Disadvantaged children ‘locked out’ of high-performing faith schools

A new Teach First report has raised fresh concerns that religiously selective admissions are locking disadvantaged children out of high-performing schools.

The report, Class dismissed: Closing the gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils, identified 88 state secondary schools where persistently disadvantaged pupils outperformed the national average for non-disadvantaged pupils in GCSE English and maths. However, it also found that faith schools were heavily over represented among this group, numbering thirty-three of the 88 schools listed.

The report warns that this over representation ‘must be considered carefully’ when interpreting the findings.

Admissions are highlighted as a key issue, with Teach First comparing its own research to previous Sutton Trust research showing that faith schools tend to admit fewer pupils eligible for free school meals than the average in their local authority. Teach First said its own persistent disadvantage data suggests a similar pattern and of the 33 faith schools in the high-performing group, only five had a proportion of persistently disadvantaged pupils equal to or higher than their local authority average. The report said this ‘highlights the role that admissions practices may play in shaping school level outcomes’.

Humanists UK has previously called on the UK Government to tackle faith-based admissions as part of its missions to support disadvantaged pupils, and said the findings of this report show that faith-based admissions make state-funded schools less representative of their local communities, including by excluding children from poorer backgrounds. It said ministers should not treat high results in some faith schools as evidence that religious selection works, but should instead look at whether all children have fair access to those schools in the first place.

Commenting on the report, Humanists UK Policy and Campaigns Manager Lewis Young said:

‘This report should ring alarm bells for ministers. It is not enough to point to good outcomes in some faith schools if disadvantaged children are being denied fair access to them in the first place.

‘Teach First’s findings show why admissions processes matter. When faith schools can select pupils by religion, their intakes can become less representative of local communities, and disadvantaged children can miss out on places at popular, high-performing schools.

‘If the Government is serious about breaking the link between background and educational outcomes, it must make sure that every child can access a good local school regardless of their family’s religion or belief.’