Following on from a Freedom of Information request submitted by the British Humanist Association (BHA), the Government has published a list of the latest applicants to set up Free Schools. The applications were submitted as part of ‘wave five’, i.e. submitted on 13 September 2013 to open from 2015. A quarter of the mainstream proposals were from religious groups, as were a quarter of those ‘pre-approved’, or backed to open.
In wave five there were 50 applications to establish Free Schools, reduced from 263 in wave four. The reduction reflects the fact that the programme has moved from one application round a year to three, and also the introduction of the targeted basic need programme, which has a separate application process. Ten of the 50 were pre-approved, eight of which are mainstream, and two of which are designated as Christian. In total, 12 of the applications (or ten of the 40 mainstream applications) were for religious Free Schools. These included the two designated Christian applications, four Christian ethos applications (two were for alternative provision schools and the other two were withdrawn from assessment), two designated Hindu proposals, two designated Sikh proposals and two Muslim ethos proposals. For the first time, no applications were from groups where the BHA has concerns about creationism.
BHA Faith Schools Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘It is welcome to see no pseudoscientific groups applying to set up Free Schools, and this year also represents a drop in the proportion of applications from religious groups. But it is nonetheless concerning that a quarter of both those that applied and those that were backed to open were religious. State funded “faith” schools are legally able to discriminate in terms of their admissions policies, who they employ and what they teach. These issues are particularly acute with respect to Free Schools, which do not have to teach the national curriculum or hire qualified teachers, further enabling them to teach from a narrow, unshared perspective.’
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For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7324 3072.
See who the latest proposers are: https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/List-of-proposed-Free-Schools.xlsx
Read the previous BHA comments:
- ‘Government publishes list of proposed Free Schools for 2014’, 1 July: https://humanists.uk/2013/07/01/government-publishes-list-of-proposed-free-schools-for-2014/
- ‘Government announces ten new religious Academies in order to meet “basic need”’, 14 December: https://humanists.uk/2013/12/14/government-announces-ten-new-religious-academies-order-meet-basic-need/
- ‘More religious Free Schools announced’, 23 January: https://humanists.uk/2014/01/23/religious-free-schools-announced/
- ‘BHA concludes: no legal recourse to obtain names of Free School applicants from DfE in a timely manner leaves huge democratic deficit’, 27 January: https://humanists.uk/2014/01/27/bha-concludes-legal-recourse-obtain-names-free-school-applicants-dfe-timely-manner-leaves-huge-democratic-deficit/
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.