BHA: Education Bill will further religious segregation through school admissions
The British Humanist Association (BHA) has briefed peers ahead of the second day of the Report Stage of the Education Bill in the House of Lords. The BHA has worked with All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) Secretary Baroness Massey of Darwen to table two amendments to the Bill specifically targeting the proliferation of Voluntary Aided (VA) ‘faith’ schools, and the fact that Voluntary Controlled (VC) ‘faith’ schools that convert to Academies are able to easily increase the priority of religious criteria in their admissions policies.
Amendment to reverse changes making Voluntary Aided schools easier to set up
Bar Academies, Voluntary Aided ‘faith’ schools are the most extreme type of ‘faith’ school, being able to religiously discriminate fully in admissions and in employment, and teaching RE in accordance with the faith of the school. Currently, religious groups can propose to set up new VA schools outside of a competition, and have the local authority adjudicate the subsequent consultation on them – but only if the Secretary of State for Education first approves the proposals.
The Education Bill is set to remove the need for the Secretary of State to give consent. This change has been made in reaction to complaints by Jewish groups that Free Schools are limited to only being able to religiously discriminate in 50% of pupil intake, which they labelled as ‘political tokenism at the expense of a good education for our children’. The change would make VA schools the most attractive option to religious groups, because if the local authority is readily in favour of the proposals, then they will become the easiest type of school to set up. Baroness Massey’s amendment seeks to reverse this change.
Amendment to discourage Voluntary Controlled ‘faith’ schools which convert to Academy status from increasing the priority of religious criteria in their admissions policies
Voluntary Controlled ‘faith’ schools are only able to religiously discriminate in appointing one fifth of teaching staff, and cannot typically use faith-based admissions criteria. Local authorities set the admissions for these schools, and only about a quarter of local authorities have chosen to allow some or all of their VC schools to discriminate religiously in admissions, either in whole or in part. However, VC schools which convert to Academies (VC converters) gain control of their own admissions arrangements, and as Academies are required by law to consult on their admissions arrangements once every seven years, it is extremely likely that many VC schools that have converted to Academies will take this opportunity to increase their religious discrimination in admissions.
Baroness Massey’s amendment seeks to prevent VC converters from increasing the amount of religious discrimination in admissions, unless they have also chosen (following a separate consultation) to be able to religiously discriminate in appointing all teaching staff – not just one fifth. This creates a process that is more analogous to that of when a VC school converts to a VA school – a much rarer change. By tying the two things together, it would make it less likely that a VC converter chooses to religiously discriminate in admissions.
BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘Religious segregation in school admissions is one of the worst problems facing the non-religious today. Not only do such criteria ethno-religiously segregate, they also segregate socio-economically. The BHA wants all schools to include and educate pupils of all beliefs together, so that they can learn about and from each other, instead of being segregated by the religion of their parents. It is vital that the Education Bill is amended to stop this problem from getting worse.’
Notes
For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7462 4993.
Read the BHA’s briefing for the Lords Committee Stage of the Education Bill.
In addition to providing its own briefing, the BHA has also supported the briefing of the Accord Coalition on inspection of community cohesion.
Discrimination by ‘faith’ schools can cause segregation along both religious and socio-economic lines. Professor Ted Cantle, author of a report into community cohesion in Blackburn, describes religious schools as ‘automatically a source of division’ in the town. In other areas, ‘faith’ schools which are their own admission authorities are ten times more likely to be highly unrepresentative of their surrounding area than ‘faith’ schools where the local authority is the admission authority. Separating children by religion, class and ethnicity is totally antithetical to aims of social cohesion.
Additionally, voluntary aided ‘faith’ schools have, on average, 50% fewer pupils requiring free school meals than community schools. Pupils starting at ‘faith’ schools are also, on average, more academically able than pupils starting at inclusive schools. This is because ‘faith’ schools’ selection criteria mean that they usually take a less than representative sample of deprived children and more than their share of the children of ambitious and wealthier parents.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.
Additionally, voluntary aided ‘faith’ schools have, on average, 50% fewer pupils requiring free school meals than community schools. Pupils starting at ‘faith’ schools are also, on average, more academically ablethan pupils starting at inclusive schools. This is because ‘faith’ schools’ selection criteria mean that they usually take a less than representative sample of deprived children and more than their share of the children of ambitious and wealthier parents.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in theUK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.
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