"Faith schools"

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Around a third of all state-funded schools are schools 'with a religious character' – the legal term for faith schools. This number has grown in recent years as successive governments have increased the influence of religious groups in the state-funded education system.

As of January 2011 there are:

• 631 secondary schools with a religious character (19 per cent of all secondary schools) educating 587,170 pupils (18 per cent of all secondary pupils)
• 6,203 primary schools with a religious character (37 per cent of all primary schools) educating 1,217,025 primary pupils (29 per cent of all primary pupils)

The Department for Education has published a full list of the number and religious character of all faith schools in England. It also has a useful summary of the various types of faith school.

The BHA has produced a table describing the types of faith school and explaining their privileges and exemptions.

In November 2010, the names of the first 25 'free school' proposals approved to progress to the business case and plan stage were published. Of these, eight have a religious dimension, although they have not necessarily been proposed directly by religious groups.

In September 2009 the Accord Coalition released a dossier, which brings together high quality research and summarises a wide variety of evidence. This major resource has been put together to help researchers, journalists, campaigners and members of the public to find out about the consequences of current policy on faith schools.

What are the problems with faith schools?

Admissions policies

Many faith schools are their own admissions authorities, which means they can give preference to children from families which share the religion of the school. Not only does this discriminate against pupils of the 'wrong' or no religion and infringe their rights by assuming their beliefs are identical to their parents’, it also leads to segregation along religious and socio-economic lines - faith school populations are often far from representative of their local communities.

Employment policies

Most secondary faith schools are also allowed to discriminate in their recruitment and employment policies. Applicants can be rejected and staff barred from promotion if they are not of the ‘right’ religion, or of no religion. In some schools staff can even be dismissed if their behavior outside school is deemed 'incompatible' with the school’s religion.

The BHA opposes these practices primarily because they are an indefensible infringement of freedom of belief and expression. However, there is also a very practical reason for objecting to such discrimination – in 2009, 37 per cent of Church of England schools and 49 per cent of Catholic schools had to re-advertise at least once because they were unable to appoint senior posts the first time round.

RE

Most secondary faith schools are permitted to teach their own syllabus of Religious Education (RE), unlike community schools which must follow a locally agreed syllabus. The teaching of RE in these schools is not subject to Ofsted inspection and is often confessional in nature, with the aim of instructing children in the doctrine and practices of a particular religion.

RE in such schools rarely covers other religions in any detail and almost certainly will not include non-religious views. Ethical issues such as abortion or assisted dying are often approached from an explicitly religious perspective, with all the potential for misinformation that this entails.

While there are many problems with locally agreed RE syllabuses, they do at least cover a range of religions and many now include the study of non-religious beliefs such as Humanism.

PSHE

Because personal social health and economic education (PSHE) is not a statutory subject, faith schools are free to teach it from a religious perspective. The BHA is particularly concerned that the sex and relationships components – if they are covered at all - may be taught in ways that are homophobic, gender discriminatory or that otherwise violate principles of human rights.

What do we want?

An end to the proliferation of maintained faith schools; discrimination in admissions and employment in faith schools outlawed; a comprehensive curriculum across all subjects, including beliefs and values education, sex and relationships education, and citizenship education to be taught objectively in all schools.

Ultimately, all faith schools should be absorbed back into the notionally secular schools sector, becoming inclusive community schools. We campaign against ‘faith schools’, and for an inclusive, secular schools system, where children and young people of all different backgrounds and beliefs can learn from and with each other. 

What are we doing?

The BHA has consistently campaigned against faith schools on the grounds that they are unnecessary, discriminatory and divisive. See Faith schools – why not? for a summary of the main arguments against these schools and some challenges to the usual assumptions about them. We want all schools to include and educate pupils of all beliefs together, so that they can learn about and from each other. Because we doubt that some faith schools can contribute to social cohesion or fully recognise the rights of all their pupils, we strongly oppose Government plans to expand their number and variety. Instead, we propose that faith schools be absorbed into a reformed community school system in which faith groups are offered facilities for voluntary worship and other ‘accommodations’ in line with developing anti-discrimination law. We recognise the right of others to practise their own beliefs, but not to have their own schools at public expense. For these reasons, we do not currently campaign for humanist schools – see Why aren’t there any humanist schools? 

In 2006, we revised our policy paper A Better Way Forward (we will soon revise it again to reflect further changes in education) and in 2008 we hired a campaigner to work specifically on our faith schools campaign – we are now fundraising to continue that post for another year.

Over the years, we have made many contributions to the debates around faith schools, and have responded to many Government consultations on and around the subject. These include: a BHA analysis of the Church Schools Review Group Consultation Report in December 2000; our policy paper A Better Way Forward argued that faith-based schools are unnecessary and proposed the inclusive accommodating community school as a viable alternative; the Humanist Philosophers’ Group’s Religious schools: the case against, a pamphlet giving the philosophical arguments, particularly on the autonomy of the child.

The BHA has focused on school (re-)organisation and local consultations in its responses to various Government and national consultations on schools. In our responses we usually focus on concerns about: proposals that appear intended to facilitate new faith schools and academies and to weaken local democracy and accountability; the problems associated with autonomous schools having their own admissions policies; and the risks involved in giving away publicly owned assets. You can see many of these in our articles and submissions on "Religion and Schools".

We continue to participate very actively in the national debate on faith schools, and are frequently invited to comment on the issue by the media and our briefings and policy papers have been widely disseminated – to policy-makers, to ministers, MPs, peers and civil servants, to education journals and the media, and at education conferences and seminars.

Early in 2006, as well as updating A Better Way Forward, we briefed MPs several times in the run-up to the Education Bill.

Much of the campaigning activity is now, of necessity, local, and the BHA has supported and initiated a number of successful local campaigns against new faith schools.

In September 2008 we became a founding member of Accord  – a new campaigning coalition for reform of faith schools,  bringing together religious and non-religious supporters of change as well as teachers unions and high profile supporters.

 

What can you do?

You can email your MP raising your concerns about the Education Bill and asking them to pass on your comments to the Secretary of State for Education.

With BHA support, campaigning against new faith schools also continues locally, where decisions are made. Refer to Add your voice to our campaigns, as well as many of the documents above and our articles and submissions, to back up your campaigning.

You can find local statistics that might help local campaigns at: http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination.

If you hear of any possible school changes proposed in your area, email us.

You can support the BHA by becoming a member.  That helps in itself, and you can help even more by supporting our campaigns  in the ways suggested above.  But campaigns also cost money – quite a lot of money – and we also need financial support.  You can make a donation to the BHA.