Church of England Academy expansion plans could be slowed by new government proposals
New proposals could slow the spread of new ‘faith’ schools, but go nowhere near tackling the growing religious division in the education system, the British Humanist Association (BHA) has warned.
The government has today revised the model funding agreement for Free Schools in order to give the Secretary of State the explicit power to veto any proposals by a Free School without a religious character to acquire one, something that was not previously the case. This change will presumably also be made to the next version of the Academies model funding agreement.
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented, ‘This change is welcome only in that it could possibly slow the expansion of new “faith” schools. However it does not go nearly far enough and under the government’s plans we are seeing irreversible entrenchment of religious division in our state school system. Michael Gove is on record as being very much in favour of the Church and other religious groups taking control of a significant number of former community schools, so we have serious fears that he will still approve the proposals each time. We also have concerns that former community schools can still choose to take on a “faith ethos” without legally changing their religious character at all, something that this change does not affect at all.
‘We want the same situation to hold true for Academies as for other state-funded schools, where no school without a religious character or a “faith ethos” can simply acquire one. There is therefore some way to go.’
Last week the BHA launched a campaign following a recent article by the TES outlining how the government was working with the Church to make it easier for former community schools to convert to Church Academies, and was actively encouraging the practice. Andrew Copson called the proposals ‘The single most threatening development on faith schools in a decade’, and many hundreds of supporters wrote to their MPs and to Michael Gove in opposition to the plans.
Notes
For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson on 07855 380 633.
Read the new model funding agreement for Free Schools: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/freeschools/a0074737/free-schools-model-funding-agreement – the change is section 26.c)
Read the BHA’s previous press release, ‘The single most threatening development on faith schools in a decade’: Government backs Church plans to take over many more state schools’, 5 January 2012: http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/957
Read the BHA’s related letter to Michael Gove: http://www.humanism.org.uk/_uploads/documents/2012-01-04-michael-gove-cofe-ambitions-final.pdf
and to members and supporters: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f506ec535c3e750b66180af13&id=5fbb244234
Read the TES report that first unveiled the plans, ‘An answer from above?’, 23 December 2011: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6158763
For a maintained school to change its religious character, or acquire or lose a religious character, it must close and re-open with the new character – a significantly challenging step that it is extremely rare for a school to take. However, for independent schools, including Free Schools and Academies, the school simply needs to apply to the Secretary of State under The Religious Character of Schools (Designation Procedure) (Independent Schools) (England) Regulations 2003, who then must consult the appropriate religious body before approving the change. The change to the model funding agreement makes explicit that prior to the consultation, the Secretary of State may refuse consent to a Free School to make such a change, something that is not currently the case.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.
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