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
Seven in 10 support normalising integrated education in NI, poll finds
Posted: Wed, 4 Aug 2021 08:55
More than seven in 10 people in Northern Ireland support efforts to make integrated education the norm there, a poll has found.
Government doesn’t know how many children are forced into faith schools
Posted: Thu, 29 Jul 2021 16:53
The government has said it has no estimate of how many children are effectively forced into faith schools, or left unable to attend their local school because of religious discrimination, in England.
Schools minister Nick Gibb made the admission in response to questions from Conservative MP and National Secular Society supporter Crispin Blunt in parliament last week.
Blunt asked what estimate the education secretary had made of the number of pupils with "no reasonable choice other than to attend a faith school due to lack of secular provision in their area".
He also asked for an estimate of "the number of pupils unable to access their nearest school because of religiously selective admissions".
In response Gibb said the Department for Education hadn't made an estimate of either figure.
He said "the majority of parents are offered a place at a school of their choice".
He added that local authorities "have a duty to provide sufficient school places in their area" and faith schools are "popular with parents".
NSS research on school choice
Last year NSS research found that more than 130,000 children had been sent to faith schools in England despite their parents expressing a preference for a non-faith school since 2014.
And in 2018 a major NSS report, The Choice Delusion, found that almost three in 10 families in England lived in areas where most or all of the closest primary schools are faith schools.
The NSS also frequently works with families who are unable to attend local schools due to religious discrimination, and local campaigners who object to plans for discriminatory faith schools.
In recent months these have included proposals to open new schools in Peterborough and Kingston-upon-Thames.
Earlier this year the NSS also launched a collection of research on the impact of state-funded faith schools. The bank significantly undermines the claims commonly made in their favour.
NSS comment
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans called the government's response "inadequate".
"The government often tries to justify faith schools on the basis of parental choice – as it has in response to these questions. But ministers appear uninterested in the fact that faith schools restrict choice for thousands of families every year.
"A society which valued the rights of its citizens equally would end faith-based discrimination and roll back state-funded faith schools. The state should support inclusive secular schools which enable children to form their own views on religion and educate them together, regardless of their religious background."
Image: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com.
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)
