We want to see laws requiring schools to hold acts of worship abolished.
The laws are archaic, unnecessary and breach children's freedom of religion or belief.
The United Kingdom is the only Western democracy which legally imposes worship in publicly funded schools.
The law in England and Wales provides that children at all maintained schools "shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship". Northern Ireland and Scotland have similar laws.
Even in schools with no religious designation, the worship must be "wholly or mainly of a Christian character".
School assemblies are an important feature of school life. They foster a sense of community in schools and promote the moral and social development of pupils. But acts of worship are neither necessary nor desirable to achieve these educational goals.
Polling has found 70% of senior teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" with the law mandating worship, and 66% of teachers say their school does not even hold collective worship.
The majority of the public (52%) say school assemblies should be about moral issues, whereas just 26% agree that they should feature religious worship.
Many schools ignore the law, but where it is enforced it causes division and discrimination, as well as opening the door to evangelism and proselytising.
Parents have the right to withdraw children from collective worship, but many this is an unreasonable imposition on both themselves and their children. Parents should never have to withdraw their children from any part of the school day to ensure their rights to raise their child according to their own religious or philosophical convictions are respected.
Collective worship laws are outdated relics of a society unrecognisable from the diverse and pluralistic Britain of today, where citizens hold a wide variety of religious beliefs, and increasingly, no religious beliefs. The abolition of collective worship is long overdue.
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1. Write to your MP
Ask them to help end compulsory worship in schools
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Latest updates
“No plans” to review school collective worship, government tells UN
Posted: Tue, 21 Jun 2022 16:06
The UK government is refusing to review laws requiring collective worship in schools despite repeated requests from a United Nations committee.
In a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the UK government said there are "no plans" by the UK government, the Welsh government or the Northern Ireland executive to review laws requiring all state-funded schools to hold daily acts of invariably Christian worship.
Parents have the right to withdraw children from collective worship, but children cannot withdraw themselves unless they are sixth form pupils.
The Scottish Government is examining whether to review the policy on the right to withdraw from religious observance. Scotland's new UNCRC Bill will strengthen children's rights by making it unlawful for public authorities to act incompatibly with the rights incorporated by the bill. The NSS has said compulsory religious observance in Scotland's schools in incompatible with the bill.
The UK is the only Western democracy to legally impose worship in schools. This has been challenged repeatedly by the UNCRC after the National Secular Society raised it as a child right's issue.
In its most recent list of issues of concern, the UNCRC asked the UK government to describe what measures it has taken to "repeal legal provisions for compulsory attendance at collective worship in publicly funded schools" and "ensure that children can independently exercise the right to withdraw from religious observance at school".
Recent moves to end collective worship in nonreligious schools in England, including a private member's bill and amendments to the Schools Bill, have been opposed by the government.
Progress for child rights in other areas
The UK government's state report highlighted other areas where children's rights have progressed. These include several developments supported by the NSS:
- Relationships and sex education (RSE) is now mandatory in England and Wales, after lobbying from many children's rights groups including the NSS.
- The UK government is intervening in Northern Ireland to roll out safe abortion services.
- The UK government has strengthened laws to tackle violence against women and girls, including new laws to protect girls from forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). It has also banned so-called 'virginity testing' and 'virginity restoration' procedures. Northern Ireland recently held a consultation on developing a strategy to tackle violence against women and girls, which the NSS responded to.
- The legal age of marriage has been raised to 18 in England and Wales, while Scotland and Northern Ireland are considering raising the legal age. The NSS responded to Northern Ireland's consultation in support of the plans in February.
But there are other areas where the UK is failing to tackle religious interference with children's rights:
- Despite the UK government strengthening protections for girls from FGM, and reviewing the practice of non-consensual surgery on the genitals of intersex children, it has made no moves to protect boys from forced religious or cultural circumcision. A recent NSS-backed report from an international NGO has called on the UNCRC to work towards "full, equal protection of all minors" from non-therapeutic genital cutting.
- Although it has a duty under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from discrimination, the UK has not acted to end discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in faith school admissions.
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "While the UK government has made some progress in protecting children's rights from religious imposition, the refusal to review compulsory collective worship at schools stands out as a serious failure.
"Forcing schools to hold acts of religious worship means the UK is lagging behind other Western democracies in upholding freedom of religion or belief for children.
"The government must listen to the UN and work to abolish the archaic and wholly unnecessary collective worship laws throughout the UK."
Image: davidf, Shutterstock
Government opposes moves to protect secular schools’ ethos
Posted: Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:56
The government has refused to support amendments to a bill which would help nonreligious academies protect their secular ethos.
Amendments to the Schools Bill, which was debated in the House of Lords on Monday, aimed to replace compulsory collective worship at nonreligious academies in England with inclusive assemblies, and religious education with pluralistic religion and worldviews education.
It would also require greater scrutiny of the potential impact to the school's ethos if a nonreligious academy applied to join a religious multi academy trust (MAT).
But Baroness Joanna Penn, responding on behalf of the government, said the government "do not agree" with the amendments, which were subsequently dropped.
The moves were also opposed by the bishop of Chichester Martin Warner, who "strongly" urged Lords not to support them.
Collective worship
Baroness Molly Meacher and Baroness Janet Whitaker moved two amendments on collective worship – one to remove the duty from nonreligious academies, and one requiring faith-based academies to provide pupils with a meaningful alternative to collective worship if they are withdrawn.
Meacher said it was "pretty remarkable" that the UK is the only sovereign state to impose worship in all state schools, despite the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child repeatedly urging the UK to repeal these laws. She said most parents were not aware of the law but out of those who were, 60% opposed it being enforced. She added that most parents consider religious worship to be inappropriate content for school assemblies.
She highlighted that many parents have "no option but to send their child to a religious school", and those withdrawn from worship at these schools "often just have to sit outside the door—almost like a naughty child—or are left in an empty classroom with nothing to do".
But Penn rejected the amendments as "not necessary". Warner said an end to compulsory worship in schools would be "excessive".
Religious education
Lord Jim Knight moved amendments to replace religious education (RE) with religious and worldviews education which is "objective, critical and pluralistic" in nonreligious academies and as an option in religious academies.
They also required religion and worldviews education in nonreligious academies to be "explicitly inclusive of non-religious beliefs".
The amendments would bring England closer in line with Wales, which last year replaced RE with religion, values and ethics education.
Penn objected to the amendments, saying that when children are admitted to a faith school, "their parents are aware of this and expect it to be part of the school's ethos and culture", despite Meacher highlighting that faith schools are unavoidable for many parents.
Penn added: "I am unaware of significant demand from parents who withdraw their children from religious education to have this replaced by education representative of a wider range of religious and non-religious beliefs".
The National Secular Society regularly assists parents who wish to withdraw their children from RE at faith schools because they object to its biased and confessional nature.
Protecting secular academies joining religious MATs
Baroness Christine Blower moved an amendment to ensure nonreligious academies intending to join a religious MAT must hold a comprehensive consultation focused on the impact on the secular ethos of the school.
Blower said there are parents and carers "who would seek to avoid institutions of a religious character, believing that for them education should be in institutions with a secular ethos".
Warner called the amendment "unhelpful" and said church MATs "provide a commitment to supporting the individual ethos of the school".
But NSS research has demonstrated how the development of mixed multi-academy trusts has enabled religious groups to increase their influence in thousands of schools in England, including those with no religious character.
Employment discrimination in religious academies
Baroness Meacher also moved an amendment to remove exemptions from equality and education law that allow religious academies to discriminate on the basis of religion or belief for the purposes of appointment, promotion, remuneration or termination of employment of teachers.
Meacher said many schools "currently do discriminate even where the employment equality directive makes it clear that this is not allowed".
She pointed to recent reforms in Northern Ireland which removed similar exemptions.
Penn said the government supports the "freedoms and protections" enabling faith schools to discriminate on the basis of religion or belief.
NSS comment
The NSS, which has met with the Department for Education to discuss the Schools Bill, said the withdrawal of these amendments was "deeply disappointing, but not wholly surprising."
NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "If accepted, the amendments would have gone a long way to making academies in England more inclusive for all, and to protecting the secular ethos of academies with no religious character.
"They would also have helped bring England in line with Wales and Northern Ireland, which have recently made progressive steps towards inclusive education.
"In this debate, the government showed a highly dismissive and contemptuous attitude to the concerns raised by the public regarding collective worship, RE and faith schools.
"It must start listening more to the public about what schools they want, and less to religious interests including the bishops appointed to the House of Lords".
Image: 14995841 from Pixabay
