The BHA has condemned the Government’s decision not to protect the inclusive nature of community schools which become Academies, following yesterday’s Report Stage debate on the Academies Bill in the Lords.
BHA distinguished supporter and secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group Lady Massey tabled an amendment to ensure inclusive community schools could not take on a religious character when becoming Academies and so begin discriminating on religious grounds. Lady Massey said she feared a proliferation of state-funded faith schools that could lead to religious and economic segregation. In response the Schools Minister Lord Hill said that the Government will not prevent new Academies from becoming “faith schools” after converting to Academy status, providing that they meet relevant tests.
Lady Massey also raised concerns about the greater flexibility that Academies will have over their curriculum, and the risk of creationism and other religious mythologies being taught as fact. Responding for the Government, Lord Hill said: “I share her concerns about creationism, but one of the core aims of the [Academies] policy is precisely that the Secretary of State should not dictate to academies what they should teach … I fully accept that if you trust people things do go wrong, but that is the direction that we want to try to go in.”
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said:
‘It is disgraceful that the Government refuses to protect the inclusive nature of community schools. There is a very real risk that the Bill will lead to a proliferation of new “faith schools” by allowing community schools under religious influence – from religious organisations offering financial support, for example – to take on a religious character after conversion. This would be a hugely retrograde step, extending the discriminatory and divisive effects of “faith schools” to many more areas of the country and removing inclusive schools from local communities. The Academies Bill is supposed to be about freedom and choice, yet it risks removing parents’ freedom to choose an inclusive school for their children.’
Commenting on the issue of curriculum, Mr Copson continued:
‘Once a state-maintained “faith school” has become a religious Academy, it will have much greater flexibility over the curriculum. The BHA is deeply concerned that some religious authorities will use this new freedom to pursue very restrictive teaching in line with their religious ethos. The Government has admitted that it shares our concerns about the teaching of creationism, for instance, yet it is unwilling to do anything about it. It is simply not good enough to say “things go wrong” – it will be parents, local communities and pupils themselves who will be left picking up the pieces.’
Notes
For further comment or information, contact Andrew Copson on 020 3675 0959 or 020 7079 3583.
Read the BHA’s briefing for the Lords Report Stage of the Academies Bill.
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