David Hart, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, acted after delegates at the union's conference in Eastbourne voted against retaining religious assemblies

A motion calling for the scrapping of the widely flouted requirement was passed by a large majority.

Supporters of abolition said schools had great difficulty finding the time and space for assemblies, as well as the teachers with sufficient religious conviction to lead them.

Many headteachers favoured their replacement with lessons teaching values and citizenship.

Andrew Baker: "The focus is too narrow"

One delegate in Eastbourne, Andrew Baker of Kingmoore School, Cumbria, said: "At the moment there are many initiatives concerned with values, concerned with morality, concerned with spirituality in its broadest sense, and citizenship.

"We think that within a school assembly we can discuss things and be more open, more honest, more relevant to the community which we serve if we didn't have the restriction of having to focus in on prayers."

But the Church of England is opposed to a change in the law.

Entitlement

Canon John Hall, general secretary of the Church of England's Board of Education, said daily collective worship in school was part of every pupil's entitlement.

"It is claimed by some teachers that the law is inflexible and that the daily act of collective worship is impossible to deliver, that there is insufficient help for them," he said.

"But there are excellent support materials for primary and secondary schools. Moreover, there are many Christian and committed teachers and others who would be willing and able to deliver collective worship, and who do so where the school allows it."

Canon John Hall tells Radio 4's Today programme: "The vast majority do express a belief in God"

Virtually all primary schools obeyed the law, even though most secondary schools did not, Canon Hall said.

"It is of course true that there needs to be good and clear organisation and effective planning for the delivery of the daily act of worship.

"But it is possible, and it is desirable, we believe, that it should continue to be supported by the government and by all those who have an influence on the conduct of schools."

Farce

Liz Paver, a former president of the National Association of Head Teachers and a member of the church's General Synod, disagreed.

"I am saddened today that my beloved Church of England is actually standing out against the advice of all other faiths and all other teacher and head teachers associations," she said.

"We have hundreds of thousands of teachers. How many of those actually practice Christianity? Yet they're expected to come in to schools and lead the most important thing in religious life, an act of worship.

"It's a farce, an absolute farce. The secondary pupils in our schools are being turned off religion. They are not becoming worshippers because of what we are doing today.

"The Church of England should look at the teachings of Jesus, who said let us go out and teach. He didn't spend his ministry standing up like a Pharisee, and being seen to pray."

Under review

The report of a review panel, published earlier this year, suggested scrapping the daily ritual of hymns and prayers because they alienated some children from non-Christian faiths.

Members of the panel, drawn from local authorities, teaching unions and religious groups, said the practice could be doing more harm than good.