The number of places at Church of England secondary
schools that are subject to religious selection criteria has
increased in the last five years, a new report by Humanists
UK has found. Despite claims made by the Church
of England, including the
, that ‘there is a
steady move away from faith based entry tests’ in Church schools,
a survey of the admissions policies of all Church secondary
schools in England reveals that more than two thirds still
religiously select pupils, and a quarter to do so in allocating
all of their places.
Humanists UK, which believes that state-funded schools
should not religiously discriminate against children at all, has
called on the Church to either ‘do away with its hypocrisy’ or,
ideally, ‘do away with its discriminatory admission arrangements
altogether’.
The Church of England and its spokespeople have long tried
to portray the outlook of Church of England schools as broadly
inclusive and tending towards a rejection of discrimination in
their admission arrangements. Indeed, the Church’s 2017 ‘vision
for education’, entitled An education where no passports are
required, claims Church of England schools are ‘wide open to the
communities they serve’.
However, Humanists UK’s new report, entitled No Room at the
Inn: Exclusive admissions policies in Church of England secondary
schools, finds that the Church is falling some way short of
practicing what it preaches. Key findings include:
-
In the last five years, the number of
religiously selected places at Church of England secondary
schools has increased. This is particularly shocking given
the general decline of those belonging to the Church of
England, which fell from 21% of the population to 15% in the
same period. Average weekly Church attendance also fell from
2% to 1.7% of the population.
-
69% of Church of England state secondary schools have
policies that religiously discriminate in their admission
arrangements to some extent.
-
25% of Church of England state secondary
schools use religious selection criteria in allocating all of
their places.
-
One in four Church of England state secondary schools
prioritise families from faiths other than the Church over
children from non-religious families.
Humanists UK has drawn particular attention to the high
proportion of Church schools that prioritise children from any
religious background over all children from non-religious
families, describing this discriminatory practise as unwarranted
and suggestive of an offensive attitude to the 53% of the
population who identify as non-religious.
Finally, noting that for many Christians Christmas is a
time when minds turn to the story of a mother for whom there was
no room at the inn, the report calls on the Church to end its
hypocrisy and stop denying children access to their local state
schools.
Humanists UK Education Campaigner Jay Harman
commented, ‘The religious discrimination and segregation
present in our state education system has long been a source of
national shame. Indeed, if it were not so shameful, the Church of
England would presumably feel no need to go to such great lengths
in downplaying the extent to which it practices it. Regrettably,
both the Government and parts of the media have tended to take
the Church’s rhetoric at face value.
‘This report leaves the Church of England with nowhere to
hide. Not only do the majority of its schools continue to
discriminate against children in their admission policies, the
extent of that discrimination is increasing. If the Church truly
cares about the people it claims to serve, it will do away with
its discriminatory admission arrangements altogether. And if not,
the Government should require it to do so.’
Notes
Read the full report here: https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017-12-18-LW-v6-FINAL-No-Room-At-The-Inn.pdf
