Secular Education Forum
The Secular Education Forum (SEF) provides expert and professional advice and opinion to the National Secular Society (NSS) on issues related to education and provides a forum for anyone with expertise in the intersection of education and secularism.
The SEF's main objective is to advocate the value of secularism/religious neutrality as a professional standard in education. The SEF welcomes supporters of all faiths and none. It provides expert support for the NSS working towards a secular education system free from religious privilege, proselytization, partisanship or discrimination.
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Education blogs and commentary
A selection of blogs and comment pieces on education and secularism. For education news from the NSS, please click here.
Encouraging evangelism in public services will promote division, not divinity
Posted: Tue, 31st May 2022
A survey reveals members of the public generally get along well with Christians – but feel less enthusiastic about proselytism. Megan Manson says this should be a warning to politicians who want faith groups to be free to preach when delivering public services.
There have been increasingly aggressive moves to put faith groups in charge of delivering public services.
In 2020, Conservative MP and evangelical Christian Danny Kruger published a report calling for the government to "invite the country's faith leaders to make a grand offer of help" in public services, as part of the government's 'levelling up' initiatives. This, he said, should be in exchange for a "reciprocal commitment from the state".
The idea of faith groups running community services makes many people uneasy. There are reasonable concerns that some faith groups can and do use these opportunities to proselytise to vulnerable members of the public, and that some groups may discriminate against service users, employees or volunteers on the basis of sex, sexuality, religion or belief. But Kruger's report dismissed such concerns as "faith illiteracy" and "faith phobia".
Hot on the heels of Kruger's report, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on faith and society quietly removed the non-proselytising clause from its 'faith covenant'. The faith covenant is an agreement between faith groups and local authorities which lays out a set of principles that guide interactions between them and the general public.
In the past, the NSS has publicly supported the faith covenant, particularly because the covenant specified that faith groups have to deliver their services "without proselytising". But minutes from the APPG's October meeting reveal some faith groups objected to this clause, hence its subsequent removal. This now weights the covenant very much in the favour of faith-based agendas rather than public wellbeing.
Then in September, the government announced a new £1 million ' faith new deal' pilot fund exclusively for faith groups that provide community services. Giving public money to groups on the basis that they are religious seems to fly in the face of equality law, but despite repeated requests from the NSS, the government has yet to justify discriminating against non-religious community groups in the provision of this fund.
Kruger, the APPG and all other parliamentarians so keen to roll out the red carpet to faith-based community services would do well to read a new survey from a coalition of Christian groups including the Church of England, the Evangelical Alliance and HOPE Together. The report reveals that whatever Christians feel, the non-Christian majority is in no mood for evangelism – and that proselytising can drive a wedge between Christians and their non-Christian neighbours.
The 'Talking Jesus' report, released in April, found only 6% of the 4,000 UK adults surveyed are "practising Christians", i.e. Christians who go to church at least monthly, and pray and read the Bible at least weekly. Meanwhile, 52% are not Christians – results that are consistent with other recent surveys.
But the 6% who are practising Christians feel very strongly about the need to spread their faith. Seventy-five per cent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, "It is every Christian's responsibility to talk to non-Christians about Jesus Christ". Fifty-nine per cent said they are "always looking" for opportunities to talk to non-Christians about Jesus.
The results demonstrate that concerns about Christian groups evangelising while delivering public services are far from being the result of 'faith illiteracy' – Christians themselves are saying they consider it a duty to use every opportunity they can to share their faith with non-Christians.
And how do the non-Christians react to this? The survey results are eye-opening.
Over half (55%) of non-Christians who had conversed with practising Christians about Christianity disagreed with the statement, "I felt more positive towards Jesus Christ". Even more, 60%, disagreed with the statement "I wanted to know more about Jesus", and 73% disagreed with "I felt I was missing out by not sharing their faith". Nearly a quarter (23%) indicated that the conversation made them feel uncomfortable. Christians evangelising to non-Christians are in fact having the opposite effect of that intended – they are actively turning people off Christianity.
What's rather sad is that over half of non-Christians (51%) disagreed with the statement "I felt closer to the person in question" after having a conversation about faith with a Christian. Attempts to evangelise, however well-intended, seem to be leaving most non-Christians feeling alienated from their Christian acquaintances. A profound demonstration of how divisive unwanted proselytism can be.
This is particularly dispiriting in light of the real potential of meaningful friendship between Christians and non-Christians. Non-Christians are highly complementary of the Christians they know – the top qualities they ascribed to them were "friendly" (62%), "caring" (50%) and "good humoured" (33%).
What they don't like is the Christian church. The top two traits non-Christians ascribe to the church are "hypocritical" and "narrow minded".
The fact that non-Christians evidently have warm feelings towards the Christians they know, but feel much colder towards proselytising and to the church itself, speaks volumes about the British public. Far from being 'faith phobic', they are tolerant, even affable, towards Christians. They just don't want Christianity thrust upon them – a religion they consider hypocritical and narrow minded, which considering its treatment of LGBT+ people and women, is not an unfair assessment.
Unfortunately, the authors of 'Talking Jesus' seem oblivious of the implications of their own findings. In their conclusions, they stress the importance of continuing to evangelise – including in the public sector. The report says: "The call to churches is to work with the schools where they live to encourage and enable faith to flourish and develop as children grow in these environments". School evangelism is especially contentious – children are particularly vulnerable and unable to escape unwanted proselytising easily in the school environment.
'Talking Jesus' reveals a clash between the increasing non-Christian majority who are happy to get along with Christians provided they aren't preached at, and a shrinking Christian minority who see it as their duty to spread their faith. Regrettably, it is the latter that the government's pro-faith 'levelling up' schemes will privilege and empower. If this survey is anything to go by, letting religious groups use public service provision as a mission field will end in tears – both for the public who don't want to hear about Jesus while asking for help, and for the well-meaning Christians who will no doubt feel rejected and hurt when their 'good news' isn't well received.
What is more likely to foster good relations between faith groups and their community is to ensure offers of help are given without any religious strings attached – no proselytism, no discrimination. A secular approach to public services, regardless of the ethos of the community delivering it, is what the government should be encouraging.
NI education conference shows cause for secularist hope
Posted: Wed, 25th May 2022
The National Secular Society recently held an online conference on inclusive education in Northern Ireland. Here, Alastair Lichten shares the videos from the conference and thoughts on the speakers' key messages.
Education in Northern Ireland features levels of religious privilege, discrimination, segregation, and control not seen anywhere else in the UK. Entrenched religious interests make reforms extremely difficult. However, we are continuing to see broad, cross-community and grassroots support for a more pluralistic, integrated approach.
Our online conference on Saturday - Towards inclusive education in Northern Ireland – was an opportunity to reflect on recent successes, current challenges, and causes for optimism, with our expert panel of academics, advocates and activists.
Our first speaker Kellie Armstrong MLA shared her experiences overcoming institutional opposition to passed her Integrated Education Act, why this matters and what more needs to be done. The NSS has long supported similar legislation along with further moves towards a fully integrated system.
Human rights lawyer Darragh Mackin discussed his work on a case arguing that the legal requirement for school assemblies and RE to promote Christianity were incompatible with children's and parents' human rights. The NSS campaigns to end mandated collective worship in Northern Ireland, and across the UK, and for fundamental reform of education about religion and beliefs.
Dr Matthew Milliken is a researcher with the UNESCO Centre in Ulster University's School of Education. He discussed his work on the Transforming Education series of papers, with a focus on religious discrimination against teachers in NI. The recently passed Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act has ended the exemption of teachers from equality laws, but Dr Milliken's talk covered some of the other barriers the NSS is campaigning to end.
Megan Turner is the training and development co-ordinator for Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) with sexual health charity Common Youth. Currently RSE is taught based on each school's faith ethos, meaning pupils suffer where quality is extremely variable, and where topics are restricted or distorted through faith-based approaches.
The individual talks were followed by a lively Q&A session.
NI remains far more religious than the rest of the UK, and the churches' entanglement in education is far more institutionalised. However, as NI becomes more diverse, as the links between political and partisan identity loosen, and separate education becomes ever more costly and unworkable, calls for reform will continue to grow.
The Church shouldn’t have a privileged platform in political debate
Posted: Wed, 20th Apr 2022
Following the furore over the archbishop of Canterbury's latest political intervention, Stephen Evans argues Justin Welby should be free to speak, but his words shouldn't carry the constitutional weight they do.
The archbishop of Canterbury faced criticism from across the political spectrum this week after using his Easter sermon to claim the government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda were 'the opposite of the nature of God'.
During holy communion at Canterbury Cathedral, which was simultaneously broadcast live on the BBC, Justin Welby said: "The principle must stand the judgement of God and it cannot".
As you'd expect, the architects of the plan responded robustly. Government ministers and Conservative politicians lined up to defend their policy, accusing Welby of "hypocrisy", "naivety" and of "sharpening political divisions".
But opponents of the government's policy also took Welby to task. Writing in the Guardian, Simon Jenkins called the Rwanda plan for refugees "shocking" and "bizarre", but added: "…when a state-established church summons God to condemn an evil policy it merely confuses the forces that need mustering against it".
Jenkins is right. Asylum policy isn't a religious matter. Dragging religion into an already highly charged debate is unlikely to enhance the discussion. It can, however, serve as a catalyst to polarise arguments. Framing arguments in religious terms is unlikely to resonate widely anyway, as it's a language few people in Britain speak.
Clerics enjoy expressing their own opinions and claiming that their views are their gods' views, too. But it shouldn't be assumed they speak for anyone else. Take, for example, Catholics' views on marriage equality, contraception, and abortion, which are rarely aligned with the pontifications of the Pope. Christians overwhelming support assisted dying, while church leaders actively lobby against it. Welby publicly backed Remain before the 2016 referendum. Anglicans in the pews leaned towards Leave.
Political decisions should be based on reasoned arguments that stand or fall on their own merits. The days of something being right or wrong because someone's interpretation of religious scripture suggests it is are long gone.
And one must question the worth of religious leaders' interventions when it's become increasingly clear they have no unique access to special moral insights denied to the rest of us. The Church's treatment of LGBT people and its outrageous handling of child sex abuse within its ranks are but two examples of behaviour that has destroyed any moral authority it ever had.
Evoking gods to make political arguments is as unpopular as it is unwise. Even when the public agree with Welby's sentiments on political matters, they still consider his interventions inappropriate. Sixty per cent of UK adults agree that religion should be "kept separate from government policies". Sixty-two per cent of Britons say there is "no place in UK politics for religious influence of any kind". And 71% of people say religious leaders should have no influence over the decisions of the government. Just 8% said they should.
All of this should be taken into consideration when deciding how much weight to give political interventions from clerics.
Religious leaders are entitled as anyone else to speak out on political issues. They should not, however, be given a privileged platform to do so and their voice shouldn't sound louder than anyone else's.
This is the real issue with Welby. He's the leader of the established Church. He and his senior Anglican colleagues are handed seats as of right in the House of Lords to shape public policy and the laws that affect us all. His sermon was broadcast live on state media.
Constitutional inertia and institutional religious privilege have enabled the leader of a an increasingly niche religious denomination to have a grossly disproportionate public role.
One of the more eyebrow-raising reactions to Welby's latest political intervention was from Conservative MP Ben Bradley, who said: "I think we separated the church from the state a long time ago".
Bradley's knowledge of the UK's political settlement may have been found wanting, but his instinct that church and state should be separate is spot on.
Welby's words shouldn't carry the weight they do by virtue of his privileged role as leader of the state church. Let Welby speak, but disestablish his Church.
Time to follow Northern Ireland in ending religious discrimination against teachers
Posted: Tue, 12th Apr 2022
After ending a blanket exemption from equality laws, Northern Ireland will outlaw religious discrimination against teachers. Ella Sen examines the situation across other UK nations and urges them to follow suit.
Religious discrimination against teachers in Northern Ireland is slowly coming to an end. By 2024, the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Bill will remove the blanket exemption from the Fair Employment and Treatment Order 1998 (FETO) allowing schools to select teachers according to religion.
The situation is still far from perfect. Other structural issues will remain, including a requirement for a certificate in Catholic education in many schools, making it harder for some teachers to work in schools outside their community.
Nevertheless, the end to the FETO exemption will help pave the way for greater integration in the nine in ten schools currently segregated according to religion. It will give teachers across NI greater freedom in where they work without being held back by their background or beliefs.
And in a surprising twist, the reform is set to give more protection to teachers from religious discrimination than anywhere else in the UK.
In England and Wales, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 allows faith schools to apply a religious test when appointing, remunerating, retaining or and promoting certain 'reserved teachers' or in disciplining them for conduct that is "incompatible with the precepts… of the (school's) religion".
'Reserved teachers' can include one fifth of teaching staff, including the headteacher in voluntary controlled faith schools (mostly Church of England) and all teachers in voluntary aided faith schools (mostly Catholic, some CofE and other minority faiths). The situation in academies and free schools with a religious character will depend on their funding agreement.
The ability of faith schools to religiously discriminate against teachers is enabled by a number of exemptions in the Equality Act 2010. Without these exemptions, such discrimination would be unlawful.
The legality of such discrimination can even take experienced and qualified teachers by surprise. Many cannot believe how our society can possibly permit certain public servants to be hired over others because of their religion.
Research in 2019 by Teacher Tapp found that while schools of all types rely on nonreligious teachers, these teachers are significantly underrepresented in faith schools. The exclusionary policies and ethos of faith schools may explain why 75% of nonreligious teachers would not like to switch to a faith school. Though religious and nonreligious teachers are both very comfortable discussing religion and belief issues in non-faith schools, nonreligious teachers in faith schools are significantly less comfortable – perhaps an impact of knowing they could be legally disciplined for the 'wrong' views.
The situation is similar in Scotland. Almost all denominational (faith) schools in Scotland are Catholic. The process of applying to teach usually requires a Catholic Teaching Certificate. Applicants also need to submit forms confirming their commitment to "supporting and developing the ethos of Catholic education", with a religious reference, for approval by the local bishop.
A teacher's religious affiliation has no relevance to teaching English, maths or any other subject. Yet it causes significant barriers for the 58% of Scots who are nonreligious. The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 should be amended to end such discrimination.
Enabling this form of discrimination in Catholic schools can lead to absurd scenarios. In 2019 St Martin's RC Primary School only allowed non-Catholics to apply for its headteacher position after three unsuccessful attempts to recruit a specifically Catholic headteacher. And even then, they re-dubbed the role as 'leader of learning' – a role carrying the same responsibilities as a headteacher but with a less prestigious title.
Ultimately, organising schools around an exclusive religious ethos is always going to make it difficult for some teachers to work there, especially as more and more individuals identify as nonreligious. There should be no hierarchy of teaching opportunities based on individuals' religious or nonreligious beliefs.
And the progressive reforms taking place in NI should prompt us to challenge the archaic and discriminatory teacher employment laws in the rest of the UK.
We will be discussing many of these issues in our upcoming (21 May 2022) conference Towards inclusive education in Northern Ireland with reformers, activists, politicians and academics.
CofE plans to increase influence in post-16 education smack of hubris
Posted: Thu, 7th Apr 2022
The Church of England's emerging plans to expand their role in sixth form and further education colleges, accompanied by empire building and evangelism, may undermine the secularity and inclusivity of this sector, argues Alastair Lichten.
The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill has attracted little media attention. Compared with other wide ranging government proposals that could increase religious control of education, the bill has been seen more as a technical tidying up exercise. Those opposed to any religious discrimination, privilege or control of state education have traditionally had few worries about the further education (FE) sector.
The bill introduces the ability for the small number of faith-based sixth form colleges to convert into to 16-19 academies, and join faith-based multi-academy trusts. However, we grew more concerned when it emerged that the government's "main success indicators" includes: "…in future faith bodies applying to establish (new) 16-19 academies".
This, coupled with our concerns over the Church of England's (CofE) efforts to expand its influence over the wider FE sector, led us to dig deeper into their lobbying and meetings with the Department for Education surrounding the bill.
The CofE acknowledges that it has little to no experience in the FE sector but sees it as an important area of evangelism to "build a younger and more diverse church" and "engage with a missing generation".
We have uncovered the CofE's "Action Plan for FE Partnerships following a roundtable meeting with the Secretary of State for Education and the Archbishop of York". This provides new insight into the Church's hoped-for "market warming" process.
Chaplaincy
The first of the CofE's two key aims is to "reimagine chaplaincy provision" across FE, where there currently remain "only a handful of full-time college chaplains". FE and sixth form colleges already have a cadre of professionally-qualified and committed staff who work diligently to enhance the welfare and wellbeing of students of all backgrounds, abilities and aspirations, and of all faiths or none.
Religious organisations are to be commended for providing spiritual support to college pupils who request it. Secular welfare professionals in FE require a high degree of cultural literacy and should always be prepared to make referrals in the very rare cases where pupils request religion-specific support. But for the CofE, waiting for young people to voluntarily come to them is a losing game.
Employing unqualified chaplains whose first loyalty is towards their theology diverts funds from, and creates potential for conflict with, the open and inclusive support provided by professional welfare services. The recent case of a chaplain sacked by Trent College in Nottingham for putting personal belief above the school's open policy on diversity is but one example.
In an unsuccessful bid last year, the CofE requested funding for chaplaincy provision at 12 colleges from the College Collaboration Fund. The CofE's action plan involves seeking "some indication of the background to that decision", presumably beyond that offered to other applicants without such privileged access to government ministers. It admits that the application for chaplaincy funding "formed a significant early element in the 'market warming' process" for their expansion into FE. The CofE clearly feels entitled to "the DfE's assistance, to rapidly explore alternative funding opportunities".
Church group of colleges
The CofE's long term aim is to create a "formal Church group of FE colleges", one "where ethos is a binding factor" similar to their network of state funded faith schools. Because very few new colleges are likely to be funded, the CofE's plan is to expand its influence over existing institutions by identifying "those colleges who are positively responding" to its chaplaincy and other outreach. The Church may frame its empire building as benevolent outreach to a neglected education sector. But it's getting a foot in the door with no reflection on whether an exclusive faith ethos is wanted, necessary or appropriate.
For many pupils, attending a FE or sixth form college will be their first educational experience outside of a faith school, or with far greater diversity. The CofE acknowledges that "the FE sector is culturally, religiously, and ethnically very diverse" and that "it is sometimes put, FE Colleges are secular institutions". However, its proposals attack the predominantly secular approach that underpins such successful diversity.
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