Secular schooling? Forget it says the Church, and the Government obediently toes the clerical line

The Observer reported on Sunday on how the Government and the Church had stamped on the plans of a head teacher to create a school free from religious proselytising.

Dr Paul Kelley, head of Monkseaton High School on Tyneside – the first to join the government's flagship 'trust school' scheme – wanted to challenge the legal requirement that all state schools for pupils to take part in a daily act of worship of a broadly Christian nature. He also wanted to change the way religion was taught – opening the subject up to many more world views and removing the proselytising element which is so evident at the moment.

The Observer reported Mr Kelley as saying: “'We wanted a fundamental change in the relationship with the school and the established religion of the country.” He said that the Government accepted that such a school would be popular but said it was “politically impossible.'”

Mr Kelley was told by a senior figure in the then Department of Education and Skills that any attempt to create such a school would be blocked by the Bishops in the House of Lords. They told him that religion was “technically embedded” in many aspects of education.

Faith schools, says Mr Kelley, 'directly or indirectly influence children into a belief that a particular faith is preferable either to other faiths or to a lack of faith'. He adds: 'That is not, in my view, fair to a child and it is not offering them the opportunity to choose freely. The problem we are left with is a 19th-century architecture of education in a 21st-century environment.' He argues that there should be no legal requirement for religious education teaching, although he would still teach pupils about different religions.

Kelley said he had not given up on his plans but realised he could not change things by himself. Instead, he is hoping other schools might join his campaign.

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, who is himself a non-believer, said: 'The majority of schools do not have a religious character, and are not affiliated to any faith group. But where the local community wants a school of a religious character, the government continues to support them as part of our commitment to enable parents, where possible, to send pupils to schools of their choice.

'All schools, faith and non-faith alike, must teach religious education as part of the basic curriculum. In maintained schools without a religious character, this will focus on learning about different religions and the role they play in today's world, not religious instruction.'

A spokesman for the Church of England rejected the idea of a secular school out of hand. 'If he is arguing for a way for individual schools to opt out of those bits of the Act he does not like, that is not something we would support. Either overtly or by default, this country is still a Christian one.'

Meanwhile, the Education Secretary, Ed Balls was asked in a Q&A session in the Independent, “Why are you handing over swathes of our education system to segregating, minority faith institutions?”, He gave the standard government response: “I'm not handing over anything. The Government has no policy to increase the number of faith schools. But the fact is 1.7 million children are already being educated in nearly 7,000 faith schools. That's one third of all our schools, of which 99 per cent are C of E or Catholic, and many have existed for centuries. It's my job to make sure all schools, including faith schools, have fair admissions and promote community cohesion which is why I have challenged faith leaders to work with the Government to ensure that all faith schools properly reflect the communities they serve and do not favour the rich of the faith over the poor of the faith.”

At a fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference later in the week, Mr Balls was again challenged about the Government’s inexplicable enthusiasm for so much religion in education. Once more he tried to justify the presence of so many religious schools, but when pressed he said that he accepted recent research that shows that Church schools do not reflect the communities in which they are situated, and give preference to children from more affluent backgrounds. He said there would be a “crackdown” on covert selection in “faith schools”, but otherwise he thought they were a good idea.

The prevailing opinion is that any challenge to “faith schools” would be political suicide. At the same time, no evidence is put forward to support this. Opinion polls show consistently that a majority of parents are against the concept of faith schools, but those who try to get their children into them do so because of the many privileges these schools enjoy.

But dismantling a system of religious schooling can be done. In Canada where the debate over religious schools is raging in the Ontario election, a news article reveals that Newfoundland secularised its school system ten years ago. After a referendum, all religious schools were brought into a secular state system. The religious are still whingeing about it, but most people agree it is all for the best. Read the story here.

The Ontario experience is showing that the proposal to create “faith-based schools” is wildly unpopular and is likely to be the issue that decides the election. The man who thought the idea up is sticking to his guns, but it’s likely to be the end of him.
Read the story here.
See also:
Quakers try to put a “gentle” spin on faith school argument
One-fifth of school children from ethnic minorities

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