Discriminatory Changes in the Admission Rules for Faith Schools in the UK
According to the state school admission rules announced by the government, faith schools in England will no longer be required to offer half of their places to children who do not belong to the same faith. Until now, schools could fill up to 50% of their quotas with children of the same religious tradition, with the remaining quota filled by students from different religious groups. The change announced by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan means that faith schools in England will now only enroll students who belong to the same religious tradition.
Ruth Kelly, a former Education Secretary under Tony Blair, and her supporters celebrated the government’s announcement as a victory for the Catholic Church. Kelly, who is also the vice president of the Catholic Union, said, “I am pleased with the Education Secretary’s decision. The Catholic Church is one of the oldest education providers in this country, and Catholic schools consistently produce above-average results”, indicating that the decision is a deserved recognition of the success of Catholic schools and a vote of confidence in Catholic education.
A group including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and artists such as Philip Pullman and Ian McEwan, opposed the government’s decision, arguing that it would deny disadvantaged children access to local schools. Andrew Copson, the president of Humanists UK, stated, “The proposal to allow 100% religious discrimination in new state faith schools will increase religious and racial segregation in our schools at a time when integration and cohesion has never been more important”, noting that it will further disadvantage poor families or families belonging to other religions.
Stephen Evans, the president of the National Secular Society, stated that the government’s decision was “entirely misguided” and expressed concern over religious groups running more special schools. Evans highlighted that the rule allowing faith schools to only enroll students sharing their religion could create ethical problems regarding the imposition of religion and potentially expose vulnerable children to religious proselytizing. Out of the 20,000 state schools in England, more than 4,500 are Church of England faith schools, 1,955 are Catholic faith schools, and 139 belong to other Christian denominations. The country has only 34 Islamic, 50 Jewish, 12 Sikh, and two Hindu faith schools.