increase transparency over school admissions.
The NSS has written to the minister responsible for faith schools, Diana Barran, calling for information about whether schools have religiously selective oversubscription criteria to be included on a government database.
The Get Information About Schools (GIAS) service provides data on all schools in England. It is used by parents deciding on school choices, in addition to estate agents providing information on local schools. But GIAS does not currently record whether a school has a faith-based selective admissions policy.
Exceptions in the Equality Act 2010 allow faith schools with a religious character to religiously discriminate in their admissions if oversubscribed. The extent to which faith schools can discriminate depends on factors including school types, local policies, and number of applicants.
In response to a freedom of information request regarding the number of faith schools that can religiously discriminate, the Department for Education provided GIAS data on school type. But this data can mislead users, the NSS warned.
While GIAS records admissions policies as "selective" or "non-selective", the NSS said this information could "potentially serve to confuse or mislead users, as it only refers to academically selective admissions", which are far outnumbered by religious selection.
The NSS raised the example of voluntary aided (VA) Catholic schools. Almost all Catholic VA schools have admissions policies which allow them to select up to 100% of pupils based on faith if oversubscribed, but the vast majority (1,012) put "not applicable" in the GIAS field regarding admissions policies.
One hundred and sixty-two Catholic schools list their admissions policy as "non-selective", a term the NSS labeled "at best confusing and at worst misleading". Only two Catholic secondary schools, both grammar schools, list their admissions policy as "selective". The NSS has previously warned that such use of the term "non-selective" can be potentially misleading, particularly in proposals for new religiously selective schools.
Researchers have made various estimates on the number of schools or proportion of places with religious selection. However, admissions policies are often complex and can obfuscate the true level of religious discrimination.
Earlier this year the former schools minister Nick Gibb admitted that the DfE has not made an estimate of the number of pupils unable to access their nearest school because of religiously selective admissions.
The NSS's head of education, Alastair Lichten, said: "This lack of transparency and data is unjustifiable, regardless of one's view on the underlying issue of selection. If the state shamefully continues to sanction religious discrimination, it must at least record it. Families seeking school places need clarity over the barriers they may face, and we all need clarity over the numbers of pupils facing faith-based discrimination to allow for an informed public debate."
Update 18/11: In response to a written question in parliament from Dick Taverne, Diana Barran has said: "The department does not collect information on the number of schools that include faith-based criteria in their admission arrangements, nor the proportion of places allocated on the basis of faith. We have no plans to collect this information or to include this information in school statistics."
Image: patat, Shutterstock
‘Inadequate’ faith school failed to teach reproduction in science
Posted: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 08:35
A Jewish independent faith school has been criticised by inspectors for refusing to teach about reproduction in science classes.
Beis Ruchel D'Satmar London, a "strictly Orthodox Jewish" school for girls age 3-16 in Stamford Hill, was rated "inadequate" in an Ofsted report published yesterday.
During the inspection, held 8–10 June, leaders said "no aspect of sex education is taught in the school, not even reproduction in the context of an academic subject like science," according to the report.
The report said all content of the GCSE course is taught to Year 10 pupils, "except for reproduction". This means pupils are "disadvantaged at the outset" when preparing for science examinations.
The report said the "strongly held", "collective" view of parents was that "such teaching should take place in the home only, by parents and carers".
Pupils are "not given the opportunity to discuss issues about some important aspects of their personal development" and so are "not prepared well for life in modern Britain", the report said.
Teaching pupils of secondary school age relationships and sex education (RSE) is a statutory requirement.
Ofsted also criticised the school for not teaching pupils to "respect people who are of a different sexual orientation" or "people who change their gender". Sexual orientation and gender reassignment are protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010. Schools are required to teach about these protected characteristics to secondary-age pupils in an age-appropriate manner.
Forced marriage concerns
In February a report from Jewish counter-extremism group Nahamu highlighted how a lack of relationships and sex education (RSE) contributes to forced marriage in strictly-Orthodox Jewish communities.
It said the lack of RSE in strictly-Orthodox Jewish schools means engaged couples may not be prepared for sexual relations, may not understand consent, and may not recognise abusive behaviours.
It also said the exclusion of any reference to LGBT+ people in Orthodox Jewish schools means LGBT+ people in these communities face "very serious issues of consent" when presented with a universal expectation of early, heterosexual marriage.
Other issues
Ofsted's report said children in the early years "do not get off to a good start" as children and adults communicate in Yiddish and the teaching of phonics "is held back for too long". Additionally, children do not take books home to practise reading with their parents, the report said.
The development of love for reading among older pupils was "limited by the choice of texts" available in the school.
In the past other Orthodox Jewish schools have been criticised for their limited choice of books, including Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School, also in Stamford Hill.
Additionally, the report said the school 's leaders and governors "do not actively promote the fundamental British values of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs."
In 2019 the school was barred from admitting new pupils that academic year after persistently failing standards. In an inspection that year, school inspectors were prevented from speaking to pupils about their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
NSS comment
NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said: "With the problem of forced marriages in strictly-Orthodox Jewish communities increasingly coming to light, it is more important than ever to ensure all children, regardless of their parents' religious background, have access to age-appropriate, objective and inclusive RSE.
"Ofsted is right to penalise this school for refusing to teach about reproduction even in science. Children's rights to an education that keeps them safe and prepares them for adult life must not be undermined by extremist religious ideology, no matter how strongly-held."
Notes
- Beis Ruchel D'Satmar London is registered for 810 girls between the ages of three and 16 years. However, according to Ofsted's report, there are 844 girls aged three to 16 years on the school's roll. The permitted number of pupils was revised by the registration authority from 200 to 810 in November 2020. According to Ofsted, "the school continues to be in breach of its registration agreement with the Department for Education".
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)
