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
NSS supports plans to regulate unregistered schools
Posted: Wed, 13 May 2020 15:12
The National Secular Society has expressed support for plans to regulate settings providing full-time education to children and define what constitutes a school in England.
In a submission to a Department for Education consultation, the NSS said it "strongly" agreed that "any full-time setting providing education to children ought to be regulated".
The society also agreed that "what is 'full-time' and 'school' ought to be defined more clearly".
The DfE is proposing changes to the way independent educational settings are regulated, in an attempt to close loopholes which can allow those who run them to avoid registration.
The NSS has long worked to raise awareness of some religious groups' use of illegal schools and campaigned to protect the rights of children within them.
NSS response to other provisions
The DfE also plans to introduce a threshold for registration of 18 hours' education per week and to allow a faster legal process of deregistering failing independent schools in some circumstances.
In response the NSS said:
- The 18-hour threshold could be exploited. As a result a definition of an independent school may need to be "flexible and holistic", for example by taking into account the number of days a school opens across a normal school year.
- Enabling quicker deregistration would "help tackle the problem of schools going through repeated cycles of failure". The society highlighted concerns that some independent faith schools have repeatedly failed but continued to operate.
The DfE also proposes to link the need to register to children's attendance rather than the time spent on tuition, and only to require registration of education taking place during school hours.
The NSS also agreed in principle with these plans, but warned that flexibility was needed to account for the risk that bad actors could exploit loopholes.
NSS comment
NSS head of education Alastair Lichten said: "The fact that children are languishing in illegal schools in Britain is a scandal, and it's encouraging to see the government taking this issue increasingly seriously. Religious sensitivities mustn't be allowed to obstruct efforts to protect children's fundamental right to an education.
"The government's plans would enhance safeguarding and make it harder to indoctrinate children in unregistered schools. They are therefore largely welcome, although there are areas where they could be improved.
"These proportionate proposals would also provide clarity and reassurance for those institutions offering genuinely supplemental education."
Notes
- In 2018 two people were convicted of running an unregistered faith school for the first time. There have been a handful of subsequent convictions for running unregistered schools since.
- The DfE's consultation was suspended last week, shortly after the NSS submitted its response, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Ofsted investigated over 100 unregistered faith schools since 2016
Posted: Thu, 16 Jan 2020 16:05
Over 100 unregistered faith 'schools' were investigated in England between January 2016 and August 2019, inspectors have said, although there was only one successful prosecution in that time.
Religious instruction was the "core purpose" at 107 unregistered schools investigated between 1 January 2016 and 31 August 2019, according to figures published by Ofsted on Thursday.
The report also said Ofsted inspected other unregistered schools whose core purpose was to provide non-religious education but which nonetheless had a "faith ethos".
It is a criminal offence to operate an unregistered independent school in England because there is no formal external oversight of safeguarding, health and safety or the quality of education provided, which puts children at risk.
Unregistered faith schools often teach restricted faith-based curricula, denying young people a decent education. Physical abuse has also been uncovered at some unregistered schools.
But there was only one successful prosecution relating to unregistered schools in that time. This related to an Islamic school in west London.
There have subsequently been two more successful prosecutions. One of these concerned a school which was also Islamic in character.
In response to the data, National Secular Society spokesperson Megan Manson said:
"These figures are concerning. Religious organisations may operate unregistered schools precisely because they want to avoid oversight.
"This enables them to indoctrinate children into fundamentalist religious ideology at the expense of their education. Children in such settings may receive little or no education in the secular subjects they need to prepare them for adult life in UK society.
"In many cases, they may also endure squalid, dangerous surroundings and even physical abuse at the hands of their so-called 'teachers'.
"While it's positive news that there have been closures and prosecutions, the figures show that there's still much work to be done in rooting out and tackling illegal faith schools."
Recent NSS lobbying
The NSS has been a leading organisation lobbying education ministers over many years to tackle the growing problem of unregistered faith schools.
In 2018 the NSS met Theodore Agnew, the minister in charge of faith schools, to discuss efforts to tackle unregistered faith schools. In May 2019 it called for a home school register to protect child rights and tackle unregistered schools in response to a government consultation.
Notes on Ofsted's investigations
Ofsted handled a total of 641 referrals regarding unregistered schools between January 2012 and August 2019, and investigated 618 establishments between 2016 and 2019.
Inspections were carried out at 293 unregistered schools, including 72 identified as having a faith ethos. Thirty-nine of those schools were Islamic, 19 Jewish and 14 Christian.
Sixty-four unregistered schools investigated had health and safety concerns, and 83 had safeguarding concerns.
Following Ofsted investigations, 12 establishments were closed and 10 became registered. Sixty changed their service provisions in order to comply with legislation. Ofsted is currently investigating seven unregistered schools.
Successful unregistered school prosecutions
- Nacerdine Talbi and Beatrix Bernhardt were convicted of running Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre without registration in Ealing, west London in 2018. The centre had an Islamic ethos.
- In September 2019 Nadia Ali and Arshad Ali were convicted of running another school with an Islamic ethos.
- In October 2019 three people pleaded guilty to running an unregistered school for looked after children with highly complex physical and mental health needs.
Image by Juraj Varga from Pixabay.
