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 welcomes greater powers for Ofsted to tackle illegal schools
Posted: Tue, 10 May 2022 11:16
The National Secular Society has welcomed a bill granting new powers to inspectors to tackle illegal schools.
The Schools Bill, announced in the Queen's Speech today, will give education watchdog Ofsted greater powers to crack down on unregistered schools that are operating illegally. This includes strengthening the definition of what constitutes an illegal school.
Other measures in the bill include establishing a compulsory register for children not in school and a requirement for schools to publish an attendance policy.
These measures will help protect children from being illegally educated in settings that are not monitored to ensure children's education and welfare needs are being met.
Two other bills supported by the NSS, the Assisted Dying Bill and Education (Assemblies) Bill that would end compulsory religious worship in schools, have now fallen.
NSS campaigning against illegal faith schools
The NSS has long worked to raise awareness of religious groups' use of illegal schools and campaigns to end them.
Some religious groups operate unregistered schools in order to prioritise religious inculcation while avoiding scrutiny under the independent school standards.
In 2020 the NSS responded to a Department for Education consultation in support of proposals to change how independent educational settings are regulated. The analysis of the consultation responses showed broad support for the proposed reforms.
NSS campaigns officer Ella Sen said: "The government has made a significant step in the right direction to ensure all children's rights to decent education in safe settings are upheld.
"Too many children in insular religious communities are effectively 'missing' from education because they attend unregistered settings that offer nothing but a narrow, religion-based curriculum. Greater powers to crack down on such settings, combined with a register for home educated children, will help to bring an end to these illegal schools."
NSS welcomes proposed Ofsted powers to tackle illegal faith schools
Posted: Tue, 12 Apr 2022 15:14
The National Secular Society has welcomed plans to give school inspectors more powers to tackle unregistered illegal 'schools'.
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has said he will legislate to give Ofsted inspectors powers to enter settings suspected of being illegal schools without permission. Inspectors will also be able to seize material to help build stronger cases against illegal schools.
It is illegal for educational establishments that fit the definition of a 'school' to operate without registering with the Department for Education.
Some religious groups operate unregistered schools in order to prioritise religious inculcation over children's education and welfare needs while avoiding scrutiny under the independent school standards.
Ofsted's chief inspector Amanda Spielman said the reforms were necessary as the number of children attending unregistered schools may have risen to "tens of thousands". She said illegal schools leave children "very segregated" from society and fail to equip them with necessary skills for life in Britain.
Illegal faith schools
A quarter of suspected unregistered schools inspected by Ofsted were faith schools, although information on faith affiliation is unavailable and hard to obtain for many due to the nature of unregistered settings. Just over half were Islamic, a quarter Jewish and a quarter Christian.
At some unregistered schools, children have been exposed to extremist materials, including books and leaflets by authors banned from entering the UK for their extremist views. One illegal school was run by members of a proscribed group.
Spielman said many staff members at illegal schools included people "without experience or qualifications" and people "with criminal records".
Additionally, many unregistered schools operate in unsafe and unsuitable premises.
Ofsted: 'Our hands are tied behind our back'
Over 100 unregistered faith 'schools' were investigated in England between January 2016 and August 2019, although there was only one successful prosecution in that time. The most recent prosecution was in January this year.
Spielman said Ofsted is "operating with our hands tied behind our back" because the inspectorate lacks the necessary powers to build cases against illegal schools.
Ofsted inspectors are currently limited to taking photographs of materials they find. They cannot pick anything up, remove items or search inside cupboards. They are also reliant on the "goodwill" of police forces to enable them to enter premises.
The number of electively home educated children rose by 34% in the last academic year to 115,000. Spielman said there are concerns "quite a few" are in illegal schools.
Ofsted also wants the government to enable lifetime bans from managing schools for people guilty of running an illegal school.
The new powers are expected to be incorporated into a schools bill, which ministers hope will be included in the Queen's Speech on May 10.
The DfE is also considering a new legal definition of a 'school', as there are concerns many illegal schools use loopholes or adapt their practices to avoid being shut down.
Zahawi is also set to introduce a new register for home educated children, which is supported by the NSS.
NSS response
The NSS has played a critical role in exposing the growing problem of unregistered faith schools. It 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 head of education Alastair Lichten called the plans "promising", and has written to the minister for further details.
He said: "Settings illegally operating as unregistered schools – either due to mismanagement, or an ideological motivation to avoid oversight – are a significant danger to children's rights to education and safety. Ofsted and local authorities must have the necessary and proportionate powers to tackle these institutions.
"Plans to close legal loopholes enabling some unregistered schools to stay open must be carried through. Unregistered faith schools are often strongly motivated to use every trick in the book to avoid registration and scrutiny."
Image by Cole Stivers from Pixabay.
