Leading a class in prayer can be tricky if you are an atheist. Tim*, 24, has found it one of the many challenges of being a non-believer working at a Roman Catholic school in west London.

He does not think his colleagues know that he is an atheist it did not come up at the interview and he is only in his first year of working as a science teacher.

“As a new member of staff, I have kept my feelings on religion to myself and I don’t discuss it with anyone in the school,” he says. “Teaching in a faith school has only strengthened my atheism.”

TES – Teaching jobs, resources & ideas from the Times Educational Supplement.

Though there’s been concern in Humanist/Secularist circles about discrimination against atheist teachers in faith schools, this article (published in July 2007) suggests that the Catholics can’t afford to discriminate, as there aren’t enough Catholic teachers to fill all their posts.

Tags: Schools, Teachers, Discrimination, Catholics