Accord has today updated its collection of personal testimonies and media reports that highlight a wide variety of narrow and discriminatory practices at state funded schools. New examples added to the portfolio include:
- A child unable to obtain a place at a religiously selective school attended by an older sibling two doors from their home
- A temporary head teacher that helped turn an underperforming primary faith school around not being made a permanent appointment because they were not of the right faith
- A faith school head teacher encouraging pupils to not answer science exam questions that went against the school’s religious understanding of the origins of species
Accord also maintains a 100 page databank of contemporary evidence and research from independent academic sources about the implications of current policy on state funded faith schools and their practices. The portfolio of testimonies and reports compliments the databank by providing real life examples of exclusive, narrow and discriminatory practices by schools.
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE said ‘Although some of the news items and personal testimonies are highly subjective and are not subject to academic scrutiny, the portfolio helps show that exclusionary practices by schools are not hypothetical, but represent a real issue that negatively impacts many people in the education system. The portfolio makes for disturbing reading and emphasises the pressing need for changes in how our state funded schools operate.’
