Freedom of education is the right for parents to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and other views, allowing groups to be able to educate children without being impeded by the nation state.

Freedom of education is a constitutional (legal) concept that has been included in the European Convention on Human Rights, Protocol 1, Article 2, ("A2P1"), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Article 13 and several national constitutions, e.g. the Belgian constitution (former article 17, now article 24) and the Dutch constitution (article 23). The Catholic Church stated at the Second Vatican Council in 1965 that "Parents, who have the primary and inalienable right and duty to educate their children, must enjoy true liberty in their choice of schools."

The European Forum for Freedom in Education ("effe") was formed in 1989 and has 69 members across 13 countries. Their official demands include a need for autonomy to students and teachers. It also establishes the importance of diversity in education, to allow parents the choice of sending their child to a school that aligns with their views.

In the Netherlands, a political battle raged throughout the nineteenth century over the issue of the state monopoly on free education. It was opposed under the banner of "freedom of education" and the separation of church and state. The Dutch called it the "school struggle". The Dutch solution was the separation of school and state by funding all schools equally, both public and private, from 1917. The freedom of education resulted in the establishment of many new school types in the total spectrum of education in the Netherlands. New methods of education were introduced inspired by ideals on education (like those of Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, Jenaplan). Schools were also funded based on religion. After the influx of workers from Islamic countries, Islamic schools were introduced. In 2003, in total 35 Islamic schools were in operation. However, a study in 2015 showed that the introduction of new schools for secondary education appeared difficult. Local communities, including existing local schools, resisted the introduction of new schools, for instance by delaying the procedure to find a location for a new school.

Presently, freedom to teach religion in schools is a protected right, both for individuals or groups to teach, and for an individual to learn. While this plainly means children, it can also be interpreted to apply to parents' rights to have their valued beliefs or principles taught to the child.

There have been issues around limiting the abilities of religious schools within the Netherlands. This includes serious threats to orthodox Jewish and Islamic schools' ability to enjoy this freedom. Following a general change in attitudes within the Netherlands there has been controversy surrounding balancing the freedom of education with the other rights of non-discrimination that might be seen, particularly towards women in many conservative Islamic schools.

Most religious schools in the Netherlands have also since stopped acting within their own subset of institutions, thus lessening their power within the education system. Combined with the growth in diversity, and an overriding importance of non-discrimination, the ability for religious groups with conservative views in the Netherlands to educate their children in the manner that they were has been tarnished.

On 23 November 1977, the Constitutional Council ruled freedom of education was among the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, basing on the 1882 Ferry Act.