Faith schools to become 'inclusive'

A quarter of places in new Church of England (CofE) schools will be made available to children from other religions, faith leaders have announced.

The chairman of the Church's board of education, Reverend Kenneth Stevenson, wrote to the education secretary, Alan Johnson, pledging a new commitment to open CofE school places to children from other faiths, or those from non-religious backgrounds.

The Roman Catholic Church has also said it would make reforms to the proportion of Catholics and non-Catholics at its schools, and consider the involvement of schools in the wider community to complement the government's drive for social cohesion.

In his letter to Mr Johnson, Rev Stevenson argued faith schools were "themselves a sign of inclusion and their very existence promotes community cohesion, which would be further enhanced by the development of robust and effective educational links between schools of a different character".

He said: "The Church of England is strongly committed to providing schools that are distinctively Christian and at the same time inclusive."

Archbishop of Birmingham Reverend Vincent Nichols said the Roman Catholic Church would "revise our inspection frameworks to ensure that judgements about the contribution that Catholic schools and sixth form colleges make to social cohesion are placed in the public domain".

Rev Nichols added that the church supported the government in promoting "genuine inclusion in our society, particularly in some of the most deprived areas of the country".

The pledge follows a 2001 Home Office report on the race riots in Bradford, Oldham and Burnley. It called for "community cohesion" recommending schools with a religious ethos – one third mainstream state schools – offered at least a quarter of their places to pupils from other backgrounds.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has welcomed the decision. Alan Johnson commented: "A good education is one of the best ways of building understanding of the many issues that unite us, as opposed to the few that divide."

Insisting the government wanted to preserve the benefits of faith schools, which he praised for raising educational standards and offering choice, he added: "Today's announcement by both churches demonstrates an important commitment to community cohesion and high quality education for all."

Education is about more than good exam results, Mr Johnson said, and schools must have "the right ethos which encourages social responsibility, high aspirations, good citizenship and mutual understanding".

However, the British Humanist Association (BHA) has criticised today's announcement as "the reinforcement of selection by religion".

"Young people will still be subject to a religious test to gain access to faith schools, only now it will be selection of two different kinds," said BHA education officer Andrew Copson.