ABSTRACT
The English education system has always contained large numbers of schools with a religious ethos, providing an important space for negotiation between religion, education and the secular. The focus here is on the freedom of teachers in English schools and the ways in which this has been negotiated as part of a system of protection for religious freedom for schools more generally. The various voices in the negotiation of the current settlement, including religious organisations, schools, teachers, unions and teachers themselves, are considered. Although the focus is on English schools,1 the issues are of broader significance; they speak to other legal settlements with relation to religion and education, as well as raising issues of more general concern relating to the accommodation of religion in contemporary secular law. Thus, the particular concerns in the context of English schools serve as important illustration of more general concerns regarding the ongoing negotiation of religion in modern society.
