The BHA has responded to a Government consultation on the future of the education system. The consultation document outlines plans to foster links between schools and their local communities, but fails to tackle current rules that allow religious schools to discriminate in their admissions and employment policies. In the BHA response Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs pointed out that for schools to be play their full role in the community they should be open to all:
“We agree with the broad vision outlined in the proposals. In particular, we are enthusiastic about the idea that schools should work in partnership with each other, with parents and with the local community and a model of partnership between schools in admissions would be especially welcome. We also agree that meeting the needs of diverse pupils must be a high priority and that schools can make important contributions towards local cohesion. We query whether these laudable aims can be achieved without significant reform to the way that schools with a religious ethos operate.”
Notes
Read the BHA’s response here.
For comment or information, contact Andrew Copson on 020 7079 3584 or 020 3675 0959.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious, campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief and is the largest organisation in the UK working for a secular society. In education, this means an end to the expansion of faith schools and for the assimilation of those that currently exist into a system of inclusive and accommodating community schools.