Religion in Schools

Schools with a religious character, or 'faith schools' as they are commonly known, account for around a third of our publicly funded schools. This seriously limits choice for parents who do not want a religious education for their children, or do not share the faith of the local school.

Despite a consistent and dramatic decline in church attendance and a growing proportion of non-religious citizens, successive governments have paved the way for ever greater religious involvement in education, often to the detriment of community schools.

We think children of all faiths and none should be educated together, rather than segregated into 'faith' groups. A primary aim of the NSS is the secularisation of Britain's education system. We would like to see publicly funded 'faith schools' returned to community school status, under local authority control. We campaign for an end to faith based discrimination against pupils and parents in admissions and against staff in employment. We campaign for radical reform of Religious Education (RE) and an end to compulsory worship.