In a statement released this afternoon, the Minister for Education and Skills, Leighton Andrews AC, set out that he had written to Welsh Catholic schools to remind them of their duties under sections 406 and  407  of  the  Education  Act  1996 to ensure that they do not allow the pursuit of partisan political activities for pupils who have not reached the age of 12, and that pupils must be offered opposing political views in order to provide a balanced presentation of issues.

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, said ‘The Catholic Education Service of England and Wales has demonstrated irresponsibility by spurring their schools into a position where they may have acted unlawfully, and their actions pose further important questions as to how seriously the Service is taking the treatment of lesbian, gay and bi-sexual staff and pupils.

‘Homophobia is a problem throughout the school system, although it is known to be worse within the faith school sector, yet it need not be. If there is to be a positive outcome from this incident it should be for the Catholic Education Service to show much greater initiative, and to pro-actively work with their schools and Government in challenging homophobia in Catholic schools.’

Notes

St George’s School, a Christian faith school in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, came second in Accord’s annual Inclusivity Award in 2012. The schools earned high praise from the judges for its outstanding and ambitious work in tackling homophobic bullying, which was based in a Christian context of treating everyone with respect and kindness.

Stonewall’s 2007 ‘The School Report‘ showed that two thirds of young gay people at secondary schools have experienced homophobic bullying, but in faith schools that figure rises to three in four. The report also showed that lesbian and gay pupils who attended faith schools were 23% less likely to report bullying than those at non-faith schools.

Page 29 of ‘The Coalition: our programme for Government’ stated “We will help schools tackle bullying in schools, especially homophobic bullying.”

The standing of RE in the curriculum has been undermined in recent years. In June 2010 OFSTED published its report Transforming religious education, which found that there was “very significant variability in the quantity and quality of support for RE provided to schools by local authorities”, that the standards of RE provision in secondary schools had fallen since 2007 and recommended that the Department for Education should review the current local arrangements for RE in England.

Meanwhile, analysis  in 2011 by the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education also found that almost a quarter of Academies and community schools did not even provide RE for their fourteen to sixteen year old pupils, even though they are legally required to do so. Furthermore, Academy schools and most non-Academy faith schools are free to determine what they teach in RE, meaning they can provide RE that is instructional, or that do not teach about the broad range of beliefs in society, including non-religious ones. The number of Academy schools is currently being massively expanded.

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘Accord is delighted to have been accepted as a member of the REC. The REC wants schools to teach RE that is broad and balanced, and Accord hopes that through becoming an active member it can further strengthen the voice of those who want to maintain an inclusive approach to the subject, as well as make sure that RE is not overlooked by schools or government in this period of change.’

This new revelation follows in the footsteps of a recent controversy surrounding the inaction of central Government to counter homophobic material being promoted in schools, after it was revealed that a Catholic school in Lancashire distributed a booklet entitled “Pure Manhood: How to become the man God wants you to be”.

The booklet discusses a boy dealing with “homosexual attractions” which it suggested may “stem from an unhealthy relationship with his father, an inability to relate to other guys, or even sexual abuse”. It also claims that “scientifically speaking, safe sex is a joke”, explains that “the homosexual act is disordered, much like contraceptive sex between heterosexuals. Both acts are directed against God’s natural purpose for sex – babies and bonding.”

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE said ‘schools should teach about a range of religious and cultural perspectives surrounding matters of sexual diversity and gender. However, first and foremost, they should have a duty to promote an acceptance of sexual diversity and transgendered people that should trump all other considerations, which should be embraced with enthusiasm.

‘When many LGBT staff and pupils have a concealed miserable experience at school, and we know that homophobia is worse within the faith school sector, it seems therefore all the more inappropriate that the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales should ask Catholic schools to advance a one sided perspective on same sex marriage, and for their pupils to advance this as a political aim.

‘The Education Service have shown a shocking disregard for the condition of LGBT people; have failed to properly embrace the much more important obligation of ensuring that everyone is treated with respect and kindness, and in doing so have undermined public trust.’

Notes

This story was first broken this afternoon by Pink News at http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/04/25/exclusive-catholic-school-urged-pupils-as-young-as-11-to-sign-anti-gay-marriage-petition/.

Stonewall’s 2007 ‘The School Report‘ showed that two thirds of young gay people at secondary schools have experienced homophobic bullying, but in faith schools that figure rises to three in four. The report also showed that lesbian and gay pupils who attended faith schools were 23% less likely to report bullying than those at non-faith schools.

Page 29 of ‘The Coalition: our programme for Government’ stated “We will help schools tackle bullying in schools, especially homophobic bullying.”

Speakers included representatives from religion and beliefs groups, trade unions and human rights campaigners and experts, who addressed the continuing challenges of prejudice towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. The Accord Coalition attended, and its Coordinator, Paul Pettinger, addressed a workshop investigating the role of religion in education and the public sphere

At the workshop Paul Pettinger argued that while schools could put forward a range of cultural and religious perspectives on issues of sexual diversity and gender, all state funded schools should have a duty to promote an acceptance of sexual diversity and transgendered people that should trump all other considerations.

He also set out that although Accord supporters drew inspirationfor their values from different sources, they were united in wanting to ensure that state funded schools better respected and upheld human rights, and promoted the growth of mutual understanding. He also argued that Accord could and should serve as an example for others about how those of different faiths and none could come together to tackle discrimination and prejudice.

The bid for the proposed school attracted national media coverage last month when it was revealed that local MP and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, The Rt Hon Vincent Cable MP, and his Cabinet colleague, the Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, had both expressed their support for the proposed school to only admit up to half of its pupils on religious grounds.

These appeals have been ignored however, and a local campaign group set up to ensure that new schools in the Borough of Richmond are open to all children, regardless of religious belief or practice, is to now challenge the Council’s actions via a judicial review. The campaign group, called the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign (RISC), includes local people of a wide range of beliefs and backgrounds, including some Roman Catholics. RISC is formally endorsed by the Accord Coalition, and are being joined in its legal action by the British Humanist Association (BHA), itself a member of the Accord Coalition.

Under the 2011 Education Act any Council in England that recognises a need for a local new school is supposed to first invite bids for an Academy; the Government’s favoured model of state funded school. New Academy faith schools are also only permitted to admit up to half of their pupils on religious grounds, but Richmond Borough has provided support for its local Roman Catholic Diocese to open a new Voluntary Aided school, which will have the ability to select all of its pupils on religious grounds if it is sufficiently oversubscribed.

Chair of the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, Jeremy Rodell, said ‘We have clear evidence that the Council and the Catholic Diocese are playing the system to secure the most exclusive type of Catholic secondary school possible. And it has become increasingly clear that the Council has no intention of changing its plans, whatever the outcome of their recent consultation.’

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, said ‘Accord wants to stop all religious discrimination in state funded schools. We are concerned with this cynical route towards religious academy status, via a detour to voluntary aided status, that is being taken in Richmond, with the resulting impact on higher selection of pupils by religion.

‘The 50% religious selection limit for new Academy schools, while less than the Coalition’s ideal of no admissions based on religion, is an improvement on the admissions criteria allowed for voluntary aided schools, and as such, is worthy of defence against attempts to subvert the principle of non-discrimination.

‘Accord appreciates why seeking legal clarity may prove necessary in this case, and urges the responsible authorities to act promptly to avoid confrontation, and to seek the ending of discrimination on religious grounds in our schools.’

Notes

Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign website can be found at: http://www.richmondinclusiveschools.org.uk/.

Junior Vice President of ATL, Alison Sherratt, talking at Accord's fringe meeting.

The Accord Coalition hosted a fringe meeting at the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) in Manchester yesterday (April 4th), which explored the role of religion in education.

The event was chaired by ATL Executive member and former National President, Julia Neal. Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain,was joined on the panel of speakers by David Kinnen; an ATL member, committed Christian and Religious Education (RE) teacher at a community school in Coventry, and by Alison Sherratt; Junior Vice President of ATL and teacher at a Church of England Primary School near Bradford.

Mr Kinnen spoke of his experience of sectarianism growing up in Scotland, and of his desire for the school systems in England and Walesto not facilitate religious and ethnic segregation. He set out what he saw as the vital role of RE in the curriculum to improve mutual understanding, and highlighted his own school, where all pupils took RE at GCSE and which employed eight RE teachers, as an example of a community school providing excellent RE.

He also called for an imbalance within RE to be addressed, whereby religious groups that had their own faith schools had a formal role in determining the kind of RE taught in community schools, even though their own schools were free to decide the nature of the RE they provided.

Rabbi Romain set out a vision for education where children of all faiths and none learned from and with each other, and warned about potential dangers of dividing children on religious lines in schools. Paraphrasing a well known biblical phrase he said “you can only love your neighbour if you know your neighbour in person”. He also urged society to ensure that schools did not indoctrinate, but genuinely educated pupils about religion and beliefs.

Alison Sherratt spoke of her experiences at the Church of England school at which she worked, and how it tried to embody an inclusive vision. She observed how the school had many non-Christian staff, placed children living in the local parish ahead of children from Anglican or Christian families in its oversubscription admissions criteria, and how children were free to not pray during worship that was provided.

The fringe meeting was Accord’s first at a teaching union conference. In addition to the meeting, Accord has had a display stand at the conference, and will be attending the annual conference of the National Union of Teachers in Torquay this Easter weekend.

A Government review into a new National Curriculum is currently underway, but the review was instructed not to include RE in its remit. RE is currently in the analogous position of having to be taught in state funded schools, but is not part of the National Curriculum. Instead most faith schools can follow their own RE syllabus, whereas other state funded schools follow a syllabus determined by their local authority responsible for education. This allows faith schools to only provide their pupils with instructional RE, while consequently the RE taught around the country to be of variable quality and depth, as well as overly prescriptive. Some local RE syllabuses are longer than the current National Curriculum itself.

The Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, said ‘It is vital for the harmony of society at large that  RE in schools teaches about the broad range of beliefs held in Britain today, as a path to good citizenship, ensuring that pupils develop an understanding of those different from themselves.

‘The provision of RE has suffered since the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, which appeared to downgrade its importance as an academic subject. We welcome the Government’s support for the RE Council to produce a new RE framework, and hope it may lead to it becoming part of the National Curriculum’.

Notes

Ofsted found in its report ‘Transforming religious education’, released in June 2010, that there was “very significant variability in the quantity and quality of support for RE provided to schools by local authorities” and urged the Department for Education to review these current local arrangements.

Established in 1973, the Religious Education Council of England and Wales brings together some fifty national organisations. These comprise academic and professional associations specialising in religions and religious education, as well as the individual religion and belief organisations inclusive of the range of faith communities found nationally, including the British Humanist Association.  The REC’s shared priority is to strengthen the quality of provision for the subject throughout the educational system.

The NASUWT’s ‘English Baccalaureate Survey Summary’, released in June 2011, surveyed over 2,400 NASUWT members working in the secondary sector in England to assess their early experiences of the impact of the English Baccalaureate performance indicator. It indicated that 10% of schools had reported a decline in their planned provision of RE since the English Baccalaureate was introduced, and found that a quarter of all academies and community schools did not provide statutory RE for their 14 – 16 year old pupils.

Currently, most faith schools, including all state maintained Catholic schools, can select all of their pupils on the grounds of religion if oversubscribed. However, after the current coalition Government was formed in 2010 a new policy was made that all new Academy faith schools that did not replace a pre-existing state maintained faith school would only be able to select up to half of their pupils on the basis of religion.

However, in response to a proposal in his Twickenham constituency for a new voluntary aided Catholic school, Vince Cable has written to Michael Gove MP suggesting that the new school also only select half of it pupils on religious grounds. In his letter of reply Mr Gove supported this move, stating that:

“…the proposals are for a school to be a voluntary aided school within the local authority’s remit. As you know, that means that the school will be able to admit pupils on the grounds of faith, but the 50% non-faith provision for the school’s admissions will not apply. The suggestion that the school takes on a similar provision voluntarily seems very sensible to me, and I would welcome such a move”.

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE said, ‘Although no state funded school should discriminate on the grounds of religion, we are encouraged that both the Secretary of State for Education and his Cabinet colleague would welcome the 50% religious selection limit to be extended, albeit voluntarily, to the voluntary aided faith school sector.

‘The freedom that faith schools have to discriminate in the selection of pupils on religious grounds has long passed its ‘sell by’ date. The signal being provided by two such senior Government Ministers should send out a powerful message that such religious discrimination is increasingly viewed as an outmoded and unwelcome practice on its way out.

‘In the meantime however, we hope that that Church authorities, including the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, will take on board the 50% suggestion, and ensure that half of the places in any of their new schools will serve members of the local community, regardless of their beliefs.’

Notes

The proposed new voluntary aided Catholic school is being opposed by the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, which has been endorsed by the Accord Coalition and wants all new schools in the local borough to be open to all, regardless of religious belief or practice: http://www.richmondinclusiveschools.org.uk/.

An article on this story has also appeared to today’s edition of the Times Educational Supplement at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6202903

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain said ‘At a time when many people are questioning the wisdom of separate schooling for religious groups because of the negative social consequences it can cause, this commitment not to discriminate over admissions is very welcome.

‘We urge other faith groups to take note and be more inclusive, no longer segregating children of different beliefs, but serving all within their local communities’

The report comes at a time when the Church of England is facing increasing criticism following revelations that its schools admit a lower proportion of children in receipt of free school meals, and increasingly serve children from higher socio-economic groups.

On Friday the Church of England released ‘Church School of the Future’. The report was the Church’s most prominent statement about its participation in state schooling for many years, and has been criticized for failing to set out a fresh and inclusive vision for its schools. In direct contrast to the Methodist Church’s latest commitment on having inclusive admissions, the report affirmed that Church of England schools should have freedom to select pupils on religious grounds.

Notes

The Methodist Church has 64 state-funded primary schools and one middle School in England, many of which have an ecumenical foundation and are co-sponsored with the Anglican Communion. Almost all of the schools provide RE that is broad, balanced and non-instructional, and do not select most of their teachers or any of their pupils on religious grounds.

New research from the Guardian, revealed on March 5^th this year, showed that most faith schools, including specifically Church of England schools, admit fewer than the national average of pupils in receipt of free schools meals (used by government as a fair measure of deprivation) than the average in faith school’s respective local authority area, and a smaller proportion of such pupils than are present in area covered by the first three digits of their respective postcode. Worryingly the research indicated that Church of England schools were also increasingly serving the better-heeled in their communities.

Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE said ‘The report is a missed opportunity to set out an open and inclusive vision for its own schools, and also to give a lead to schools of other denominations and religions. State-funded faith schools should seek to serve the wider community, not just their own particular constituency.

‘Instead the report is back to front; it focuses primarily on opportunities for the Church of England within the state education system, such as how the understanding of Christianity can be better promulgated, and how the Church can use recent developments in the state education landscape to expand upon its current involvement. The report should have focused on what Church Schools can do for whole of society, helping to provide education for its own sake.

‘Unfortunately the report glosses over completely the need to make all state funded schools truly welcoming and suitable to all children of every background, no matter what their parents’ or their own beliefs. The report also fails to address the issue of religious segregation in schools, and the very damaging effects of this upon wider society.’