Catholic Bishops have been urged not to interfere with the current limit on new Academy faith schools that do not replace a pre-existing state funded school from being able to select more than 50% of pupils on the grounds of faith.
‘This would not only cause further segregation in an education system that is supposed to broaden the horizons of children and prepare them for the wider world, but it would also send out a very unfortunate message about religious groups consciously discriminating against pupils of a different faith or none. Jesus said “Suffer the little children” – not “Bar them from the school gate”‘, said Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education.
The move comes in the form of a letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, as well as to Greg Pope, the Head of the Parliamentary Relations for the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales.
It follows comments by the latter, expressing hope that the limit will be revised and admitting that the Archbishop of Liverpool, Chairman of the Catholic Education Service, had raised the matter personally with Michael Gove when he was Secretary of State for Education.
The Accord Coalition has asked Nicky Morgan to resist any moves to weaken the 50% limit, describing it as a ‘retrograde step that would both be highly divisive and harm the interests of children’. Moreover, it is urging her to extend the 50% limit to those schools who are currently able to take children of one particular faith only, even though no other publicly funded body is allowed to discriminate on faith grounds.
A copy of the letter is below:
Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education
Department for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London, SW1P 3BT
Dear Ms Morgan,
I was alarmed to read comments this week in the Catholic weekly paper, The Tablet, reporting on attempts by both the Catholic Education Service and Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales to end the 50% entry limit of pupils to new Academies on faith grounds.
Such a move would be a retrograde step that would both be highly divisive and harm the interests of children. It runs counter to the notion of an educational system that is supposed to broaden the horizons of children and prepare them for the wider world. Turning schools into religious ghettos is hardly a recipe for good citizenship and helping them adapt to a mixed-belief society.
In fact, we would urge you extend the 50% limit to all other state funded schools that are currently able to take children of one particular faith only, even though no other publicly-funded body is allowed to discriminate on faith grounds. The fact that the schools are exempted from parts of the Equality Act in this regard does not bode well for transmitting values of equality, tolerance and respect.
Yours sincerely,
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE
Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education
Notes
The 50% faith selection limit was introduced for new Academy schools that did not replace a pre-existing state funded school under the last Labour Government. It was continued after the May 2010 Election.
Most fee paying Catholic schools in England and Wales do not admit pupils according to religious tests. Meanwhile, as the OECD revealed (Table 2.3) in 2012, most state funded faith schools in other developed countries are not able to operate a religiously selective admissions policy, such as in Scotland. Two fee paying Catholics schools have joined the English state funded system by becoming Free Schools and so both (St Michael’s Catholic Secondary School in Cornwall and St Anthony’s School in Gloucestershire) do not select more than half their pupils by faith. The Bishop’s position does not appear related to demonstrable needs or educational outcomes.
