TEACHERS called yesterday for a ban on government funding of any further faith schools, amid fears of a rise in fundamentalism in the state system.

Delegates of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers yesterday voted to cut off taxpayers’ money to the schools by 2020 and promote integration, as scientists also gave warning of the dangers of teaching creationism in biology lessons.

The call reflects a growing concern among teachers about the influence of some religious fundamentalists and in particular their ability to sponsor city academies and trust schools under the Government’s latest reform proposals.

In spite of rejecting calls for laws to ban the teaching of creationism, the conference, led by Hank Roberts, a teacher at Copland Community School in Brent, northwest London, made clear its disapproval of plans to give religious groups a bigger say in education.

With a third of all academy schools sponsored by Christian backers, Mr Roberts cited Sir Peter Vardy, the founder of the Emmanuel Schools Foundation in the North East, who has come under fire for allowing the teaching of creationism alongside evolution theories.

“No government action has been taken to prevent Sir Peter Vardy, who runs two academies and a CTC [city technology college], from teaching creationism in his schools [actually ours — we pay for them]. Instead of government action to stop this . . . what’s happening? Vardy is putting up a further £2 million to gain control of yet another school,” Mr Roberts said.

“The academies programme, now without the 200 limit, means yet more ‘independent’ state-funded schools. The proposed trust schools further open the bag for religious organisations and individuals to take control of state-funded education.”

The Rev Chris Wilson, a minister with the Unitarian and Free Christian Church, agreed. Admitting that his youngest son was “happily settled” in a Church of England primary school, the further education lecturer from Cambridgeshire said that while existing faith schools should remain, serious concerns were being raised about the growth of “single-faith schools”, which were in danger of undermining society as they promoted “one dominant tradition over another”.

Mr Wilson, 42, said that established faith schools understood the need to “develop partnerships which celebrate equality and diversity of beliefs”, but that increasingly some faith communities had “agendas which are at odds with the Enlightenment, and with reason and progress and the interests of science”.

Thirty-six of the existing 100 academies are sponsored by Christian groups. The United Learning Trust, an Anglican charity chaired by Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is among the biggest academy sponsors, with 12 open or planned academies. There are 7,000 faith schools in England, of which 600 are secondary.

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