US/UK/Canada

Share

About Us

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.

Pick a time period -
Tags ( Active)

Groundbreaking new research reveals ‘faith’ schools exclude poorest pupils

New, highly significant research  carried out by the Guardian and published today for the first time has revealed the huge extent to which English ‘faith’ schools exclude pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM). The British Humanist Association (BHA) has urged the government to end faith-based selection in state schools.It has long been known that ‘faith’ schools take fewer pupils eligible for FSM than average, but always been retorted that this is because ‘faith’ schools are typically in more

New rules on setting up schools in England come into force

New rules on setting up English schools introduced by the Education Act 2011 have come into force today. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has called the changes a ‘regressive step in further entrenching favouritism enjoyed by “faith” school proposals in the school creation process’.Where a local authority recognises a need for a new school, the changes strongly give preference to all new schools being Free Schools, whilst only allowing new local authority-run foundation and community schools to be proposed once all other options have been exhausted. However, they also make it even

Largest proposed Free School attempts to increase religious discrimination by circumventing faith-based admissions and employment laws

Becket Keys Church of England School in Brentwood, Essex, the largest Free School to have been pre-approved to open by the Department for Education, has been accused today of attempting to circumvent the 50% faith-based admissions requirement imposed by the Department for Education (DfE), and also of breaking the rules on religious requirements in employing teachers. The accusations come in correspondence from the British Humanist Association (BHA) to the DfE asking the DfE to pay closer attention to the behaviour of the school, which is due to open in September.If oversubscribed, Becket

Education Act 2011 receives royal assent

The Education Act 2011 received Royal Assent yesterday, having completed its passage through Parliament last week. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has repeatedly expressed concern that changes to the rules about how new schools are set up will result in further expansion of the proportion of ‘faith’ schools in the state sector. Unfortunately, despite much hard work by humanist Peers, the new law is likely to contribute to further entrenchment of religious discrimination in the school system.In November last year, the Government published its Education White Paper 

'Faith' school admissions debated in the House of Lords

‘Faith’ school admissions criteria were debated in the House of Lords yesterday, as the Government rejected an amendment that sought to curb expanding discrimination in Academies.  The British Humanist Association (BHA) worked with All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group  (APPHG) Secretary Baroness Massey of Darwen to table an amendment  to stop Voluntary Controlled (VC) ‘faith’ schools that convert to Academies from being able to easily increase the priority of religious criteria in their admissions policies,

More divisive ‘faith’ schools on the way as Government rejects Education Bill amendments

The third day of the Education Bill’s Report Stage took place yesterday, with peers debating the continued proliferation of state-funded ‘faith’ schools, in particular changes in the Bill to make Voluntary Aided schools – the most extreme type of state-maintained school – easier to set up. The British Humanist Association (BHA) briefed peers  ahead of the debate, having worked with All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group  (APPHG) Secretary Baroness Massey of Darwen to table amendments to the Bill to reverse this

BHA: Education Bill will further religious segregation through school admissions

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has briefed peers  ahead of the second day of the Report Stage of the Education Bill in the House of Lords. The BHA has worked with All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group  (APPHG) Secretary Baroness Massey of Darwen to table two amendments to the Bill specifically targeting the proliferation of Voluntary Aided (VA) ‘faith’ schools, and the fact that Voluntary Controlled (VC) ‘faith’ schools that convert to Academies are

There are no items matching the current filter
There are no more items matching the current filter
Back to top

Media