Newsline 13 January 2017

Newsline 13 January 2017

It isn't long until Secularist of the Year 2017 and tickets are already on sale (full details below) and we need your nominations! Who do you think deserves recognition for advancing the cause of secularism and human rights?

Our thanks again to Dr Michael Irwin, who kindly sponsors the event with the £5,000 Irwin Prize.

If you have booked a place at our free speech event in Parliament this Wednesday to mark the 2nd anniversary of the attack on Charlie Hebdo we look forward to seeing you there.

If you aren't already a member please consider joining the Society today – and don't forget to send us your nomination for Secularist of the Year 2017!

News, Blogs & Opinion

Faith schools mustn’t be allowed to stymie young people’s sexual health and well-being

Opinion | Thu, 12th Jan 2017

Political sensitivity about faith schools is getting in the way of providing evidence-based, age-appropriate sex and relationships education (SRE) to all children. We can't wait forever for the Government's proposals on SRE, writes Stephen Evans.

The latest legislative attempt to introduce statutory sex and relationship education in schools was blocked this week, when Conservative MPs voted down an amendment to the Children and Social Work Bill which would have made providing SRE a requirement for all schools, including academies.

From the debate, it is clear that faith schools provide a major hurdle for anyone seeking to safeguard children and ensure that all young people are equipped to navigate the realities of modern life.

The proposals, tabled by an all-female group of MPs led by Labour's Stella Creasy, would have placed schools under a duty to ensure that the personal, social and health education they provide included age appropriate sex and relationships education covering same-sex relationships, sexual consent, sexual violence, and domestic violence.

The provisions, included in New Clause 11, contained a number of concessions to religion, yet still the Government didn't feel able to support it.

Opposing the proposals, Conservative MP Simon Hoare said some form of "protection" was needed for those who run faith schools to ensure that they can make their position "absolutely clear".

The provisions already required the information provided to pupils to be "religiously diverse". It may not be immediately obvious what this means in an SRE context, but it was helpfully interpreted as meaning "religiously sensitive" by those advancing the proposals.

It will be a massive disservice to children, particular those from orthodox religious backgrounds, if the Government acquiesces to religious parents' and faith schools' demands to allow religious doctrine to get in the way of accurate and balanced SRE. Religious teaching will be mixed with fact-based SRE, giving young people a mixed message, weighting facts with doctrinal overtones.

More worryingly for inclusiveness is if that ethos is anti-homosexual, anti-choice or anti-sex-outside-of-marriage it can specifically exclude students and provide a context of a conflict between faith values, sexuality and sexual orientation, leaving children isolated and open to victimisation or bullying. Within this context, any mention of acceptance would appear as tokenism only.

Before voting against the amendment, Junior Education Minister Edward Timpson accepted that "Now is the time to make sure that every child has access to effective, factually accurate, age-appropriate sex and relationships education". But he said it was a "sensitive issue" and insisted "we must attempt to allow everybody with a view a chance to make their case".

Mr Timpson committed the government to bringing forward its own plans on sex and relationship education in due course. But noises coming from the Government give grounds to the fear that some schools with a religious ethos may be permitted to fail their students when it comes to their right to receive comprehensive, objective and fact-based SRE.

The Government will of course insist that it is only being pragmatic when it says it wants to "ensure that we bring as many people with us as possible." This must not translate into betraying the young people educated in faith-based settings, many of whom will be those most in need of the protection that good quality SRE offers. Their right to education is as valid any anyone else's.

At the same time, we mustn't forget that many children aren't in faith schools because their parents want a religious upbringing for them, they're simply tolerating the churchy aspects of their local school.

However "sensitive" some may find this issue, when it comes to children and young people's sexual health and well–being, religion must take a back seat.

Faith school heads and governors raise concerns about academy religious takeovers

News | Wed, 11th Jan 2017

Religious leaders are set to steamroll faith schools into massive academy chains, centralising church control over the state-funded schools.

Headteachers and staff have raised serious opposition to the plans, which would see a school's diocese taking direct control over it, with the authority "to appoint and dismiss all trustees", TES reported.

The Government dropped plans to compel all state schools in England to become academies in the face of overwhelming opposition in Parliament. But diocesan proposals, seen by TES, have been described as "forced academisation by the back door."

Rob Kelsall of the NAHT headteachers' union told TES that headteachers were worried about a loss of autonomy if the proposals are enacted.

Under the plans 600 church schools would be run by large academy trusts, each overseeing 22 schools.

Schools will have to opt-in to the plans, but TES questioned whether headteachers and governors would truly feel able to defy the wishes of their "highly influential" diocese.

In December the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster proposed to headteachers and governors that 180 schools join 12 multi-academy trusts (MATs), with each trust governed by a single board which would act "as the governing body for up to 15 schools".

TES reported that the London Diocesan Board for Schools sought to run 156 schools through MATs, appointing directors to each trust.

The Board claimed that were would be "no pressure" on schools to become academies "unless there are benefits for pupils in converting".

One governor of a Catholic primary school, who was appointed to her post by the Diocese Board, said she was "gobsmacked" by the plans and that schools were essentially told "you have to become an academy in the next five years".

She said that the balance was "right" at the moment, but that under the plans "I worry about what is coming" because of the Diocese gaining more control over the school.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster told TES that academisation would allow the promotion of "Catholic mission and identity" in schools.

The National Secular Society has previously written to the Government expressing concerns that the push to turn schools into academies would increase religious control of taxpayer-funded faith schools.

In June the NSS wrote to Nick Gibb the Schools Minister to raise the example of one VC primary school in Winchester which has been told to "join a trust with a majority of church trustees" despite the unanimous opposition of governors.

Voluntary Controlled schools currently have a minority of their governors appointed by the church; but as a part of a religious academy trusts VC schools "will suddenly find themselves under the direct control of the Diocese," the NSS warned.

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "At a time when the nation is drifting away from Christianity it seems perverse that churches are gaining ever greater control and influence over young people's education.

"Growing irreligiosity means religious control of publicly funded education is both inappropriate and, in the long term, wholly unsustainable."

Tickets on sale and nominations open for Secularist of the Year 2017!

News | Thu, 12th Jan 2017

It isn't long until Secularist of the Year 2017, and the National Secular Society is seeking your nominations for the award.

The £5,000 Irwin Prize for Secularist of the Year is presented by the NSS to an individual or an organisation considered to have made an outstanding contribution to secularism and human rights.

The prize money is kindly donated by NSS honorary associate Dr Michael Irwin.

NSS president Terry Sanderson said: "This event is a great opportunity to mark the hard work and dedication of a group or individual committed to secularism.

"Who do you think has been the best advocate for secularism in the past year? Send us your nominations."

Last year the winner of Secularist of the Year was Educate Together, the educational charity which runs inclusive, non-religious schools in Ireland and the UK, modelling what a secular education system would look like.

Previous winners include Charlie Hebdo, who received the award in 2015 for their courageous response to the terror attack on their Paris office and subsequent survivor's edition, and their editorial defending laicite and the right to free expression.

Turkish opposition MP Safak Pavey won the award in 2014, and in 2013 Plan UK received the prize money in honour of Malala Yousafzai.

Peter Tatchell was named Secularist of the Year in 2012 for his lifelong defence of human rights in the face of religious fundamentalism and previous winners include Sophie in' t Veld MEP, the Southall Black Sisters, former LibDem MP Evan Harris and Lord Avebury who given the award jointly for their work on the abolition of the blasphemy law, Mina Ahadi of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Professor Steve Jones, and Maryam Namazie.

Other awards are also presented by the Society at the event, to note contributions of a large number of campaigners in many different fields who work to promote secularism.

The awards will be presented at a lunch event in central London on 18th March 2017.

NSS urges Scottish Government to tackle governance failures concerning religion in schools

News | Tue, 10th Jan 2017

The National Secular Society has highlighted failures in the governance of Scottish schools, identifying a string of incidents where pupils have been exposed in schools to extreme religious views.

In response to the Scottish Government's consultation on "excellence and equity in education", the Society pointed to examples where pupils had been taught creationism in schools, and where guest speakers with fundamentalist views and no scientific qualification had visited students to discuss sexual health.

The St Andrews Academy in Paisley invited religious extremist Pam Stenzel to address 150 pupils on sexual health. The Society pointed out in its response that "Stenzel has no formal training in medicine, public health, any other area of health science, or education." She has claimed that people who have more than one sexual partner in their lifetime "must pay a price".

Stenzel directly contravened Scottish Government educational guidelines with "words selected to confer deniability" that condoms were ineffective for disease prevention.

The Society drew the Scottish Government's attention to the fact that Christian outreach workers were active in non-denominational schools, often in an unclear capacity and offering advice to teachers on religious observance without clarity about what entitled them to lead assemblies and sit on school boards.

NSS vice president and spokesperson for Scotland Alistair McBay said:

"If this is already happening in Scotland's non-denominational schools under the present system of governance, what are the implications for a revised system with more powers taken away from local councils and given to headteachers?"

A Church of Scotland parish newsletter wrote of one Christian outreach worker that he is "involved in both local primary schools, developing good relationships with head teachers, teachers and children", "leading SU groups, doing assemblies, being on the school board, doing some RE classes and giving advice to teachers on religious observance." The outreach worker "spends about one day a week in each of the two local primary schools", including a non-denominational school.

Mr McBay added:

"This relates to non-denominational primary schools in Inverness and demonstrates how Christian organisations have been able to penetrate the school governance system for their own advantage. It begs several questions."

In the consultation response the Society questioned whether such individuals were PVG checked, what qualifications these workers needed, and what qualifies such an individual to advise Highland Council teachers on RO, take RE classes, run assemblies or give advice to teachers on religious observance.

The Society asked how the delivery and content of this worker's lessons on RME and sessions of religious observance were assessed and monitored by Highland Council.

Mr McBay said this and other governance failures at both Catholic and non-denominational (in many cases effectively 'Protestant') schools highlighted in the NSS submission suggested a serious failure in organisations which the Scottish Government considered already to be key strategic partners in education delivery – casting doubt on planned reforms.

Further devolution of power to headteachers could lead to many more such abuses, the Society said, where a headteacher's evangelism of a personal faith might cloud professional judgement as in the examples raised by the Society in its response to the consultation. Because of these lapses, education partnership structures had to be properly evaluated and inspected, the Society said.

Additionally, calls from religious organisations for separate inspections regimes should be resisted, or else the Scottish Government would jeopardise effective science teaching and sex and personal relationship education.

The NSS submission also called for an end to church-appointees to Local Authority Education Committees. At present, Scottish law requires Local Authority Education Committees to include Church nominees. Church appointees are immune from electoral scrutiny, do not have to declare their outside interests and hold the balance of power on 19 of Scotland's 32 Education Committees.

The NSS submission said:

"Affording a particular section of society an appointed privileged position within the decision-making process of local government, based solely on their personal religious beliefs, is profoundly and inherently undemocratic, unfair and discriminatory."

The Society also urged the Government to remember that "successful outcomes are in no way dependent on the existence and promotion of any particular 'religious ethos' since there are many high performing schools who manage to achieve successful outcomes and a community spirit without such."

The submission also called for a move away from denomination schooling, urging the Scottish Government to do everything it can to ensure that children of all faiths and none are educated together in inclusive schools.

"Government policy should seek to break down barriers, not erect them", said the NSS.

A faith ethos is no magic solution for improving schools

Opinion | Sat, 7th Jan 2017

There are success stories and failures in schools of all types, including faith schools, despite what the churches would have people believe. NSS vice president Alistair McBay debunks the myth that 'faith school' is a byword for success.

2016 was another interesting year in the faith school industry. The aftermath of the Trojan Horse school episode in Birmingham rumbled on, while the scandal of unregistered illegal Jewish schools in Hackney and elsewhere hit the headlines (again). Our new Prime Minister made news with her intention to relax faith school admission rules, to great rejoicing by those who advocate exclusion as the new inclusion.

At the end of the year tripping over into 2017, it was the turn of Christian fundamentalists to be caught in the Ofsted headlights, with the Accelerated Christian Education schools being downgraded. Aside from current concerns over the curriculum being taught in ACE schools, there are historic allegations to be investigated concerning corporal punishment, exorcisms being performed on children and girls being "groomed" for marriage to much older men, although predictably Christian Concern has wasted no time in playing the now depressingly familiar 'persecuted victim' card in an attempted defence of what is clearly indefensible.

I read these stories of children at risk through poor to non-existent governance and leadership, and/or poor quality teaching and was reminded of an experiment I conducted three years ago, when the manipulative PR exercise lauding the success of faith schools of the 'mainstream' variety appeared to be in full swing. One evening I spent ten minutes on Google searching for Catholic and Church of England schools in special measures and Google instantaneously produced a slew of results for schools of both kinds. I was surprised there were so many results for faith schools, given the very public claims of how wonderful they are. Please note that my search was done some two years after religious leaders had been lauding the then Coalition government for 'understanding' the faith school sector much better than the previous Labour administration, and for showing 'heartfelt sympathy' for religious educators. Yet when I examined the Google results and the Ofsted source reports, I saw plenty of examples of poor management and leadership, poor governance, low literacy and numeracy achievement, homophobic bullying, racism, casual ethnic and 'cultural' segregation, with disabled or special needs children left behind all regularly featured, and of course many, many more children are at risk than in the more fundamentalist faith-based establishments. Maybe some of the Government's understanding and sympathy was misplaced.

So if a religious ethos is promoted so forcefully and regularly as the reason for faith schools being successful, backed up by the Government, why are so many of them failing in these important ways? Can we blame the religious ethos for failure in the same way the religious tout it as the reason for success? The litany of problems listed above are not exclusive to fundamentalist schools in our midst by any means, but they go to show that a faith ethos is no solution on its own.

Here are just the top Google search results (there were many more, from all over England and Wales).

1) In October 2013, Ofsted inspectors reported on St Joseph's Catholic Primary in Birmingham rating it as 'inadequate' as to its leadership, the quality of teaching and the behaviour and safety of children. One parent told the local newspaper, "As a middle class, affluently placed school, we expect better," as revealing a comment as ever was. Many parents were so concerned that they offered their services as teaching assistants free of charge.

2) "Despite very recent improvements, leaders, managers and governors have not addressed the shortcomings identified in the previous inspection and have not significantly slowed the decline in the school's performance." This was the Ofsted verdict in January 2013 on St Edmund's Catholic School, Dover.

3) In January 2013, Ofsted reported on St Francis Catholic Primary in Stratford: "The school's leaders and managers do not check on the progress made by pupils rigorously. They do not have effective systems for managing the performance of teachers to ensure good quality teaching for all pupils and are not effective in promoting and securing improvements quickly enough. They do not have the capacity to improve without external support. The governing body has not met its responsibility to ensure that school leaders provide an acceptable standard of education for all groups of pupils."

4) In April 2014 a local newspaper reported that a Sheerness school was making "reasonable" progress towards exiting special measures. St Edward's Catholic Primary, in New Road, was rated as inadequate by Ofsted in March 2013. It was deemed to have serious weaknesses in the achievement of its 210 pupils, the quality of teaching and leadership and management. The Inspectors noted: "Although the quality of teaching is improving, there is not enough permanent, good teaching to make sure that pupils learn consistently well."

5) "A renewed drive to raise standards is being pursued by St Anne's Catholic Primary School following a disappointing Ofsted report published last week which places the school in special measures." This was a school in Reading in February 2014. The list of leadership and teaching failures in this school reported by the local newspaper is quite astounding. It was even reported that Inspectors found some pupils were 'regressing', but on the plus side opportunities for 'spiritual development' were being promoted well.

6) The Ofsted inspection at Our Lady and St John Catholic College in Blackburn found evidence of an increase in racist incidents, as well as a 'high number of incidents, including bullying'' and homophobic language. The North Road school, housed in a new £10 million Building Schools for the Future campus, was found to be 'inadequate' on every count, with behaviour cited as a particular concern. Pupils said they felt the school's leaders did not do enough to promote cohesion and harmony, and the Inspectors' report found "relatively little evidence of students from different cultures and heritages mixing together".

7) In March 2014 it was reported that a primary school in Mole Valley was being put into special measures following a damning Ofsted report. The Weald Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Beare Green was labelled 'inadequate' and the school ordered to improve before another Ofsted inspection later that year. Three years before it had been rated it as 'good' and then Ofsted had noted: "The Christian ethos, which threads through all aspects of the school's work, is a strength and underpins the respectful and caring relationships between pupils and staff." Asked about its subsequent slide into special measures in spite of this all-pervasive Christian thread, the Reverend Barbara Steadman-Allen, one of the governors, helpfully told the Surrey Advertiser: "Individual comment from any governor would seem to serve little helpful community purpose."

8) In May 2014, teaching and leadership at Ian Ramsey Church of England School in Stockton was branded "inadequate" by Ofsted. The inspectors' report said teaching was "inadequate", with teachers' expectations too low, "particularly of the most able students". It also noted that "the progress of some students is hampered because behaviour is not consistently good in lessons. Students do not always display positive attitudes to learning." It also concluded that "Leaders and managers, including governors, have an over-optimistic view of how well the school is doing. They are not effective enough in checking on, or challenging, teachers."

9) Also in May 2014, a primary school in Willesden was put into special measures following an Ofsted report branding the quality of education as "inadequate" (clearly a favourite word in the Ofsted lexicon). The standard of education in St Andrew and St Francis CofE Primary School, which was previously deemed good, had "plummeted to a new low". The inspectors accused the headteacher and governors of not having a realistic picture of the school and not enforcing an adequate standard of education. They also criticised the attainment of pupils, claiming few made good progress in reading and mathematics, with specific mention to a "weak" progress in writing, particularly for boys.

10) "Pupils' achievement is inadequate because too many do not make the progress of which they are capable, especially in writing. There are gaps in achievement between different groups of pupils. For example, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are not given the specific extra help they need to make better progress." So said Ofsted about St James Church of England School , a voluntary controlled junior school in Upton Street, Tredworth. It was criticised for not stretching pupils enough and not giving students enough time to do their work.

11) "Inspectors visited Holy Trinity Church of England Primary in Middleton Road, Oswestry, in January for their third monitoring visit since the school was placed in special measures in February 2013. In her report, chief inspector Linda McGill, said: "Having considered all the evidence, I am of the opinion that at this time the school is not making enough progress towards the removal of special measures." However, the Inspectors also noted that "It is clear that the climate in school has changed for the better".

Since then, some of these schools have been rescued by the academy programme, while others made the progress needed to improve and escape the special measures opprobrium. I'll be checking on them all again later this year to see what the current situation is – after all, academisation is no guarantee against failure, and good performance really shouldn't be the subject of ebb and flow in any school.

The conclusions we can draw are clear enough. Most obvious is that a religious ethos in no way guarantees delivery of a successful learning and teaching environment for the community served by a faith school, contrary to what the Church of England and the Catholic Church would have you believe in their regular proclamations of faith school success stories. In schools with or without a religious ethos, failures will occur but as any parent will readily testify, the quality of teaching and school leadership are the most important in-school factors in a child's outcomes. In all these above examples, these were found to be just as lacking in faith schools as in any other kind of school, and in spite of the scale of administrative control and support given through the Anglican and Catholic diocese education frameworks.

Britain has no national religious identity, say 18 to 24s

News | Thu, 12th Jan 2017

A ComRes poll has found that a plurality of 18 to 24 year olds believe Britain is a country "without a specific religious identity."

Just 31% of the youngest cohort believed Britain to be a Christian country, and 41% told pollsters it did not have a national religion.

On the other end of the scale, ComRes found that 74% of over 65s thought Britain was still a Christian country, though 20% of this group said it did not have any religious identity.

In each successively younger cohort the percentage of those answering "Britain is a Christian country" fell and the number saying Britain was a country without a "specific religious identity" rose.

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "Britain today is one of the most religiously diverse and non-religious countries on earth. The national church is in seemingly terminal decline and it seems clear that rather than aspiring to be 'Christian country', we should be setting our sights on becoming an inclusive secular state in which people of all faiths and none can live together on an equal footing."

Half of the poll's respondents aged between 18 and 24 said they had no religion. Out of 238 respondents in this age bracket just 67 said they were Christian, compared with 121 "nones".

Mr Evans added: "When they are handing religious groups more control over the state education system the Government should bear in mind that both parents and pupils are among the least religious cohorts in our society."

The National Secular Society recently published a major report calling for reforms to education, the law and the state to reflect Britain's increasingly religiously disinterested society.

The full poll can be seen here.

NSS Speaks Out

Vice president Alistair McBay was quoted in the Herald discussing our concerns about creationism and inappropriate religious influence in Scottish schools. Our campaigns director Stephen Evans spoke on BBC Three Counties about reforming religious education. Executive director Keith Porteous Wood also spoke to Three Counties, about the fundamentalist 'ACE' schools, and he spoke to BBC Wiltshire.