Accord is a wide coalition of organisations, including religious groups, humanists, trade unions and human rights campaigners. We share a common view on many issues to do with state-funded schools and believe that the current legislation on faith schools in particular is counter-productive.
We campaign to make admissions and recruitment policies in all state-funded schools free from discrimination on grounds of religion or belief.
We want schools to follow an objective, fair and balanced syllabus for education about religious and non-religious beliefs.
We want accountability under a single inspection regime for Religious Education, Personal, Social & Health (PSHE) education and Citizenship.
We believe all schools should provide their pupils with inclusive, inspiring and stimulating assemblies in place of compulsory acts of worship.
The Accord Coalition for has welcomed as important and proportionate the continuation of an injunction preventing anti-LGBT protests outside of Anderton Park School in Birmingham.
The Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust has conceded the demands of two parents who legally challenged the extent of Christian activities and the poor alternative provision to daily Christian worship at their child’s non-faith community school, which the Trust runs.
A Freedom of Information response to Accord has revealed a big drop over the last decade in the financial contribution that discriminatory faith schools make towards their own running costs, posing fresh questions about the schools operating in religiously exclusive ways.
A new report released today and commissioned by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has found the state funded faith school sector is welcoming a socially advantaged intake which is artificially inflating its academic results.