Michael Gove in religious schools rethink
In an effort to increase the take-up on his “free schools” idea, the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, may drop planned restrictions on religious groups being able to take part in the early wave of schools. Mr Gove had introduced the restriction fearing that, otherwise, “free schools” would become synonymous with “faith schools” as more and more religious bodies applied for state funding.
Michael Gove said “new free schools could still have a clear Jewish ethos and once the 50 per cent quota had been reached, the remainder of places could be filled with Jewish children – as long as the admissions board did not enquire about faith”
But now, the education secretary is reconsidering these restrictions, according to civil servants. The Government had predicted 200 academies would open this month, but the latest total reported is only 32, which is undermining Mr Gove’s credibility. So, by reversing his previous decision not to allow faith schools (called “religiously designated” in academy speak) into the 2011 wave, he could open many more academies in 2011 than would otherwise be the case. Deadlines, however, are closing in on Mr Gove. The state school admissions round for September 2011 begins next month.
Allowing religiously designated free schools/academies to open in 2011 will bring one issue to a head: what, if any, limits can there be to pupils selected by religious criteria. Several school groups are unhappy that application of the “50 per cent” rule which has applied with previous academies for religiously designated free schools/academies will unreasonably limit the intake of religious pupils.
Under the new academy rules, existing schools, including “faith schools” can convert to academies. Many voluntary aided “faith schools”, the most common category of faith school, can select all of their pupils on a religious basis, if they are oversubscribed. The Government caved in during the passage of the Academy Bill and has agreed to allow converting schools to retain their existing admission criteria. Having made this concession, though, those starting new academies now want them.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews sent a letter to supporters last month asking them to lobby MPs to have the 50 per cent maximum religious quota removed. Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the board, said on Friday that the rule would mean that Jewish free school groups would need to lay on “200 school places to find room for 100 Jewish kids”.
"Society at large will be the loser as every minority faith academy that is allowed to open deliberately declines the opportunity to build cohesion through inclusive schooling"
The Mill Hill Jewish Primary School group — a strong contender for opening in 2011 — has made a proposal that conforms with the rule. But its leader, Adam Dawson, a barrister, has also written to Mr Gove noting that his group was “very distressed by the inclusion in the proposed legislation of a quota-based admissions policy”.
However, Peter Kessler, a leader of the Haringey Jewish Primary School group (another strong 2011 candidate) supports inclusion. If there is great unmet demand for places at his school, he says, his school group would have “a model that can be expanded and replicated”.
In response, the Jewish Chronicle reported that Mr Gove had told them that “new free schools could still have a clear Jewish ethos and once the 50 per cent quota had been reached, the remainder of places could be filled with Jewish children – as long as the admissions board did not enquire about faith”. It might as well have added “so as well as we maintain this charade we can have the 100% anyway”.
Keith Porteous Wood commentd: “Religiously designated academies and free schools are going to be opened on a large scale. Public funds are going to be used to massively increase the self-imposed segregation of minority faith academies and the outrageous unfairness of privileged selection in church or Christianity based academies. The few to benefit will be those in minority faiths who prefer separatism, and the dwindling number of active Christians. Society at large will be the loser as every minority faith academy that is allowed to open deliberately declines the opportunity to build cohesion through inclusive schooling. The other losers will also be the majority of the population who are religiously unconcerned and not prepared to lie about their beliefs nor go to church to get their child into state funded education”.