British Humanist Association respond to C of E report on promotion of community cohesion in faith schools

Friday, 27 November 2009 12:00 AM

A study commissioned by the Church of England has declared that, among secondary schools, faith schools appear to have made a better start than community schools at meeting the legal duty that all maintained schools in England now have to promote community cohesion.

The duty was introduced by the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and came into effect on 1 September 2007. Schools' compliance with the duty is inspected by Ofsted.

Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said 'Some Church schools do appear to have shown a greater enthusiasm at reporting on the implementation of their duty to promote community cohesion than some community schools. However, the Church of England's report does not show that faith schools overall improve community cohesion, as the Church tries to claim.'

'The study ignores that, as a result of admissions policies based on religious discrimination, faith schools have a much greater need to promote community cohesion than others with a wider intake. As a result, faith schools get rewarded for holding exchanges with other faith schools whereas community schools by their non-selective intakes have pupils from different backgrounds who therefore learn from and about each other by their daily interaction without the need for special steps.'

'Moreover, there is no evidence of faith schools improving cohesion with the non-religious, even though most teenagers self-define as non-religious and this is not addressed by Ofsted reports.'

'Overall, the criteria that Ofsted uses to judge a school's compliance with the cohesion duty need to be made more comprehensive. It is absurd that Ofsted does not consider the admission policies and RE curriculum of faith schools when they have an enormous effect upon a school's ability to promote or undermine cohesion.'

Notes

For further comment or information, contact Andrew Copson on 020 7079 3584 or 07534 248596.

The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.

A survey in the report by the National Centre for Social Research 'Young People in Britain: The Attitudes and Experiences of 12 to 19 Year Olds' (2004) for the DfES showed that 65% of 12 to 19 year olds did not regard them self as belonging to any particular religion.

The report The School Admissions Report: Fair choice for parents and pupils (2007) by the Institute of Public Policy Research showed that faith schools which were their own admission authority were ten times more likely to be highly unrepresentative of their surrounding area than faith schools where the local authority was the admission authority.

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