School Gate blog: should faith schools be open to children from all religions?

Faith schools are failing in their duty to provide education for Britain's poorest children and calling into question their commitment to state education, according to a report by leading policy researchers.

Many have a "disproportionately small" number of children from the poorest sectors of society, the landmark report by the Runnymede Trust says. The charity, set up to promote good race relations concludes that selection procedures in many faith schools favour the priviledged.

This bias towards those from richer families is at odds with the foundation of most faith schools - which was based on ideas of challenging poverty and inequality, the report claims. This suggests they have a mission to serve the most disadvantaged in society which they are failing to fulfil, it adds.

The report coincides with the strengthening of the Schools Admissions' Code which is designed to prevent "backdoor selection" of middle class families. The toughened up code, put before Parliament today by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, outlaws selection and unfair admissions practices which can increase social segregation. Religious groups have claimed Mr Balls singled out faith schools when he accused dozens of them of breaching the code earlier this year.

The report says: "At the moment, faith can be used by parents as a means of ensuring social exclusivity within a school. This works counter to the stated aims of government to create spaces where people from different backgrounds can work together for common aims."

It also says that many faith schools have done "very little" to advance community cohesion, despite a statutory duty do do so.

It puts forward six key recommendations including calling for an end to faith schools selecting pupils on the basis of religion.

It says: “Faith schools should be for the benefit of all in society rather than just the few. If faith schools are convinced of their relevance for society, then that should apply equally for all children. With state funding comes an obligation to be relevant and open to all citizens.”

Faith schools should also do more to take the poorest children, it recommends. “In the case of many faith organisations, allowing faith to be a criterion for school selection would appear to contradict their mission to provide education for the most disadvantaged.

"When challenged on this data, faith school providers seem to be more keen in their public announcements to discuss statistical validity than engage with the mission to serve the most disadvantaged.”

If all the six recommendations are acted on, then faith “should continue to play an important role in our education system,” the report concludes. Figures put forward in the report show that there are more than 4,600 Church of England primary and secondary schools in England, over 2,000 Roman Catholic schools, 26 Methodist primary schools, 88 schools of other Christian denominations, 27 Jewish schools, seven Muslim schools, two Sikh schools, and two of other denominations. There are more than 11,100 state primary schools of no religious character, and 2,756 secondary schools.

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