Amendments to stop inclusive community schools transforming into religious academies have been tabled to the Academies Bill ahead of its report stage in the Lords on July 6th.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) has briefed peers before the amendments are debated on Wednesday. Humanist peers, including distinguished supporters of the BHA, have criticised the Bill in previous debates for its potential to increase the influence of religious groups on the school system.
The Bill will make it compulsory for state-funded religious schools to become religious academies without analogous protections for community schools to always become inclusive secular Academies. Religious Academies are free to teach their own syllabus and will be able to discriminate on religious grounds against pupils and staff.
Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive, commented,
‘The amendments that will be debated on Wednesday are concerned with the freedom of schools to choose inclusion over discrimination and the freedom of parents to send their children to a local community school. The BHA has many serious concerns about the Academies Bill and we have been working with Humanist and other peers to raise these in the Lords. We fear that the Bill will lead to a proliferation of “faith schools” and give many more religious groups a permanent foothold in our education system.’
‘We also know that a number of fee-paying religious schools are interested in academy status, which would give them complete powers over the curriculum while unburdening them from the need to raise their own funds. This is a particularly concerning development which the Government has not addressed.’
‘If the Bill is passed unamended, religious discrimination and privilege will be entrenched in a system which has no scope for consultation with parents, teachers or local people. The effect of the changes will be to increase the influence of religion in our schools and remove the moderating influence of the state and the local community.’
Commenting on the Bill’s truncated passage through Parliament, Mr Copson said:
‘We are deeply concerned that in its rush to get the Bill on to the statute books before summer recess, the Government has not allowed enough time for proper scrutiny. A Bill of this magnitude, which will radically reshape the school system, should be subject to intense examination and debate. Instead it may receive royal assent in a matter of weeks.’
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For further comment or information, contact Andrew Copson on 020 3675 0959 or 020 7079 3583.
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