{"id":72784,"date":"2024-05-10T00:02:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T04:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=72784"},"modified":"2024-05-10T19:26:20","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T23:26:20","slug":"new-faith-schools-in-england-could-soon-allocate-all-their-places-on-religious-grounds-heres-why-thats-a-bad-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/new-faith-schools-in-england-could-soon-allocate-all-their-places-on-religious-grounds-heres-why-thats-a-bad-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"New faith schools in England could soon allocate all their places on religious grounds \u2013 here\u2019s why that\u2019s a bad idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe government has proposed dropping the cap on faith admissions for new and existing\u00a0free faith schools<\/a>\u00a0in England. This would mean that oversubscribed faith schools in this category \u2013 those established as new academies, rather than converted from existing council-maintained schools \u2013 would no longer have to offer 50% of their places to children from outside their religion.<\/p>\n

In practice, this would lead to an increase in the number of faith-based schools in England, and increased faith-based admissions to existing faith schools.<\/p>\n

The Department for Education has\u00a0launched a consultation<\/a>\u00a0on these plans, as well as on the proposal to allow new special academies \u2013 for children with learning difficulties and disabilities \u2013 to have a religious character.<\/p>\n

The government is proposing this change as a way to\u00a0improve school standards<\/a>. It points out that faith schools are more likely to be\u00a0rated good or outstanding by Ofsted<\/a>\u00a0and have better GCSE results than other schools. But the problem is that this has little to do with the schools themselves, and everything to do with their intake criteria. Faith schools take children who are likely to be higher-attaining or from less disadvantaged backgrounds.<\/p>\n

As a researcher, I have spent years studying the impact the school system has on equality and social mobility. I think that faith \u2013 as distinct from knowledge of religion \u2013 should have no role in schools. It serves as a means of fragmenting the school system, clustering pupils with similar characteristics together. Removing the cap on faith admissions would only make this problem worse.<\/p>\n

Grouping students with similar backgrounds together within their own schools, also referred to as\u00a0segregation<\/a>, may reduce social cohesion. Evidence suggests that it has a negative effect on pupils\u2019 opportunities and\u00a0aspirations<\/a>, and makes\u00a0attainment gaps<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the difference in achievement between richer and poorer pupils \u2013\u00a0worse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mixing religion and education<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Unlike the US and some other countries, England does not have a fully\u00a0secular school system<\/a>. The explanation for this mix of religion and education is historical.<\/p>\n

The 1944\u00a0Education Act<\/a>\u00a0made schooling free, universal and compulsory for children up to the age of 15. At this time, many existing schools were owned or run by churches (and a few synagogues).<\/p>\n

In Victorian times, churches had taken a valuable lead in providing schooling, often in less advantaged areas. It was not possible to ignore this important ownership and contribution when the state-funded system expanded.<\/p>\n

Faith schools in England have therefore been allowed to retain a religious character. They make up around\u00a0one third of all state schools<\/a>. And they are allowed to give preference to students from families expressing belief in the same religion as the school. They can also give preference to their own-faith applicants for staffing and leadership.<\/p>\n

Over time, the range of faiths and the number of faith schools has grown \u2013 to include Catholic, Church of England, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and several ecumenical groups.<\/p>\n

These schools inevitably tend to segregate pupils between schools in terms of their religion, and everything that goes with that, including ethnicity, first language, and\u00a0patterns of poverty<\/a>. And there is some evidence that middle-class families\u00a0can fake<\/a>\u00a0their level of\u00a0adherence to a religion<\/a>\u00a0in order to gain preferential school admission.<\/p>\n

This kind of informal selection process, involving religiosity and socio-economic status, affects results. It means that while faith schools often have better raw-score attainment scores than neighbouring schools, there is no evidence that children actually have better attainment\u00a0because they attend a faith school<\/a>. Faith schools simply accept higher-attaining or\u00a0less disadvantaged<\/a>\u00a0students than average for their local areas.
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Faith groups run some of the most successful schools in the country.<\/p>\n

By lifting the 50% faith cap on free schools, providers will be able to create more good school places and high-quality multi-academy trusts.<\/p>\n

Here's everything you need to know \u2b07\ufe0fhttps:\/\/t.co\/QkJGVJSGme<\/a><\/p>\n

— Department for Education (@educationgovuk) May 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n