At the Labour Party conference, the BHA hosted its second fringe event. The question ‘Should we have faith in faith schools?’ was discussed by a panel chaired by Stephen Beer of the Christian Socialist Movement in an event jointly organised with the Accord coalition.
Maria Exall, chair of the TUC LGBT Committee and member of the Cutting Edge Consortium, highlighted issues of faith-based homophobia and discrimination in ‘faith’ schools on grounds of sexual orientation.
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition, state that ‘faith’ schools are the most likely to break the schools admissions code and that wanting inclusive schools was “not anti faith but pro-social cohesion”.
Writer Melissa Benn said that through their covert selection of pupils by class, “faith schools play a very crucial part in undermining a truly comprehensive school system”, and said that they should not be allowed to discriminate at all in admissions.
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said that no state school should be permitted to discriminate in admissions, employment or in the curriculum.
Responding to a question from the chair asking how families of faith could have faith in the state education system, all the speakers emphasised that an inclusive school system was the best model to promote tolerance and that all members of society should be able to support that.
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