Six hard-hitting facts about faith schools

We’re not going to sugarcoat it. Faith schools in the UK are a problem. Schools should give every child every chance at a proper education, but their divisive and discriminatory nature is failing thousands of children. We recently launched our annual campaign against faith schools. We’re halfway to our fundraising target. And , the evidence is impossible to ignore. Here are six hard-hitting facts about faith schools.

1) Illegal faith schools STILL exist

There are at least 6,000 children in England trapped in illegal schools, enduring shocking conditions and a complete lack of safeguarding. Many of these so-called ‘schools’ are religious institutions claiming to offer ‘part-time’ education. In reality, they confine children to small rooms, forcing them to study scripture for hours on end each day. Some experience physical and sexual abuse. 

Our Education Campaigns Manager is working every day on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which includes provisions to shut these places down for good.

2) Creationism and dogma STILL find a way into state-funded schools

As we saw in Wales recently, creationism can easily creep into a school with no religious ethos at all! Bible quotes appeared on science posters and in student advice planners, which promoted passages about abuse and ‘doubting God’. The school in question was also prominently advertising Christian clubs and the evangelical Christian Alpha Course.

We have a long track record of exposing fundamentalist school resources — including this Catholic programme that taught children to believe that contraception is wrong, that same-sex couples must abstain from sex, and that men were ‘created to initiate sexual relationships’ while women were ‘created to receive’ them. Horrendous. 

3) Churches are spending millions on evangelism

The Church of England is running a programme to evangelise and convert non-religious children into Christians – through its state schools. The Church’s Annual Report revealed a plan to pump £7 million into pushing their religion on children in these schools, in order to ‘double the number’ of young disciples by 2030. The strategy is already taking effect, with recent evidence emerging of children being taken to ‘prayer parties’, with busloads of children driven to happy-clappy US-style parties to sing ‘Jesus died for me’.

4) Parents need to win ‘faith school points’ to gain admission

Some faith schools even award parents ‘faith school points’ in order to gain admission. These are granted by local churches and are based on how much parents engage in religious activities. These include attending services, joining parent-toddler groups, singing in choirs, participating in nativity plays, baptisms, and sometimes even – although it is against the law – donating to the Church. Parents shouldn’t need to jump through hoops just for their children to attend their local school.

5) Faith schools divide communities

In Northern Ireland, faith schools continue to exacerbate division between children from Catholic and Protestant families, actively working against integration, even where a majority of parents have demanded change. Anywhere with a high proportion of faith schools will divide children by religion, because they are legally allowed to cherry-pick children from families who share the ‘faith ethos’ of the school. This is also a huge problem in places like Liverpool and Bristol – just two examples of a widespread issue.

We campaign for community-based schools, where all children have equal access to their local school, so all children can learn with, and alongside, each other.

6) Faith schools prioritise children ‘of the faith’ over those in care

Religious schools frequently discriminate against the most vulnerable children in society. As we’ve seen recently in England and Wales, church schools routinely prioritise children ‘of the faith’ over those in care. In doing so, they are exploiting loopholes in the School Admissions Code and undermining the principle that all children, regardless of background or belief, deserve equal access to education. Faith schools are failing the very children so many of them were created to serve.