Humanists are very concerned that the principle of integrated education is under attack like never before in this country with the Government recently announcing plans to remove any limitations on the extent to which new faith schools can discriminate against children by religion.
Until now, a 50% cap on religiously selective admissions had been in place for all new faith schools but now the Government is pushing for absolute selection by religion as a result of lobbying from the Catholic Church and the Office of the Chief Rabbi.
Despite the Government’s claim that this is about ‘choice’, there is clear evidence that faith schools worsen social segregation in their local areas and reduce the ability of parents to find a good local school. In some parts of the country, they make it next to impossible for non-religious parents to send their child to any schools in their local area, forcing them to travel long distances at great expense during work hours.
Humanists believe that children from different backgrounds mixing, playing, and learning together is a good thing and that discriminating against children by their parent’s religion is wrong.
Professor Ted Cantle CBE, a leading expert in community cohesion and intercultural education, commented: “As someone whose work is concerned entirely with the promotion of community cohesion and integration, the Government’s proposals to drop the current requirement for new religious schools to keep at least half of their places open to local children, regardless of religion or belief, is incredibly worrying. Indeed, to give you an indication of the significance of this 50 per cent cap, and the damage that will be caused by dropping it, it represents the only measure of any substance, really in the history of the modern education system, that has directly sought to address the segregation that has been and continues to be caused by religious selection in schools.”
George Broadhead
Coventry & Warwickshire Humanists
Coventry & Warwickshire Humanists 