Faith schools
The Government is encouraging religious organisations to take over schools but is this what parents and students want?
The issues
- In England, 6885 schools have a religious character of which 6841 (99.36%) are Christian, 36 are Jewish, 5 Muslim, 2 Sikh and 2 other. (DfES, 2005).
- Many religious schools teach some aspects of other faiths, but they are not legally required to.
- Faith schools usually give preference in their admissions policy to children of a particular denomination.
- Supporters of faith schools from Britain's religious minorities say they give children confidence, enable them to learn about their own culture, strengthen their communities and help them respond to racism.
- Opponents of faith schools from religious minorities argue that they create barriers, separating their children from the wider society and from other communities, weakening their ability to fight racism.
- City Academies are state schools that are privately sponsored. The sponsoring organisation – in many cases, a church or Christian charity – puts in £2 million and the Government adds about £25 million for new buildings. The sponsor is then free to decide how the school will be run.
- In many areas City Academies are replacing local comprehensive schools. If the Education and Inspections Bill becomes law, it is likely that Trust Schools will do the same. The churches are poised to run many of them.
- Supporters of church schools say they achieve higher exam results and give students a better chance of success.
- Opponents of church schools claim that their exam success comes from using their admissions policies to select academic high fliers 'by the back door'.
The great faith schools debate
At the beginning of March, following a programme called The New Fundamentalists, we asked: Do you think the state should fund faith schools? A fantastic discussion took off immediately on the Channel 4 Culture Forum. By the middle of July, with an incredible 3,118 posts filling 156 pages, and having detoured into numerous related topics, the debate was finally beginning to calm down.
Integration vs segregation
The opening salvos came from opponents to faith schools. 'How can a multicultural society really integrate and learn from one another when Government seeks to build cocoons for each religious group to grow up in?' asked one contributor.
A supporter of this view said: 'While we're at it we could also consider funding Labour, Tory and LibDem schools, along with Santa schools, Moustache schools, Bald schools, Midget & Pixie schools.'
Who pays?
There was concern about the fact that the academy system allows rich individuals and organisations to influence the curriculum in schools that they sponsor. Some contributors, though, described their positive experiences of faith schools, arguing that taxes should pay for religious education for their children, if they want it.
One person wrote: 'Our education system has been based historically on faith and didn't do to bad a job in the past.' Others argued forcefully for the separation of church and state.
Science and faith
There was a spate of posts – mainly from ex-students – vigorously defending the academies run by the evangelical Christian Vardy Foundation but many people were particularly worried about the teaching of creationism in science lessons in those schools. Creationists weighed in to argue their corner and soon there was a long-running and mostly well-informed and sophisticated discussion of evolution, religious belief, scientific theory and what counts as evidence.
One Christian wrote: 'When I was at school there was no debate, only evolution was presented and other views were squashed, disapproved of and ridiculed.' Quick as a flash came the response: 'Flat Earth Theory is totally ignored too, there was absolutely no debate about the shape of the earth when I was in school. Only the Spherical Earth Theory was presented...'
Well-matched
The atheists were often as well versed in theology and the Bible as their religious sparring partners, making it an educational experience to follow the discussion down its many tracks, sometimes reaching dead ends but often leading to better understanding of difficult issues. It was surprising, too, to discover that in the 21st century so many people want and need a debate about the role and influence of religious institutions in secular society.
When it looked as though the discussion might be drawing to a close, one contributor wrote: 'It was fun, maybe we can get it published as a book!'. That would be some editing job! In the meantime, you can read the whole discussion at Faith schools.
Have your say in our Culture Forum >
