House of Commons - Children, Schools and Families Committee

Diversity of School Provision - Children, Schools and Families Committee Contents

Memorandum submitted by the British Humanist Association (BHA)

The BHA has many decades of experience in education, working for inclusive and accommodating community schools, for fair, balanced and objective beliefs and values education and for a broad and genuinely educational curriculum. We consider that all of these aspirations are jeopardised by the dismantling of our state education system which the proliferation of Academies and Trust Schools represents.

We know that the Committee will have access to many documents which make objections to the broader Academies agenda, and so we concentrate in this memorandum on the areas in which we have the greatest expertise and most detailed experience since 2001—the proliferation of state-funded Academies and schools controlled by religious organisations. A great number of Academies fall into this category—up to a third so far. As one commentator has put it, "The academies programme is without doubt a means of spreading the influence of faith schools in the education system."[2] We agree.

The BHA was in the forefront, in early 2002, of bringing the teaching of creationism in Academies to public attention. We have continued to have serious concerns about the extreme religious agenda of some religious organisations in control of state-funded Academies, and the lower level discrimination operated by the less extreme religious organisations, such as the Oasis Trust, or the United Learning Trust.

Some of the discriminatory and counter-educational practices permitted to state-funded religious Academies are also permitted to state-funded religious schools—discrimination in admissions and employment, for example, or the ability to teach a curriculum of RE different from that taught in schools without a religious character. But all this is exacerbated by the fact that they—like all Academies—stand outside of education law as it has developed in England over the last 60 years. And when a religious Academy is accused of using its money to assist its sponsor's private endeavours, the justified opprobrium that would attach to a secular sponsor doing so is augmented by the fact that in this case, public money is being used for the promotion of religion. For example, "The Grace Academy in Solihull... has paid £53,000 in the past two years to Christian Vision, a charity founded by Mr Edmiston, an evangelical Christian, to promote the religion around the world".[3]

In three specific areas, the growth of religious Academies presents long term problems for the future of our education system: in admissions, in employment, and in the curriculum.

1. DISCRIMINATION IN ADMISSIONS

State-funded religious Academies are not as likely to discriminate in their admissions policies as religious schools but some do:

— In London the Grieg City Academy discriminates in favour of Christians and other religions and the St Paul's Academy in favour of Christians.

— The St Francis of Assisi Academy in Liverpool discriminates in favour of Anglicans and Catholics.

Such selection is divisive and inequitable and research report after research report has demonstrated that it benefits those from higher socio-economic backgrounds.[5]

2. IMPACT ON TEACHERS

Academies with a religious character are able to discriminate in employment by requiring that certain staff have a commitment to the religion of the organisation in control of the Academy. This has negative consequences for the employment or promotion prospects of teachers who are not of the religion of the organisation—this is particularly inequitable when they may have previously been employed at the community school supplanted by the Academy, and had no intention of ever having to work in a religious school.

Further, it is not in the best interests of pupils and parents—Education Data Surveys' 22nd Annual Survey of Senior Staff Appointments in maintained schools in England and Wales (2007) showed that over 50% of Catholic schools seeking head teachers could not find one and that Church of England schools also found it more difficult than community schools to find new heads. Academies that discriminate on religious grounds are similarly depriving themselves of potentially effective staff.

The Oasis Trust has stated its intention to discriminate in the employment policies of its Academies, and the employment policies of other Academies controlled by religious organisations have also come in for criticism.

Dr Simon Valentine reported a very unsettling experience when applying for a teaching post at King's Academy, controlled by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation:

3. DISTORTION OF THE CURRICULUM AND CREATION OF AN EXCLUSIVE "ETHOS"

Academies controlled by religious organisations are allowed to attempt to impose a religious ethos, which may be marginalising and oppressive for many pupils, staff and parents.

Such a blatant abuse of the human right to freedom of conscience and religion is a disgrace to our education system, but it is a constant concern where Academies are controlled by religious organisations: "[one academy] has been given permission to teach the entire curriculum in a Christian context",[8] reported one journalist last year, and the problem with Academies controlled by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation is made vivid when one reads the material produced by its staff—on science teaching, for example:

or on sex education:

Concerns over the teaching of creationism in state-funded religious Academies have been well reported for some years, but the influence of religious agendas on the wider curriculum can be just as pernicious and requires further study.

4. CONCLUSION

It is hard to build a complete picture of the practices of state-funded religious Academies. Because they are so autonomous, and their admissions, employment, RE curricula and worship requirements are built into their funding agreements with the Secretary of State, it would require some work to build a full picture. We strongly urge the Committee to discover:

— How many and which Academies discriminate in their employment policies on religious grounds;

— How many and which Academies discriminate in their admissions policies on religious grounds; and

— How many and which Academies do not follow the locally agreed syllabus for RE.

These objectionable practices are not the limit of the damaging effects of religiously-controlled state-funded Academies. Just as grievous can be the imposition of an "ethos" distinctive of a particular religion on a school population which is comprised of many religions as well as of non-religious people. Nothing could resolve this concern apart from a change in the law to prevent Academies from having a religious character and requiring them to be fully inclusive and accommodating institutions, and this to we urge the Committee to recommend.

March 2008