Thousands of children are languishing in unregistered faith schools.
These schools prioritise fundamentalist religion over the education and welfare of children.
The scandal of unregistered schools must be addressed.
Some religious institutions operate schools which are not registered with the Department for Education, despite this being a legal requirement.
Schools are left unregistered to avoid regulations and inspections, so they can teach a very narrow, religion-based curriculum without oversight. This severely limits children's future options, as children leave these schools with very poor literacy, no formal qualifications and no skills or experience for life in modern Britain.
The lack of scrutiny also presents major safeguarding concerns. Children have been taught in unsafe conditions and subjected to physical punishment in these schools. The curriculum may also teach extremist, regressive and discriminatory dogma.
In 2019, Ofsted estimated as many as 6,000 children were being educated in unregistered settings. But the number could be even higher. Approximately 86,300 children and young people were electively home educated nationally during the year 2019/20. There is little regulation of home education, so many of these children could in fact be attending an unregistered school.
Some unregistered schools exploit loopholes in the law to avoid registration and operate at the margins of the law as an "out of school educational setting". Although many out of school settings, including tuition centres and supplementary schools, provide an excellence service, a minority put children's welfare at risk.
We are working to end the harms caused by unregistered schools by campaigning for greater powers for Ofsted tackle these settings, the elimination of loopholes to force more schools to register, and improved regulation of elective home education.
Take action!
1. Suspect an unregistered school? Report it!
Unregistered schools are illegal and pose a serious threat to children's wellbeing. If you think you know of a possible unregistered school, please report it to the schools inspectorate Ofsted.
If you are aware of children in imminent danger, please call 999 and inform the police.
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
Head of unregistered Islamic school banned from teaching
Posted: Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:18
The National Secular Society has said illegal faith schools' proprietors should face "the full force of the law" after the head of an unregistered Islamic school was banned from teaching.
On Monday the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) released the report of its professional conduct panel investigation into Naveed Hussain, the head and director of Bordesley Independent School in Birmingham.
The panel found that Mr Hussain was responsible for sustained failures over safeguarding and educational provision and had brought the teaching profession into disrepute. He was banned from teaching indefinitely.
Ofsted inspected the school five times between September 2014 and November 2015. On each occasion it raised concerns about pupil safety and wellbeing. The school was closed down after the final visit.
The inspectorate's final report on the schools said its curriculum was "narrow and inadequate". Religious education "dealt only with Islam to the exclusion of any other religions" and several statutory subjects, including humanities, were not taught.
Inspectors also found leaflets entitled "Islam and Terrorism?" at the school. These were written by a man who had been banned from the UK for his extremist views.
Pupils were taught in single gender groups. At one point a girl in year 10 wrote a story about being raped, but there was no evidence the school had filed a report to the local council's safeguarding team.
Staff were not subject to disclosure and barring service checks. Mr Hussain told inspectors that classroom doors were left open to mitigate the risk of wrongdoing. The panel found this explanation "manifestly inadequate" and said inspectors had found doors closed during their visits.
Inspectors also said the school premises raised health and safety concerns. The toilet area in the school had no running water and classrooms were "unkempt, cold and inadequate".
The National Secular Society has welcomed the panel's decision but questioned why Mr Hussain has not been prosecuted.
Stephen Evans, the NSS's chief executive, said: "Whilst we welcome the fact that Mr Hussain will no longer be involved in providing education, we do question why the government hasn't pursued a prosecution against him.
"Pupils were kept in squalid conditions, segregated by gender and denied a proper education. As proprietor, Hussain should be held accountable.
"Children left to languish in such schools are being denied basic rights and left hopelessly unprepared for life in modern Britain. The full force of the law should be brought to bear on illegal faith schools to stop them operating once and for all."
Mr Hussain may apply for the ban to be overturned from January 2020.
Councils powerless to help children in illegal faith schools
Posted: Tue, 9 Jan 2018 13:44
A report from Hackney Council has highlighted the urgent need for new legislation to regulate unregistered 'schools' that deprive children of safety and adequate education.
The report, released by Hackney Council's Children and Young People's Scrutiny Commission, investigated yeshivas (Jewish religious schools) and other Unregistered Educational Settings (UES) run by the Charedi Orthodox Jewish community in Hackney. It is estimated that there are at least 20 UES in Hackney, attended by as many as 1,500 teenage boys from Charedi families.
The Commission found that "legislation around the regulation of unregistered education settings is at best patchy and at worst contradictory," and as a result Council and other statutory bodies "find it impossible to satisfy themselves that the expected standards of safety and safeguarding are in place".
It has recommended that the Council develop a "clear, comprehensive and transparent" strategy for dealing with UES. It said the Council should continue to lobby the Government for "an improved and effective regulatory and enforcement framework for unregistered educational settings which is backed up by legislative change".
This would mean extending the definition of "school" to include those that teach religion exclusively, expanding inspection powers over UES and increasing regulation around home schooling.
The Commission also recommended that the Charedi Orthodox Jewish community "engage and work with the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Board who are ready to support the development of a safeguarding assurance process in unregistered educational settings". Representatives of the Charedi community have denied that safeguarding is an issue at the schools.
The Commission acknowledged the challenge of finding support within the Charedi community. It said Charedi Jews "would find it difficult to complete a survey which invited critical reflections on traditions which were central to their religious belief," and the survey itself could be considered "sinful". Humanists UK, which contributed to the study, warned that parents would be pressured to give compliant answers by community leaders and rabbis, who dominate education in the Charedi community.
When it canvassed views from the Charedi community, they suggested Charedi religious beliefs were "at odds" with the Council's statutory duty to safeguard children and the Government's duty to ensure they receive an appropriate education which conforms to national standards. Members of the community described inspections at registered Charedi schools as "interference". Charedis said there were "irreconcilable differences" between what independent schools must teach and what the community would consider religiously acceptable.
The lack of adequate education in the Charedi community has led to disproportionate unemployment and poverty. According to the Census 2011, 44% of Jewish adults in Hackney have no qualifications compared with 20% of the population, and only 48% of Jewish people in Hackney are in employment, which is 10 percentage points lower than the overall population overall.
The report was launched shortly after the National Secular Society pressurised Hackney Council to clarify how many unregistered schools were operating in the borough.
Concerns regarding the lack of safeguarding procedures in UES also came to the Commission's attention when 34 children from a yeshiva in Hackney had to be rescued by Kent Coastguard after getting into difficulties on an outing.
Megan Manson, campaigns officer at the NSS, said: "We welcome this report, which reveals the urgent need for a change in law so that all children from all communities can receive a high quality education in safe surroundings, as is their right.
"At present, councils and central government have their hands tied so they cannot give children the protection they need. The result is a proliferation of unsafe schools that fail to prepare children in the most basic skills for life in the UK.
"We're concerned that while parents in the Charedi community also want to see a change in their children's educational settings, they are being silenced by religious leaders. To give these families the protection they need, the legal loopholes that allow children to disappear into covert unregistered schools need to be closed."
