Memorandum submitted by the British Humanist
Association
ABOUT THE
BRITISH HUMANIST
ASSOCIATION
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national
charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning
for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on
religion or belief. Committed to human rights, democracy, equality
and mutual respect, the BHA works for an open and inclusive society
with freedom of belief and speech.
Our education policies arise out of humanist principles
and our concern for the common good and community cohesion, as
well as our awareness of the needs of non-religious people and
experience of working with members of religious groups.
The BHA is a respected and active member of many
organisations working in the area of education and always responds
to every relevant Government consultation on education. The BHA
also provides resources lists and materials to help teachers and
advisers, and advice to a wide range of individual enquirers,
including parents, governors, students, teachers, teacher trainers,
and academics.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The BHA has particular concerns about "faith
schools" and believes that Ofsted should address these much
more directly in its Section 5 and subject inspections.
2. Research demonstrates that community cohesion
and equality of opportunity are frequently hampered by the discriminatory
policies of "faith schools". We therefore strongly support
inspection judgements in these areas and would urge a review to
ensure that the criteria used are sufficient. The BHA also believes
that "faith schools" frequently struggle to provide
objective religious education (RE) and personal, social, health
and economic (PSHE) education and would support more rigorous
inspection processes for these subjects.
COMMUNITY COHESION
3. The BHA strongly supports Ofsted's duty to
report on the contribution made by schools to community cohesion,
which commenced in September 2008, and would vigorously oppose
any attempt to remove it. This inspection judgement is particularly
important in relation to "faith schools", whose populations
tend to be far from representative of their local communities.
4. Many "faith schools" can discriminate
against all pupils and staff on religious grounds, in numerous
cases excluding the majority of people who live or work in that
area. These "faith schools" are also free to teach their
own syllabus of Religious Education (RE), which is not required
to cover other religions and beliefs.
5. As the Ofsted guidance says, "where the
pupil population is less diverse or predominantly of one socioeconomic,
ethnic, faith or non-faith background, more will need to be done
to provide opportunities for interaction between children and
young people from different backgrounds."[16]This
interaction is vital for building strong communities with shared
values, yet it is often undermined by highly discriminatory admissions
and employment policies and narrow RE.
6. The Runnymede Trust's Right to Divide Report?
found that "faith schools are much more effective at educating
for a single vision than they are at opening dialogue about a
shared vision".[17]
Research by other academics has supported the view that "faith
schools" may have a negative impact on community cohesion.
Professor Ted Cantle, author of a report into community relations
in Blackburn, described religious schools as "automatically
a source of division" in the town.[18]
7. Schools have a vital role in building strong,
dynamic communities. It is therefore of the utmost importance
the Ofsted continues to evaluate how well "faith schools"
contribute to community cohesion. Indeed, we would urge a review
of whether the criteria used by Ofsted in judging schools' contributions
to community cohesion are sufficient. While school linking projects
and classroom discussions of diversity are commendable, inspectors
should also consider the impact on cohesion of discriminatory
admissions and biased RE lessons.
8. We would also support proposals, made by organisations
such as the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), to link
criteria related to the promotion of community cohesion to the
level of autonomy granted to schools.
EQUALITY OF
OPPORTUNITY
9. The BHA also strongly supports Ofsted's duty
to report on how effectively schools promote equality of opportunity
and eliminate discrimination. Again, this inspection judgement
is particularly important in relation to "faith schools",
who face particular challenges in relation to equality and discrimination.
10. A survey by Stonewall found that 75% of young
gay people in "faith schools" experience homophobic
bullying - compared with 65% in community schools - and are significantly
less likely than pupils in other schools to tell someone about
it. Only 4% of gay pupils felt able to tell their local religious
leaders about bullying.[19]
The same report found 47% of young gay
people who attended "faith schools" disagreed that their
school is an "accepting, tolerant place where they feel welcome".
This compares with 35% of young gay people in community schools.
11. Other concerns have been raised about the
promotion of gender equality in "faith schools". The
Right to Divide? report found that "there are some
particular challenges that exist for faith schools in confronting
gender inequalities that exist within faith traditions."
Those "faith schools" whose religious views strongly
advocate traditional gender roles and family structures may particularly
struggle in this regard.
12. A further obstacle to eliminating discrimination
is the experience of religious minorities within "faith schools".
Many VA "faith schools", while admitting the vast majority
of pupils on the basis of their parents' adherence to its religion,
admit a small number of children from other religious and non-religious
backgrounds. Little is known about the experiences of these pupils,
such as how their own beliefs are presented in RE lessons and
whether real efforts are made by the school to include them.
13. For these reasons, it is the BHA's view that
the evaluation of schools' effectiveness in promoting equality
of opportunity and eliminating discrimination should be an integral
part of the inspection process.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
14. It has long been the BHA's view that RE in
VA "faith schools" should be subject to the same Ofsted
inspection arrangements as in other schools.
15. VA schools with a religious character are
not obliged to follow the locally agreed syllabus and instead
can teach RE in accordance with the religion of the school. It
is for the governing body of the schools, rather than Ofsted,
to ensure that their RE is inspected under Section 48 of the Education
Act 2005. The governing body may choose any person to conduct
the inspection, although in practice this is usually the education
department of the school's diocesan authority.
16. The BHA has particular concerns about these
arrangements. RE in such schools is often confessional in nature,
with the aim of instructing children in the teachings of the school's
religion rather than empowering them to critically engage with
a range of beliefs. The Right to Divide? report found that
"By not engaging with locally agreed [RE] syllabuses or agreeing
to teach from a non-statutory framework, faith schools have missed
an opportunity to share their expertise more widely, and to capitalize
on their capacity to support learning about faith, faith diversity
and the role of faith in society."[20]
17. RE in these schools rarely explores other
religions in any academically rigorous way and will almost certainly
not include exploring non-religious views. Ethical issues such
as abortion or euthanasia are usually approached explicitly from
a religious perspective, which may not give pupils a balanced
view. It is unlikely that these schools will ever be made aware
of these problems while the provision of RE is inspected only
by the diocesan authority.
18. RE is viewed by most VA "faith schools"
as fundamental to the education they provide. Many Roman Catholic
schools, for example, describe the subject as the "core of
the core curriculum". The BHA believes it to be an unacceptable
anomaly that the teaching of a subject regarded as so essential
by the schools themselves is not evaluated impartially by independent
inspectors.
19. Subject inspections are used to feed into
Ofsted's judgements about particular subjects and form the basis,
in part, for Ofsted's long reports on the curriculum. However,
Oftsed's current picture of the teaching of RE is necessarily
incomplete since it automatically excludes the 22% of primary
schools and 16% of secondary schools which are VA "faith
schools".
20. As Ofsted notes, schools and colleges which
have had subject inspections in the past have generally been very
positive about them. The BHA believes that "faith schools"
and their pupils can only benefit from being subject to the same
inspection arrangements as other maintained schools.
INSPECTION OF
ACADEMIES
21. The Secretary of State for Education has
announced that schools previously judged outstanding will no longer
be subject to routine school inspection. It is the BHA's view
that all Academies and free schools should be inspected at least
every three years, as other schools are.
22. Unlike maintained "faith schools"
religious Academies do not have to follow the national curriculum,
are not covered by general education law and are outside local
authority control. They are therefore removed from the moderating
influence of the state and local community. There is still great
uncertainty as to how religious Academies and free schools will
use these freedoms.
23. There is a real risk that religious Academies
and free schools will choose to teach a narrow, religiously restrictive
curriculum. There are particular concerns about the teaching of
creationism, for example.
24. Speaking to the Education Committee shortly
after the Bill had received royal assent, the Secretary of State
Michael Gove said that "extremist groups" would not
be allowed to run schools and that creationism would not be allowed
to be taught in Academies and free schools. However, there is
nothing in the Academies Act or the model funding agreement to
prevent this.
25. These serious concerns make it all the more
important that Academies are subject to the same, if not more
stringent, inspection regimes as maintained schools.
PERSONAL, SOCIAL,
HEALTH AND
ECONOMIC EDUCATION
26. Because PSHE is not a statutory subject,
"faith schools" are free to teach it from an overtly
religious perspective. The BHA is particularly concerned that
the SRE components - if they are covered at all - may be taught
in ways that are homophobic and gender discriminatory or that
otherwise violate principles of human rights.
27. The SRE programmes of study in "faith
schools" are usually chosen by the diocesan authority and
vary widely in quality. Some programmes are published by third
party organisations, such as the "This is My Body" programme
for primary schools in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lancaster,
which is produced by the Society for the Protection Unborn Child
(SPUC).
28. Other examples include the "Evaluate:
Informing Choice" programme, published by anti-abortion group
CARE (who claim it has been studied by 64,000 students so far),
and the Right to Life Educational Trust's teaching packs which
have been sent to every "faith school" in the country.
29. The BHA also has concerns about the kinds
of external visitors which are invited to give presentation to
pupils as part of SRE lessons. Anti-abortion groups such as SPUC
and Life regularly visit schools (both religious and non-religious)
to deliver presentations on abortion, for example.
30. The BHA believes it is right that pupils
should have the opportunity to explore a range of religious and
non-religious perspectives on sex and relationships. However,
such views should never be allowed to interfere with pupils' entitlement
to objective and impartial information. As the recently published
draft guidance on PSHE from the National Institute for Clinical
Excellence (NICE) states, "Teaching should help pupils and
students to distinguish between facts and opinions."[21]
31. The draft government guidance on SRE issued
in January 2010 explicitly acknowledged the tension involved in
taking account of "the religious character of the school
while maintaining children and young people's need for and entitlement
to a comprehensive SRE programme"[22].
In light of the concerns described above, it is the BHA's view
that Ofsted guidance should require inspectors to judge how effectively
"faith schools" resolve this tension.
October 2010
16 Inspecting maintained schools' duty to promote
community cohesion: guidance for inspectors, Ofsted, February
2009 Back
17
Right to Divide?: Faith schools and community cohesion,
Rob Berkley, Runnymede Trust, 2008 http://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/RightToDivide-2008.pdf
Back
18 Comment
reported in "Cantle report: Blackburn a divided town",
Lancashire Telegraph, May 8 2009
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/4351852.Cantle_report__Blackburn_a_divided_town
Back
19
School Report: The experiences of young gay people in Britain's
schools, Stonewall, 2007
http://www.stonewall.org.uk/documents/school_report.pdf Back
20
Right to Divide?: Faith schools and community cohesion,
Rob Berkley, Runnymede Trust, 2008 http://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/RightToDivide-2008.pdf
Back
21
Public health draft guidance: School, college and community-based
personal, social, health and economic education focusing on sex
and relationships and alcohol education, NICE, 2010
http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/11673/49240/49240.pdf Back
22
Sex and relationships guidance to schools, DCSF, issued
for consultation January 2010 Back
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