IPPR research due to be published next month states that Academies, Foundation schools, Trust schools and faith schools have ‘no reason to be their own admissions authorities’. The British Humanist Association (BHA) welcomes this research and supports its findings that faith schools contribute to increasing social inequality.
The research argues that faith schools which control their own admissions are ten times more unrepresentative of their local areas than faith schools where the LEA controls the admissions. It suggests that selective faith schools are some of the most socially unequal and unrepresentative publicly-funded schools in the UK .
Andrew Copson, BHA Education Officer, today commented, ‘This research supports the BHA’s view that many faith schools perform well simply because they are highly selective in their admissions and not because they operate within a particular religious ethos, as they commonly argue.
‘This kind of selection benefits only certain people from certain religious backgrounds, discriminating against those of other religions and the non-religious, and perpetuating and increasing wider social divisions and inequalities. We now have even more cause to question the assumptions about the “benefits” of faith schools built into Government education policies and the Government must take these concerns seriously’.
Notes to Editors
For further comment or information, contact Andrew Copson by email or on 07855 380633
The British Humanist Association (BHA) represents and supports the non-religious and campaigns for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief