Faith Schools

When the Runnymede Trust published a report entitled, Right to Divide? Faith Schools and Community Cohesion, there was a good deal of media attention.  It quickly became apparent that the debate on faith schools was very much a live one.  It was also apparent that St George's House was ideally placed to bring together key people around this particular issue.  The Consultation, under the banner,Faith Schools: Freedom of Choice or Recipe for Division, focused on a number of areas:

Faith Schools and Questions of Principle

Is their primary objective to serve their faith community or to serve the local community? Is there a clash of loyalties between religious interests and the national interest, or do they coincide? If the state is prepared to fund faith schools at all, is it democratically bound to support schools of all faiths? 

The Effect of Faith Schools - Religiously

Are faith schools the best way of teaching religion - how effective are they compared to education in the home and religious classes/Sunday schools? Is it their intention to inculcate their particular faith and attempt to ensure loyalty to it in adulthood? Is this education? Is it indoctrination?

The Effect of Faith Schools - Socially

In a multicultural society, do faith schools enhance social cohesion or limit it or endanger it? Should faith schools benefit from the public purse?  If so, does that support bring with it certain obligations?  Should faith schools be required to take pupils of other faiths?  If so, how would such quotas be set?  Would it contribute to inter-faith understanding or simply embed difference? To what extent do such schools teach about other faiths and cultures?  How well do they equip their pupils to be part of wider society?  Do they contribute to effective citizenship?  Are faith schools a democratic right or are we subscribing to educational apartheid? What does the evidence say?

The Effect of Faith Schools - On Pupils

The recent Runnymede Report recommended that children 'should have a greater say in how they are educated.' Do faith schools contribute to this ethos? Do they serve their pupils best interests or do some faith schools restrict them (e.g. by not teaching pupils information about creation or sex, or limiting girls to certain subjects)?

The Effect of Faith Schools - On Staff

 What are the implications of faith schools for staff employment?  Are there implications for teacher training institutions?

The Consultation brought together academics, people from the religious life, secularists, opinion formers, educationalists and others .  To read Rabbi Romain's introductory remarks click here.