In response to a call for evidence from the Children’s Rights Alliance of England, the British Humanist Association (BHA) has expressed a number of concerns regarding the position of children’s rights in England. Highlighting developments over the last year specifically, the BHA’s response identifies the narrowing of the religious education (RE) curriculum, inadequate sex and relationships education (SRE), the place of religious selection in school admissions, and the lack of action to tackle illegal religious schools as areas of particular concern in 2016.
The BHA has consistently drawn attention to the plight of children trapped in unregistered religious schools over the last 12 months, and the submission welcomes the recent work of Ofsted in tackling the problem, particularly in reference to Muslim settings. However, the BHA questions once again the lack of action that has been taken with the strictly Orthodox Charedi Jewish communities, stating that: ‘Evidence has been published over the course of this year revealing that Ofsted, the Department for Education, and relevant local authorities have known about the existence of these schools, as well as the appalling level of education provided within them, for some time. Nonetheless, meaningful action has not been taken, and a great many of the unregistered schools known to the Government continue to operate’.
Turning to the education provided in registered schools, in February of this year the Government decided not to make personal, social, health, and economic education (PSHE), including SRE, compulsory in English schools, a decision which the BHA describes as ‘a significant setback’ in the effort to ensure that all children have the information they need to be ‘safe, healthy, and responsible’. In a similar vein, the Government’s response to last year’s High Court ruling on RE is also criticised in the response, which claims that ‘the Department for Education has continued to deny that [the judgment] has any impact at all’, despite clearly ruling that religious and non-religious worldviews must be placed on an equal footing in RE syllabuses.
Finally the submission warns against reforms to the school admissions system which could see both an increase in the number of school places subject to religious discrimination and a loss of transparency in how religiously selective schools manage their admissions processes.
BHA Education Campaigner Jay Harman commented ‘Our education system is already one in which the rights of children are continually threatened by the quite astonishing level of deference shown to religion and to religious privilege, and many of the developments over the last year suggest that things may only be getting worse. Clearly our campaigning in this area is as important as ever, and we will continue to promote an open, inclusive, and secular education system.’
Notes
For further comment of information please contact the BHA’s Education Campaigner Jay Harman on jay@humanists.uk or 020 7324 3078.
Read the BHA’s response: https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016-07-18-FINAL-BHA-response-to-CRAE-call-for-evidence-on-State-of-Childrens-Rights-2016.pdf
Read the BHA’s previous news item: ‘UN Children’s Rights Committee calls for end to compulsory worship in UK schools’: https://humanists.uk/2016/06/09/un-childrens-rights-committee-calls-for-end-to-compulsory-worship-in-uk-schools/
Read the BHA’s news item ‘BHA demands protection of children’s right in response to consultation on the purpose and quality of education in England’: https://humanists.uk/2016/02/05/bha-demands-protection-of-childrens-rights-in-response-to-consultation-on-the-purpose-and-quality-of-education-in-england/
Read the BHA’s news item ‘Coalition of charities in England calls for statutory SRE in schools, reduction in religious selection and the inclusion of non-religious worldviews in RE’: https://humanists.uk/2015/07/01/coalition-of-charities-in-england-calls-for-statutory-sre-in-schools-reduction-in-religious-selection-and-the-inclusion-of-non-religious-worldviews-in-re/
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on:
- ‘Faith’ schools: http://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/faith-schools/
- PSHE and Sex and Relationships Education: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/school-curriculum/pshe-and-sex-and-relationships-education/
- Religious Education: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/schools-and-education/school-curriculum/religious-education/