Lords back Humanists UK’s education campaigns in Children’s Bill debate

Members of the House of Lords have backed several of Humanists UK’s education campaigns, including legislative changes to extend the so-called 50% cap on faith school admissions to all new faith schools. Peers also spoke up strongly on the need to close illegal religious schools, repeal collective worship laws, and update the religious education (RE) curriculum to make sure children learn about humanism alongside the world religions.  

The interventions by peers give a taste of what future Lords amendments to the government’s flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill might entail. 

Collective worship

All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group Vice Chair Baroness Burt of Solihull argued for the end of mandatory daily collective worship in state-funded schools. She pointed out that children under 16 cannot withdraw themselves from this enforced religious activity without parental consent, a breach of their human rights under the Human Rights Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Baroness Burt further said:

‘Mandatory collective worship is by its very nature illiberal and divisive. It imposes religious activity in a blanket manner. Even in schools that do not have a religious character, it forces parents to choose between allowing their children to be part of school assemblies that are so valuable for the school community or ostracising them, leaving them in corridors and classrooms with little or nothing to do.’

Her sentiments were echoed in comments from Baroness Thornton.

Baroness Burt previously introduced two Private Members Bills to end the requirement for all state schools to carry out worship of a mainly Christian nature and instead enable schools to hold assemblies inclusive of all students. 

Religion and worldviews education

Baroness Burt also called for changes to the Bill to ensure ‘that religious education is inclusive of the beliefs and worldview of all our population, including the beliefs of non-religious people’. This would reflect case law such as Fox v Secretary of State for Education (2015) that say humanism should be treated with equal regard to the major religions in the RE curriculum. 

The Fox case suggests schools should teach about humanism to discharge their duties properly to pupils, but unlike in Wales, the previous Conservative government did not make changes to the statutory curriculum in England to make this explicit. In 2022, the Labour frontbench supported calls for reform. RE best practice on the ground has long been to teach about humanism, with the sector-wide Commission on RE report in 2018 calling for the UK Government to reform the subject so that it explicitly covered humanism alongside religions. 

In March, amendments to repeal collective worship and make humanism part of RE were introduced when the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill was debated by MPs in the House of Commons, but they were not discussed due to lack of time. 

Religious discrimination in admissions

Several peers also raised the issue of school admissions in light of the Schools Bill giving a green light to new faith schools that won’t have to abide by the so-called 50% cap on faith-admissions which applies to the new free schools. Previously, a Commons amendment tabled by the Liberal Democrats to extend the 50% faith selective admissions cap was voted down after government whips told Labour MPs to reject it at committee stage.

Lord Watson of Invergowrie, a former Labour Education Shadow Minister, said he looked forward to Committee Stage where retaining the 50% cap on new faith schools could be discussed. Baroness Thornton added: ‘New faith schools should be subject to the 50% cap on faith-based selective admissions that currently applies only to faith academies.’

Unregistered (illegal) religious schools

Lord Scriven welcomed the provisions in the Bill to tackle illegal faith schools, an issue Humanists UK has campaigned on for over a decade. He told Parliament that these settings ‘tend to indoctrinate children and young people with a narrow religious worldview. These limited perspectives undermine the ability of pupils to engage with communities outside.’

Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Kieran Aldred commented:

‘As the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill begins its passage through the House of Lords, we are glad to see Peers raising these important issues of inclusion in education and against religious discrimination. The Bill has welcome provisions for dealing with illegal faith schools, but it must go further. We will work with Lords to support amendments to end enforced religious worship in state schools without a religious character, to enshrine the teaching of humanism into the RE curriculum, and to make sure that no new 100% selective faith schools are ever opened in England.’