TWO LANDMARK PIECES OF LEGISLATION that have the potential to make a real difference to education in Northern Ireland have now received royal assent. The Integrated Education Act and the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act were both championed by people of both religious and non-religious conviction during their passage through the Stormont Assembly, including...
A school on a mission to become an anti-racist institution, and another pioneering the promotion of peace and conflict resolution techniques, have been announced as the winners of the latest annual Accord Inclusivity Award.
The Accord Coalition has cautiously welcomed a commitment from Rt Hon Michael Gove MP that the government will not let ‘extremist’ groups run state funded schools. Speaking at a hearing of the House of Commons Education Select Committee on Wednesday (July 28th) the Secretary of State for Education told MPs that ‘I and officials...
Last Thursday (July 1st) the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP launched a government website called ‘Your Freedom’, which invites members of the public to put forward and vote on unnecessary laws they wish to be repealed. Thousands of suggestions have already been submitted and one calling for the laws that require compulsory daily...
The Accord Coalition, which links both religious and non-religious groups concerned about the impact of faith schools, has welcomed a new report by Ofsted, Transforming religious education, but is appalled at the poor standards it has highlighted. The report found that there was ‘very significant variability in the quantity and quality of support for...
The Accord Coalition has responded with both a welcome and a warning to the announcement today about the Government’s proposal of two education Bills to significantly reform the management and operational freedom of state funded schools. The Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘it is vital that whatever changes are...
The Accord Coalition has expressed sadness that some of the strongest parliamentary supporters of inclusive schools have lost their seats in the general election. Liberal Democrat Dr Evan Harris was one of those who fought against exemptions for religious schools from the anti-discrimination measures in the Equality Act, and has lobbied for fairer admissions...
The Green Party parliamentary candidate for St Albans has been suspended from his position as a parent governor of a Catholic school in light of the party’s position against faith schools, according to a report in the Herts Advertiser. Loreto College decided to suspend Jack Easton because it believed that the Green Party policy of...
Although they have not been one of the main issues, faith schools have been discussed in the election campaign. Speaking yesterday, Nick Clegg said that faith schools should be ‘engines of integration not silos of segregation’ welcoming pupils from all faiths. The Daily Mail also reports that although faith schools would not be expected...
With the election campaign well under way it is a good time to review the position of the major parties to faith schools. The only manifesto which contains a substantial mention of the issue is the Liberal Democrats’, which says: ” allow parents to continue to choose faith-based schools within the state-funded...
