This is the first in a series of anonymised case studies from parents, teachers and others who have approached the British Humanist Association (BHA) to help deal with how the education of their children has been unfairly disrupted, or even damaged, by religion in the state school system. The BHA’s Faith Schools and Education Campaigner, Richy Thompson, is frequently inundated with enquiries about everything from admissions to religious instruction, and some of these will be examined over the coming weeks.
Over 1 in 3 state-funded schools in England are ’faith’ schools, with ties to religious bodies. This poses a large problem for parents who do not want their children to undergo a religious upbringing, as it is often the case that most, or potentially all, of the local schools are ‘faith’ schools. Here is an example of one parent who suffered from the restriction of choice the prevalence of ‘faith’ schools can pose.
A mother was trying to find a place for her four year-old son to go to school. With one exception, all of the schools which were near enough to travel to each day were religious in character. As a humanist, the parent was understandably deeply uncomfortable with the idea of sending her child to a school which promotes a doctrine which she finds alien and undesirable. Therefore the only option which she had was to apply to the nearby community school which, being the only non-religious school in the area was extremely oversubscribed.
The local authority contacted the mother about the application as there was a chance that her son would not be successful in her only choice. Despite the legal requirement for community schools not to show preference to children of any belief, including for the non-religious, the mother felt the need to mention her humanism on her application form as a reason why the community school was her only option to try and convince the local authority to accept her son. The local authority responded by asking for proof of her beliefs, something which is a very difficult request for most non-believers to comply with, and at any rate illegal. Out of fear of her son not getting into the community school, the mother presented proof of membership of the British Humanist Association, and documents showing she had had a humanist marriage.
BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘This case is unusual, but exemplifies the outrageous challenges non-religious parents face when their local schools leave them without any options for their child’s education.
‘The British Humanist Association is campaigning to make all schools in the country inclusive to all religions and non-religious beliefs, so that situations such as these do not occur, where parents have to struggle and bend rules to find an appropriate environment in which their children can be educated.’
Have you or your child faced discrimination in the state schools system? If so, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at the details below.
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For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7462 4993.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.