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
NSS gives evidence to Senedd committee over Welsh curriculum reform
Posted: Fri, 16 Oct 2020 09:52
The National Secular Society has called for children's rights to be prioritised over religious interests in the formulation of a new curriculum for Wales in evidence to the Senedd.
The NSS's head of education Alastair Lichten made the call as he gave evidence to the Senedd's children, young people and education committee on Thursday, alongside representatives from Humanists UK.
The committee is currently considering legislation for a new curriculum for Wales, which is set to replace religious education with a new subject – religion, values and ethics (RVE).
The plans would continue to allow faith schools to teach the subject from a religious perspective, though they will be required to offer a pluralistic RVE course where parents request it.
Mr Lichten welcomed the ambition behind the proposals but warned that concessions to faith groups risked undermining the attempt to fulfil it.
"The ambition that all children in Wales have access to critical, pluralistic RVE was a really important and positive part of the new curriculum project. It's concerning and sad to see any effort to water that down.
"If we start from a child's rights perspective, rather than religious interests or the faith schools lobby's preferences, then it's very hard to justify children not having that entitlement."
Elsewhere he:
- Commented on the potential removal of parents' right to withdraw their children from RVE. He said this would be likely to be subject to a legal challenge if RVE was still taught through a religious lens to families who did not want that.
- Criticised the continuation of SACREs – bodies which determine RE curricula at a local level – and the failure to consider the requirement to hold collective worship as part of the new curriculum.
- Expressed support for plans to introduce comprehensive, rights-based relationships and sexuality education (RSE), but also voiced concerns over faith schools' ability to teach the subject through a religious lens.
- Said it was "insulting" to LGBT pupils, non-religious pupils or pupils from LGBT and non-religious families to suggest some schools could opt out of mentioning issues relevant to them in the curriculum.
The NSS is lobbying the Welsh government in an attempt to ensure its religion, values and ethics curriculum is genuinely pluralistic and balanced.
The society is urging supporters in Wales to write to their Senedd members over the proposals.
- Watch the evidence in full (starts after 1 hour 26 minutes).
- Transcript of evidence sessions
Image: Witnesses before the committee's session on Thursday. Alastair Lichten is at the top, in the centre.
Guidance grants schools leeway to push anti-LGBT religious views
Posted: Fri, 18 Sep 2020 11:05
New guidance for schools in England will allow faith schools to teach that same-sex relationships and gender reassignment are not permitted by the religious worldviews they promote.
Guidance from Ofsted, published yesterday, will allow schools to teach "the tenets of any faith on the protected characteristics", which include sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
That guidance says schools may, for example, "explain that same-sex relationships and gender reassignment are not permitted by a particular religion".
It adds that schools which do this "must also explain the legal rights LGBT people have under UK law, and that this and LGBT people must be respected".
Relevant NSS research
National Secular Society research has previously shown that granting faith schools freedom to teach RSE in accordance with their religious ethos provides space for discriminatory practices.
In 2018 the NSS found that many faith schools had policies and practices that were either implicitly or explicitly disparaging of individuals on the basis of protected characteristics.
For example, some schools taught that homosexual acts were wrong or that homosexuality itself was "disordered".
A new curriculum on relationships and sex education became compulsory in England's schools this month.
Inspectors may avoid asking pupils about LGBT issues
The guidance on the teaching of protected characteristics in schools could also see schools marked down by inspectors for failing to teach about LGBT relationships.
But separate guidance also published as part of the same package suggests inspectors should avoid asking about LGBT issues where schools request it to protect their religious sensibilities.
It says Ofsted "recognise(s) that some school leaders do not wish inspectors to ask pupils certain questions, for example about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues".
It adds that inspectors will not ask pupils questions about a topic that a school "reasonably believes is sensitive for its pupils" if the school, at primary or secondary level, asks them not to do so.
In secondary schools this will mean inspectors will not be able to demonstrate that the school is meeting its obligations under the guidance.
NSS comment
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "It's welcome that there will be a degree of accountability for schools which refuse to teach about LGBT relationships.
"But it's concerning that faith schools will be given leeway to teach that same-sex relationships and gender reassignment aren't permitted by the religious worldviews that they exist to promote.
"It's wholly incongruent for Ofsted to penalise schools that refuse to teach about LGBT people, but turn a blind eye when faith schools teach that being LGBT is morally wrong.
"All pupils should be entitled to study in a welcoming and accepting school that doesn't make them feel ashamed about who they are. Schools that can't meet this basic standard aren't worthy of state funding."
Notes
- In an equality impact assessment, Ofsted considered the possibility that its guidance would lead to indirect discrimination against LGBT pupils, "because schools that do not teach about LGBT issues will not automatically receive a negative impact on their inspection". However, on balance it concluded that the possibly negative impact on inspection reports of such schools would address this concern.
- Ofsted inspectors have faced criticism from some faith schools and parents hostile to LGBT inclusive education when they have tried to gauge pupils' understanding of these issues.
- Meanwhile further guidance also gives inspectors advice on dealing with unlawful segregation by sex in mixed-sex schools, an issue the NSS has long campaigned on.
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)
