Newsline 24 March 2017

Report confirms deep ethnic divisions in English faith schools

News | Thu, 23rd Mar 2017

A new report, Understanding school segregation in England, has set out the extent of ethnic and religious division in England's schools.

Faith schools "add a further layer of segregation due to the links between faiths and ethnicities," the report found, and this was particularly acute in minority faith schools.

More than 84% of non-Christian faith schools were considered to be segregated because of their disproportionate ethnic makeup and minority faith secondary schools were "even more likely" than minority faith primary schools to under-sample White British students". 64% of the small number of non-Christian secondary faith schools fell into this category, the research found, compared to 13% of schools on average.

The report also found that all "Faith schools at primary are more ethnically segregated than schools of no faith," and that segregation was "particularly pronounced" in Roman Catholic schools.

Government proposals designed to replace the 50% cap which limited new faith schools from making admissions decision on religious grounds were insufficient, the report said.

The report, produced by the Challenge, SchoolDash and the iCoCo Foundation, said that while proposals to increase contact between pupils in different schools were "helpful" they were "not a substitute for the day to day mixing of children at school."

Measures suggested by the Government include mixed-faith multi-academy trusts, twinning arrangements and token governors who are not of the same faith as the school.

None of these would be entirely sufficient, the authors concluded. Ongoing contact between pupils from different backgrounds in the same school and contact between their parents is essential and the measures proposed would not achieve this.

Education offers "the greatest opportunities" to provide young people with the "skills and experience" necessary to further integration, the report's authors wrote.

Additionally, the research found that secondary schools rated 'Inadequate' following Ofsted inspections "tend to be more ethnically segregated compared with neighbouring schools". The research also found that "the opposite is true" of secondary schools rated 'Outstanding'.

The report also noted that 80% of the children born of immigrant families "were in schools with high concentrations of other immigrant or disadvantaged pupils, reinforcing the interconnection between faith, ethnicity and social class."

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said, "This important research demonstrates again the need for a school system that brings pupils and parents from different communities and backgrounds together.

"We note the correlation between integration and performance."

Higher performance by faith schools is often cited in their defence, but the report noted evidence from the Education Policy Institute that faith schools "educate a lower proportion of pupils with special educational needs" and that the percentage of faith school pupils on free school meals is "below both the national average and the figure for non-faith schools".

Primary schools were "more likely to cater to more advantaged students," the researchers found.

To encourage school intakes that are "more representative of local communities" the Government should "set a clear direction to reduce the growth of school segregation and to reduce segregation wherever it is at a high level".

Inter-school measures like those proposed by the Government "should continue", but this "must not be seen as an alternative for school and community integration".

“Unacceptable” for Ultra-Orthodox faith schools to shun children with transgender parents, says DfE

News | Tue, 21st Mar 2017

The Department for Education is to investigate faith schools implicated in the ostracisation of children of transgender parents highlighted by a recent family court ruling.

In a letter to the National Secular Society, schools minister Lord Nash said the behaviour by schools referred to in the ruling was "unacceptable".

A family court judge raised serious concerns about the behaviour of Ultra-Orthodox Charedi schools when dealing with a case involving a transgender father who sought contact with their five children, who remained with their mother in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Mr Justice Peter Jackson ultimately ruled that the reaction of adults in the community would be so hostile that he could not permit the father's request. Despite Mr Justice Jackson believing the children could adapt to the changed circumstances and contact with their father, he found that the children would face severe ostracism from the community, were they to have any contact.

During the case the headteacher at one of the children's schools said that "the school would face tremendous pressure from the parent body, private donors and the governors, to suggest that the child find a more suitable educational environment" if they were in contact with their transgender father.

A teacher at another school attended by one of the children said there would be "pressure… not to allocate a place to any child who will bring these potential risks."

This teacher said it would be "very difficult" for the school to even "process an application for a child who fits the above description."

The National Secular Society was extremely concerned by the attitude of the schools exposed in the case, and wrote to the Department for Education.

The case "is clearly not an isolated incident," NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood wrote.

"We fear that these examples are symptomatic of a total unwillingness to expose children attending Orthodox religious schools to anything that does not fit in the 'fundamentalist communities' (the judge's words) world view."

"The court was even told of a case of a 15-year-old girl who was forced to move schools after being ostracised by parents and pupils because she had been 'sexually abused in the community'."

Lord Nash said "Schools must actively promote principles which encourage respect for other people".

"We are working with Ofsted to ensure that the relevant schools are inspected, paying particular attention to these standards. Where failings are found, we will not hesitate to take action".

The NSS also asked the Department for Education to set out what was being done to regulate illegal unregistered where intolerant attitudes were "likely to be particularly acute."

Lord Nash said the Government shared the NSS's concerns about unregistered schools, saying they were "illegal, unsafe and are denying pupils a good education."

The minister said that where "we find evidence that a school is operating illegally we will not hesitate to take action, which could include closing the school or working with the police as necessary."

He added that since January 2016 Ofsted inspections into unregistered schools had "escalated", with new inspectors "dedicated to identifying such schools" and a "tougher approach to prosecuting them".

Keep education and religion separate to boost science attainment, study suggests

News | Tue, 21st Mar 2017

A study by academics at Leeds Beckett University and the University of Missouri has found a strong "negative correlation" between time spent on religion in schools, and maths and science achievement.

The paper, published in Intelligence, demonstrates that more religious countries have lower educational performance in mathematics and science than less religious nations.

Researchers ranked 76 countries, including the UK, by their religiosity, using questionnaires carried out for the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey.

They found that time spent on religion in school has a negative correlation with educational performance in mathematics and science.

The academics suggested that an excess of religion in some country's curricula could lead to a "displacement of non-religious activities".

Professor Gijsbert Stoet of Leeds Beckett University, who led the research, said: "The findings support the idea of a 'displacement hypothesis' that when children spent more of their time on religion, they will spend less time on other things."

The study's authors suggested that this should be considered in the context of the UK government's plans for more faith-based free schools.

"Science and mathematics education [is] key for modern societies. Our research suggests that education might benefit from a stronger secular approach. In that context, the current UK policy of investing more money in faith-based [schools] should be reconsidered," Professor Stoet said.

"My advice for policy makers is to keep education and religion separate and take a secular approach to education and educational policy.

"The success of schools and education in general directly translates in more productive societies and higher standards of living. Given the strong negative link between religiosity and educational performance, governments might be able to raise educational standards and so standards of living by keeping religion out of schools and out of educational policy making."

He added that while it is "already known that faith schooling leads to segregation of communities", their research made clear that "religiosity is actually directly associated with lower performance."

Professor Stoet called for more research to be done into the impact of religiosity on education.

Read the paper, 'Students in countries with higher levels of religiosity perform lower in science and mathematics,' here.

LibDems back phasing out religious discrimination in school admissions

News | Mon, 20th Mar 2017

The LibDems have backed a series of reforms to the role of religion in the UK education system, in a motion approved at the Party's Spring Conference.

The Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference backed a statement calling for an end to religious discrimination in school admissions, and calling for the inclusion of non-religious worldviews in Religious Education (RE).

Councillor Lucy Nethsingha moved the motion, which acknowledged the historic role of religious organisations in increasing access to education but stated that "religious instruction should not be funded by the state."

The conference expressed its view that "selection in admissions on the basis of religion or belief to state-funded schools" should be phased out over the next six years.

The Government's policy of allowing new faith-based free schools to discriminate on religious grounds in all of their admissions has received cross-party condemnation, and the National Secular Society welcomed the Lib Dems' statement as a "clear sign that the Party will oppose religious discrimination."

The conference expressed its concern about the negative impact of faith schools on integration, and said that "children of different racial, religious, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds should be able to benefit from mixing together from an early age."

The motion said that the "segregation of school children" by religion is a "contributory factor or cause of communities failing to integrate or growing apart."

Toby Keynes, chair of Humanist & Secularist Liberal Democrats, called the vote a "terrific result" and said it was "clear that Liberal Democrat members have become far less willing to accept at face value the arguments that are put up in defence of faith-based selection."

In addition to tackling discrimination against pupils and their families, the conference called for new protection for staff employed in faith schools. It said teachers should be "employed only on the basis of merit" with no exemption to allow consideration of candidate's religious beliefs unless the staff are responsible for providing "religious instruction".

A "new approach" is needed to the role of religion in the state-funded education system, the conference said, and clear lines should be drawn between RE and "religious instruction".

RE should incorporate "all the major religious and non-religious viewpoints" and Ofsted should include the subject in its inspections. Currently RE is inspected by individuals appointed by school governing bodies in consultation with local religious leaders.

The current requirement to hold acts of collective worship should be repealed, the conference said, but any voluntary act of worship held by a school should be "optional" for staff and pupils, and there should be "meaningful alternative activities".