Who are state schools for?

Last Friday, the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, opened a Catholic school in the London Borough of Richmond. The St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, which houses both a primary and secondary school, became the centre of a controversy last year, when local parents and secular groups tried to stop it from opening.

The parents and campaigners – including the British Humanist Association – opposed the opening of the school because, even though it would receive state funding, as a Catholic College its admissions policies would favour the children of actively religious Catholic parents. The campaigners wished that instead of a religious institution, the new school should be set up as an academy that would reserve places for non-religious families. The bid to block the Catholic schools got to the High Court, where it was dismissed in November.

During his homily at the opening ceremony, the Archbishop, who is the most senior Catholic cleric of England and Wales, accused those opposed to the schools for “sowing division” in the community. State supported Catholic education, he says, is beneficial for social cohesion and a right of (religious) parents:

“A Catholic school is a response to the proper and legitimate expectations that parents can look to the state to help them to educate their children in the faith and way of life which is precious to them. In this way a Catholic school contributes to social cohesion by respecting the rights of parents and by maintaining educational diversity. This parental right is enshrined in European Conventions.”

The Archbishop’s comments came at a quite an awkward time, as on Saturday the Fair Admissions Campaign released results of a research that put state-funded faith schools under a rather negative light. The research in question focused on the most socio-economically selective state secondary comprehensives in England. Schools were ranked according to how unrepresentative they are of their local areas in the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals (i.e. who come from households earning less than £16,000). The research found that out of the top 20 “worst offenders,” 18 are faith-based schools. For example, in St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School in Bristol, only 8% of the pupils qualify for free school meals, while in its Middle Super Output Area (geographical area roughly equivalent in size to its intake) 51% of pupils in general are eligible.

The research also suggested that many faith schools are – deliberately or unwittingly - using overly complex admission criteria that lead to the socio-economic imbalances in school intakes. Some religious schools, such as the London Oratory in Fulham, have indeed recently been ordered by the School Adjucator to rewrite their admissions policies.

In the vein of the Archbishop of Westminster, many religious leaders nevertheless defend state-funded faith schools. For instance, Nigel Genders, head of school policy for the Church of England’s education division said:

“CofE secondary schools/academies do not select on the basis of parental income or wealth. If they have a faith-based admissions policy, it is based on church attendance, and this is legitimate. The Church of England is free to enter, always open, and welcomes all-comers through its doors.”

But, not all religious authorities agree. Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, who chairs the Accor Coalition for inclusive education, wrote on the Telegraph:

“It is astonishing that faith schools, whose remit should be to look after the needy and vulnerable, seem to be ignoring them; it suggests that an admissions policy based on faith selection has become a back door for socio-economic selection, and that is deeply troubling.”

So it appears that state-funded faith schools may not be the key to improving social cohesion. Maybe instead of the parents’ right to get their children educated according to their preferred way of life, we should focus on the children’s right to attend school regardless of their wealth or beliefs.