Peers in the House of Lords yesterday debated ‘whether free schools and faith schools will be required to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum which addresses the needs of all pupils.’ The debate was in response to a question asked by Baroness Massey of Darwen, Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG). The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the debate.
Contributors to the debate included Baroness Hughes of Stretford, who called for Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, including Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), to be added to the national curriculum, and Lord Storey, who asked ‘How do we ensure that those areas of child development and education… which are essential to young people and children are taught in all schools—whether academies, faith schools, free schools or what were called county schools?’
BHA Education Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘We welcome this debate and a number of peers calling for more to be done to ensure that every school, in particular religious schools, have to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, including full and comprehensive SRE, evolution, and a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, not simply teaching from a narrow, unshared perspective confined to one faith. We are concerned that the increased freedoms given to Academies and Free Schools means they are more able to avoid teaching areas of the curriculum to which every pupil should be entitled, such as those set out above. More needs to be done to prevent this.’
The Lord Bishop of Lichfield asked ‘Does the Minister agree that the use of the phrase “faith schools” can be profoundly unhelpful in the context of this discussion? Schools of a religious character come in many forms. Is it not true that the nearly 4,700 Church of England schools sit very firmly within the mainstream of English education, and that even C of E free schools and academies are linked to diocesan boards to ensure that the education that they provide is broad and balanced, academically challenging, personally inspiring and serving the needs of the whole local community?’ Schools Minister Lord Nash responded that ‘I agree entirely with the right reverend Prelate. Faith schools are a long-established and highly valued part of our educational establishment, and church schools are, too. Church schools consistently outperform maintained schools; they are very popular and often highly oversubscribed. The applications procedures of many of them do not rely heavily on faith; they have a much wider intake.’
Mr Thompson continued, ‘There are several things omitted from this disappointing answer. First of all it has been shown with a fairly high degree of certainty, for example by Gibbons and Silva, that any difference in academic performance between Church schools and other schools can be wholly explained by the socio-economic selection caused by their faith-based admissions policies. Even Theos reached this conclusion in their recent report on the matter. It is this that causes the schools to become oversubscribed, not the fact that they are religious – a fact that surveys back up. Finally, while many Church primaries do not religiously select, some are extremely selective, for example Twyford CofE High School in Ealing which selects on the basis of “Assisting with collection/counting money”, “Tea & coffee Rota”, “Church maintenance” and “Parish Magazine Editor”.’
Notes
For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson at richy@humanists.uk or on 020 7324 3072.
Read the debate: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131030-0001.htm#13103058000231
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/religion-and-schools/faith-schools
View the BHA’s table of types of school with a religious character: https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/schools-with-a-religious-character.pdf
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.