|
|
Quotations
on the social divisiveness of faith schools |
|||
|
Gurbux Singh, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality Faith schools could damage multicultural integration, the chairman of the Commission for Racial equality, Gurbux Singh, warned. Mr Singh cautioned against "large-scale separation and segregation" of ethnic groups and said he found residential and educational "segregation" alarming. He said serious debate on the issue was needed. [The Independent, 27/10/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
From the "Cantle report" on the race riots in Oldham, Bradford etc in Summer 2001 5.6 Integration and Segregation 5.6.1 These concepts are often posed as alternatives and can therefore hinder a sensible debate. In fact, there are many different layers which need to be separated and considered. For example, communities can often be divided into distinct housing areas and many schools (including the existing faith schools - mainly Christian) can appear to foster separation. 5.6.7 Further, the development of potentially more segregated communities - for example through more mono-cultural schools, or the creation of housing areas, which are likely to be dominated by a particular community - should be balanced by action which fosters understanding of other communities. This should represent a very significant commitment and must be proportionate to the extent to which a community is separated at different levels. In other words, a new housing area or school which reinforces the pre-existing separation by employment, social, cultural, religious, geographic and other factors, will require a major programme to foster understanding of other communities on an ongoing basis. 5.7.1 We have been particularly struck by the views of younger people, who, in strong terms, emphasised the need to break down barriers by promoting knowledge and understanding of different cultures. 5.7.2 Younger people were seen to be leading the process of transition and should be given every encouragement to develop it further. Many of those we spoke to preferred integration on many levels and those who had experienced schools with a mixture of faiths, races and cultures were very positive about that environment… The complete separation of communities based on religion, education, housing, culture, employment etc., will, however mean that the lack of contact with, and absence of knowledge about, each other's communities will lead to the growth of fear and conflict. The more levels upon which a community is divided, the more necessary and extensive will be the need to foster understanding and acceptance of diversity. 5.7.4 It is particularly important to target such programmes at younger people (though not exclusively so), as they are more receptive to change and their early views will shape their future lives… the promotion of such knowledge and understanding about cultures outside the school would be easier where the intake had a better mix of cultures and faiths, as this would also allow friendship and parental networks to naturally develop more easily. We are concerned that some existing faith schools appear to be operating discriminatory policies where religious affiliations protect cultural and ethnic divisions… 5.8.8 Many people expressed views about 'segregated' or mono-cultural schools, including those which are faith based. Most people we spoke to felt that more such schools would add to the lack of contact and understanding between communities and we need to break that down. Nevertheless, there was also a clear recognition that as faith based Christian schools were already supported, fairness demanded that the same facility should be available to the Muslim and other communities. 5.8.9 There was also recognition that additional faith based schools would make little difference, given that many schools are already dominated by one or another ethnic or religious group, due to the segregated nature of catchment areas, (and feeder schools/school family designations) admissions policies or, parental choice. Further, in order to be able to offer all parents a faith school of their choice, a large number of such schools would be required and would simply not be practical. 5.8.10 In any event, the simple extension of faith schools raises questions about the nature of all such schools. [published 12 December 2001] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Community Pride not Prejudice - the report by Lord Ouseley for Bradford Vision, July 2001 BRADFORD DISTRICT has witnessed growing divisions among its population along race, ethnic, religious and social class lines - and now finds itself in the grip of fear...Fear of confronting all white and/or all Muslim schools about their contribution, or rather lack of contribution, to social and racial integration… What was most inspiring was the great desire among young people for better education, more social and cultural interaction … Some young people have pleaded desperately for this to overcome the negativity that they feel is blighting their lives and leaves them ignorant of other cultures and lifestyles… There are signs that communities are fragmenting along racial, cultural and faith lines. Segregation in schools is one indicator of this trend… There is "virtual apartheid" in many secondary schools in the District. Parental prejudices are fed to children with detrimental results in attitudes and behaviours. Race/ethnicity is an issue of real concern for schools when they are predominantly of one ethnic or monocultural composition. Admission policies and catchments have failed to bring about mixing, sharing and integrating -instead encouraging segregation and separation… People's negative attitudes about each other are formed and influenced in education, through the media, family and friends, and on the streets. These are deeply held attitudes and perceptions. They also restrict social interaction between different cultural groups, with the main casualties being young people who are discouraged by their parents and peer groups from mixing, interacting and socialising… The following supplementary schools are registered with the LEA:
[I]nterfaith education provided in supplementary schools contributes significantly to the 'polarisation' of the community, with membership being open to people of the same faith. ________________________________________ |
||||
|
OPINIONS FROM SIXTH FORMERS of all communities - especially girls - show a desire to mix across racial divides and frustration at "not knowing any Asians" or "not meeting many white people". [Report on survey attached to the Ouseley report on Bradford, Martin Wainwright, The Guardian, 11/7/01] ________________________________________ SCHOOL GIRLS in the audience from Bradford's (predominately Asian) Grove school spoke about their frustrated desires for multi-racial education, thwarted by parents who ‘through fear, not racism, sent them to Muslim schools. [The Independent, 13/7/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
"Young sceptics say faith schools breed racism" - Save the Children report Pupils say Government plans for more religious and specialist secondaries will increase racism and encourage them to play truant…Pupil discussion groups run by Save the Children reveal widespread opposition to more faith-based schools and confusion and scepticism about specialist schools…Pupils wanted to mix with and learn from classmates of other religions and backgrounds. One said: "I like all religions and faiths - this will increase racism. This is a very bad idea." Another said: "It would be a good idea if people from different faiths went to the same school so we could learn from each other." [Times Education Supplement, 17/8/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
I LIVED FOR A MONTH in the city in the late 1960s, on the same Manningham Lane that caught fire last week…One thing alone worried local officials, the emerging segregation of the school system. Desperate to keep their schools "inter-faith", they knew that if the Muslims founded their own schools, the city would divide. The officials succeeded then, and were right to do so. There is no more glaring example of brainless central government than the new Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, last month offering grants to set up 100 new "faith-based" secondary schools, on the same day that an Oldham head teacher pleaded against such religious segregation. What madness has seized the Education Department? The path to Northern Ireland's troubles always lay through the religious segregation of its young. A coherent urban policy for England is defenceless against some idiot focus group declaring "religious, good; comprehensive, bog-standard" - and a weak minister not having the guts to say no. [The Times, 11/7/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Darcus Howe, writer and social commentator Isolating blacks and Asians in faith schools is immoral. And what is morally wrong cannot be politically right. The experience of Pakistanis in Bradford is of isolation, and to reproduce this throughout the new communities is to set up disaster. [New Statesman, 29/11/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Dr Jonathan Romain, rabbi of Maidenhead Synagogue If Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other children do not mix - and nor do their families - they become ignorant of each other, then suspicious, fearful and hostile…There is no doubt that those promoting faith-based schools have laudable intentions, but it may prove a retrograde step, and government ministers should reconsider their support. The current disruptions in our cities should be a warning to improve mainstream schools: their academic standards, moral basis and social climate. Schools should be used to build bridges, not erect barriers. [The Times, 26/7/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
…At present, schools offer a unique opportunity to bring children together of different communities (and often with their parents in tow) whilst still maintaining their own faith traditions. It may be a balancing act, but is far better than creating an educational apartheid system. If it is felt that the current approach to religious education and values in schools is inimical to faith communities, be they Christian, Muslim or any other, then the answer is not to separate the children but to re-evaluate those policies and strengthen the respect given to religious sensibilities. It would be tragic if in 30 years' time we were to look back at today and wonder why we had allowed ourselves to create even greater social divisions in the country by isolating large sections of society from each other and sowing seeds of ignorance and mistrust. Now is the time to avoid making that mistake. [Letter to The Times, 29/11/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
I was brought up in 1960s Manchester and Blackpool as a northern English Jew, exposed to a wide multiculturalism before the word was invented…This worry about separation comes from my own experience. Judaism and Islam are profoundly patriarchal religions and girls will never have the opportunity to taste the choices offered in the secular world if they are restricted to single faith schools and prevented from mixing with other cultures…Why not abolish all faith schools and remove the morning religious service from state schools? Let's go for a completely secular system and leave religion to the home. [The Guardian, 13/12/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
As a British Hindu, I certainly do not want separate schools; I certainly do not want to be treated any differently from the rest of the population, and I do not want to be represented by a Hindu "parliament". I do want to enjoy and to celebrate freedom of worship, freedom under the law and the great tolerance of the British people. [Letter to The Times, 17/12/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Lord Alli, Labour's most prominent Muslim peer, demanded a rethink last night of government plans to open new faith schools. He fears they will exacerbate racial tensions in Britain's inner cities. The founder of the Planet 24 television production company said that the attacks on America had underlined the need for all countries to reduce fear and tension within their communities. "Anything which encourages isolation and segregation in communities through education - where people usually have the chance to learn about co-existence - is a recipe for disaster." [The Times, 22/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, social researcher, journalist, Muslim Traditional Multiculturalism proposes the path of least resistance to deal with the many anachronisms, protections and privileges which the Church of England receives…Most importantly, traditional multiculturalists believe that equity means that funding Church of England, Roman Catholic and Jewish schools must also mean state funding for Muslim and Hindu schools where there is sufficient demand, as there often clearly is. After Multiculturalism, we need to take a different approach - to fairly represent the society we live in without breaking it up further into minority groups aided and abetted by the State. The Church of England would be disestablished; the blasphemy laws should be scrapped, not extended, and there should not be state funding for state schools of any religion. [From After Multiculturalism, The Foreign Policy Centre, May 2000] ________________________________________ "I'm Muslim, and my husband is Christian. We wanted to send our daughter, Leila, to a school teaching all major faiths equally, but it wasn't an option. So now we teach her about Islam at home and send her to a C of E primary school. To get in, she had to be baptised and attend church regularly. I don't think such restrictions are good for the community." [Source???] ________________________________________ I feel ever more strongly that too much power has been given to black and Asian "community", and now religious, spokespeople, who only want to create high-pressure ghettos which imprison the young in the name of "culture" or, these days, faith. Herman Ouseley's incisive report on Bradford…was seriously critical of these policies. [The Independent, 10/12/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Richard Bentley, Priest in Charge, St Peter's, Petersham IN ITS INDECENT HASTE to benefit from the Government's misguided delight in church schools, the Church of England is colluding with forces which continue to divide society and disinherit children. Church members should only feel shame at the repeated assertion that the quality of church schools is somehow superior to the love and professional dedication shown by staff in state schools…It is these schools, truly open to applications from all races and religions, which have the moral and professional authority to claim that they have at heart the good of our whole society. [Letter to The Independent, 15/2/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Rev Paul King, Methodist Minister, Edinburgh Methodist ministers are not supposed to agree with Professor Richard Dawkins, and often I do not, but he is quite right to oppose faith schools. He is absolutely right to flag up the inappropriateness and even danger of encouraging faith schools, which are almost bound to encourage attitudes that we desperately need to eradicate. Can we not learn to bring our children together at an early stage, to affirm their common humanity and, yes, provide them with a first class education in religion and ethics, not on the basis of a single faith but on the basis of needing to know and understand all options? [Letter to Editor, 6/1/02, The Observer] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Bob Holman, Christian, Glasgow Not all Christians are in favour of faith schools. It is not just that they are religiously divisive. Parents send children to them to improve their academic performance and social standing with little regard for others. If Christians - and others - believe in a more equal society then surely our children should attend the local comprehensive and mix with, benefit from and contribute to children of all classes. [Letter in The Observer, 7/10/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Matthew F Smith, Information Officer, Unitarian Church Headquarters Not all faith communities welcome the prospect of an increase in the number of state-funded religious schools. The move is strongly opposed by the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches. As religious liberals, Unitarians see the proposals as a retrograde step which can only impede the integration of Britain's pluralist communities and may well contribute to social tension… Rather than encouraging sectarian schooling, such as exists in Northern Ireland, the Government must focus its undivided attention on improving schools across the board… [Letter to The Independent, 10/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Professor Harminder Singh, President, Sikh Divine Fellowship; Co-chairperson, World Conference on Religion and Peace; Member of Advisory Committee, International Interfaith Centre, Oxford It is the confusion between religion and politics that has caused problems in places like Israel and Kashmir. I don't agree with the idea of separate religious schools either. I understand that there are people who want to have Muslim schools, Hindu schools, and Sikh schools. But this is a hindrance to getting communities properly integrated. What we will have instead is segregation. [ From a Guardian on-line discussion] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Labours's policy of increasing the number of faith-based schools was strongly criticised by Naman Prewal [CHECK!!] a delegate [at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool] from Hounslow, West London, won applause for saying religion should be kept at home, rather than taught in schools. [Reported in Times Education Supplement, 12/10/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Harry
Judge, former director of Oxford University's education department, and
STATE FUNDING should not be used to create more faith schools, says Harry Judge, former director of Oxford University's education department….In the Oxford Review of Education he argues that any extension of state aid to religious schools is likely to lead to an unwelcome fragmentation of society. It may also divert resources from those schools developing a common culture while respecting diversity… Llaura Underkuffler, law professor at Dyke University in Durham, North Carolina, echoes his views in her paper: "Traditional restraints on public funding of religious institutions in the USA are rooted in a fundamental truth: that religious differences in pluralistic societies are often deep, divisive and volatile, and that the financial enmeshment of religion and government serves neither religion, government, nor the atmosphere or tolerance upon which diverse societies depend." Dr Judge points to the example of Northern Ireland. Although faith-based schooling did not manufacture the tragic divisions of that society, "nobody has yet argued that it has in any sense helped or is helping to heal them." Integrated schools that emerged in the 1980s have provided a model for a more plural society in Northern Ireland, writes Alan Smith, professor of education at Ulster University… Both Dr Judge and Professor Underkuffler agree that parents have the right to educate their children in religious schools of their own choice, but stress that this right does not mean that others must be compelled to fund that choice. [Briefing, Times Education Supplement, 4/1/02 ] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Cantle [in his report on the summer 2001 riots] demolishes Mr Blunkett's defence of "faith-based" schools, which are inherently and intrinsically divisive…Expecting immigrant communities to begin as good guests and end as good friends…requires greater mutual knowledge and contact - of the kind that comes principally from mixed secular schooling. [The last word on hospitality, The Guardian, 12/12/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
National Association of Head Teachers The NAHT has come out loud and clear against the expansion of faith schools. The events in Bradford and Oldham this summer made it clear that we have to support community schools. The best way ahead is to educate children from diverse ethnic backgrounds and different religions together, and community schools are more than capable of doing so. [reported in Church Times, 5/10/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
NAHT cannot support the expansion of faith schools. The problems thrown up by the disturbances in Oldham and Bradford and the concerns of heads, who believe that faith schools encourage division, cannot be ignored. We desperately need to support non-faith schools that bridge the ethnic, cultural and religious divide in our society. There are dangers of adding to divisions rather than harmony. [From National Association of Head Teachers' response (5.30-5.31) to Government white paper on schools, November 2001]
________________________________________ |
||||
|
Liz Pavor, former national president of National Association of Head Teachers 'If you start to have segregated schools then you can only see worse division,' said Liz Pavor, former national president of the NAHT [National Association of Head Teachers]. [Independent on Sunday, 22/4/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association There is already considerable capacity for diversity between schools. What we need is diversity within schools to create the widest range of opportunities for all young people in our schools…The state sector is being fragmented, with no clear relationship between diversity and quality. [Response to the announcement of the Government's plans for education in the Queen's Speech, BBC News Online 21/6/01] JOHN DUNFORD, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, urged ministers to introduce safeguards to ensure that single faith schools did not become ‘single race' schools. "Constraints will need to be put on admissions to ensure that these schools reflect fully the balance of their local communities," he said. "Otherwise there is a danger that they will magnify racial problems." [Evening Standard, 11/7/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Graham Lane, chairman of the Local Government Association's education committee The government was urged yesterday to set up a national inquiry into plans to expand the number of faith-based schools. The call came from Graham Lane, chairman of the Local Government Association's education committee and a senior Labour Party figure, after local education authorities warned that they had "deep reservations about a national drive to increase faith schools…Multicultural and multiracial societies living close together in urban areas need to be educated together rather than separately," Mr Lane said. The Labour-run association is urging the Government to approve plans for faith-based schools only if there is a percentage of pupils from the main faith group and the rest are drawn from the wider community… Labour backbench MPs are pressing Tony Blair to water down his plans to expand the number of faith-based schools." [Independent, 6/11/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
David Ward, Bradford council's executive member for education …David Ward, Bradford council's executive member for education…feels frustrated and constrained because he can have no say in which pupils are accepted by aided schools such as Faversham. "You feel as if you are fighting with both hands tied behind your back when dealing with segregation," he said. "We are trying to desegregate in Bradford but we are powerless when we have schools dictating their own admissions policies." … He argues that this will make worse a situation in which many Bradford people live in segregated areas, which causes ethnic groups to have little contact with each other and schools to become ghettoised…"Ultimately the outcome will be a growth of Muslim schools whose pupils will be predominantly Asian. We feel that this does not help the situation." [Article on the opening of the first voluntary Islamic secondary school for girls, in Bradford, Guardian Education, 18/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
National Association of Governors and Managers (NAGM) 1. This is an unusual response to an education white paper - but we are living in unusual times. This response attempts to place certain proposals in the White Paper into the wider context of national and international events. It reflects our deepening concern about the effects of division and inequality in our society. Our intention is to assist those who will take these proposals forward to give due consideration to the potential for unintended and detrimental outcomes which will impact on the whole of our society. An increase in the number of Faith Schools 2. The world that we inhabit has changed dramatically since the proposal to increase the number of faith schools was put forward in May. Events of 11th September, the continuing problems in Northern Ireland, in particular the events outside Holy Cross School in the Ardoyne, and the racial unrest which fuelled riots in Bradford and other English cities, all show fracture lines in our society that will require complex analysis in order that they might be addressed. Indeed the recent Ouseley Report on Bradford blamed monocultural schools for many of the problems there. 3. It is to be hoped that we can learn from events which reflect religious, racial and societal divisions locally, nationally and internationally. NAGM is of the opinion that an increase in the number of faith schools, at this time, has the potential to bring further division to an already divided society. 4. We believe that, in the present climate, the increase in the number of maintained faith schools of any religious persuasion would be detrimental. In the medium term, we believe that a commission should be appointed to conduct an investigation into whether faith schools are contributing to societal divisions and the ways in which both faith and other schools can foster religious and cultural understanding. [Response to the Government's White Paper - Schools -Achieving Success, November 2001 ________________________________________ |
||||
|
National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education All our Futures, 2000, on the central roles for education: 1 To enable young people to recognise, explore and understand their own cultural assumptions and values; 2 To enable young people to embrace and understand cultural diversity by bringing them into contact with attitudes, values and traditions of other cultures… ________________________________________ |
||||
|
"The National Council of Women views with concern the moves to increase the number of schools restricting their intake to children primarily of one faith, and urges Her Majesty's Government to resist all efforts to segregate education in this way". [Resolution adopted at AGM, October 2002] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Bushra Nasir, head of Plashet School - community girls secondary school in Newham, London BUSHRA NAZIR: If there was a massive change in numbers and you know very successful multi-faith schools that maybe then pressurised to become single-faith schools that would actually worry me. MARTIN STOTT: Like many modern heads, Bushra Nasir of Plashet Girls School in Newham tries to emulate the ethos and discipline of the best faith schools but with a multi-faith dimension. 70% of the pupils here are Muslim. The rest are Hindu, Sikh and Christian. BUSHRA NASIR: We're actually in the dining room. There is Halal food provision, there is vegetarian food and like all children they love chips (laughs). MARTIN STOTT: As well as catering for special diets, the school organises separate school assemblies for each faith, it celebrates each and every major religious festival. In the 8 years Bushra Nasir has been in control, results have soared from 28% gaining 5 A to C grades at GCSE to 59%. She believes the two are linked and can understand the drive amongst Muslims at least to set up faith schools. BUSHRA NASIR: Bangladeshi and Pakistani students have been highlighted as groups where there is - has been underachievement, there is still underachievement, and I think if those groups' achievement is improved in multi-faith schools, multi-cultural schools, then I think there may not be the same desire, and I think that if actually addressing that achievement issue hand in hand with the other thing of self-worth and if students don't feel a part of the school and their religion and their background are not valued, then obviously people will say well we'll set up our own schools. MARTIN STOTT: Bushra Nasir has called on the Government to overcome the potentially divisive nature of religion by making all schools take this multi-faith attitude. [BBC Radio 4, Sunday programme, 11/11/01 ] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Lynn Gadd, headteacher, Copthall comprehensive girls' school, north London Many faith schools try to teach tolerance for other religions, but they start with a disadvantage, says Lynn Gadd, headteacher at Copthall comprehensive girls' school in north London, which has a wide ethnic and religious spread, including some Jainists and a large number of Muslims. "We have it easy," she says. "It's fine for us to be a varied and supportive community. Tolerance is best bred in a non-faith school. Faith schools give strength to one faith and weaken the others. What we can do with all these faiths is draw the parallels and draw them together." [Guardian Education, 13/11/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Francoise Leake, head teacher of successful multi-cultural school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire The demand for Muslim schools or segregated education has diminished as Westborough's reputation has grown…[Francoise Leake, the head teacher, said:] "In this school pupils learn how to trust each other, and we hope they take that out with them into the community. I cannot believe they would ever turn upon one another." [Times Education Supplement, 7/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Peter Hain MP and Menzies Campbell MP on "Question Time" JOHN MANN (audience member, IT administrator): Does the panel believe that single faith schools hinder or strengthen community spirits? MENZIES CAMPBELL (MP, Lib Dem, Fife NE): I was born and brought up in the west of Scotland where education is divided on religious lines and I frankly do not think that if you want to have the kind of community of spirit that we're talking about that religious education of that kind assists. Now in Scotland the Roman Catholic community obtained in the 1920s the right to have their own schools, and I would not take that right away from the Roman Catholic community but I believe that we have to consider very very carefully precisely the point that the questioner makes. If you are brought up to believe in the exclusivity of your own religion, then it seems to me that it's very short step from that to believe in the exclusivity of your own views and your own opinions, and in a society which is increasingly multiracial it seems to me we should be doing our best to break down barriers of that kind rather than encouraging then to spring up. DAVID DIMBLEBY: Peter Hain, do you agree with what Lord Alli said, which was that this is a recipe for disaster, and do you think as Frank Dobson does that the policy should be reconsidered in the light of what's happened? PETER HAIN (MP, Lab, Neath): I'd prefer we hadn't started here, but that's true of a lot of things in life. I'm not a believer in single faith schools. I'd prefer there weren't Catholic schools or Anglican schools, but given that there are, given that we've got this tradition, then I don't see how you can say that you can go to a Catholic school but you can't go to a Muslim school. That's the point, really, and that is all the Government is saying, but if you ask me personally I'm not in favour of single faith schools, I didn't send my sons to one and I think in an ideal society - Menzies was right - we live in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith society and I think the schools should reflect that, but unfortunately we don't start from that foundation… YOUNG WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: I went to a Catholic school and I've just come out of it - well, two years ago. I completely agree with the fact that we shouldn't have single faith schools whatsoever. I went to a Roman Catholic school and I had a Church of England school next to mine and we had so many fights, there was so much rivalry there. You go to college where I am at the moment and all the faiths are together and it's a lot better and everyone gets on. You do not need single faith schools for everyone to get on. [Question Time, BBC!, 27/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Phil Willis MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on education We can't have a situation where you find a school that's fully funded by the state, receives all its revenue and 90% of its capital, can say to other parts of the community "you are not allowed to go cross our doorstep because you are not of our faith. [BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme, 3 February 2002] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Dr Tony Sewell, lecturer and specialist in race and educational matters WHAT WE TRY and do in England is copy the US because it sounds good and a bit sexy, but the way the US is set up is completely different. They have huge cities which are de facto black anyway - there really isn't anywhere in Britain where we have those kinds of numbers." Dr Sewell added that there was already at least one religious school in London which was effectively all-black but said results there were only "fairly average". "I'm after quality and parents are after quality, that's the ultimate aim here," he said. [BBC News Online, 20/6/2001] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Correspondents in The Independent In a well-integrated country, church schools might be relatively harmless, but it does not take too much imagination to foresee the damage they could do in English inner city areas with large Muslim populations. Church schools, as an instrument of public policy, are only a good idea if viewed as an experiment to see if conditions in Northern Ireland can be created elsewhere in the United Kingdom. [Letter to The Independent, 10/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
MORE SOCIALLY AND RACIALLY divisive religious schools will introduce further complexity. What is the musically gifted Jewish child to do if his local "beacon school" happens to be a Catholic technology college or a C of E sports college? [Letter to The Independent, 28/6/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Professor Sir Harold Kroto and others: letter sent to members of the Cabinet Dear Sir In the light of recent unrest in several UK cities, and in the long-term interests of a flourishing and integrated society, we urge the Government to reconsider its support for the expansion of maintained religious schools. Furthermore, we urge that existing religious schools now be required to teach multi-faith RE (following the locally agreed syllabus for community schools) which reflects the religious and non-religious profile of Britain. Signed: |
||||
|
Professor Sir Harold Kroto
FRS |
John Fowles Glenys Kinnock MEP Professor Sir Raymond Firth Claire Rayner OBE Alan Brownjohn Sir Lou Sherman OBE Professor Steven Rose Professor Robert Hinde CBE FRS Maureen Duffy Polly Toynbee Sir David Smith FRS Dr James Hemming Terry Pratchett Lord and Lady Harrison Julie Morgan MP Jonathan Meades Lord Avebury Professor Colin Blakemore Graham Allen MP Sir Hermann Bondi |
|||
|
[Published in The Independent 30/7/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Peter Wilby (editor, New Statesman) Earlier this month, Peter Hain, the Europe minister, said: "We need to work much harder to integrate Muslims . . . with the rest of society . . . there is a tendency amongst a minority to isolate themselves." If this is so, can someone explain to me why ministers seem so determined to set up more "faith" schools, where children of different denominations can remain isolated from one another? Why do we have a system that makes it all too easy for white parents to keep their children away from blacks and Asians? . . . [Hain's] comments on Muslims are an example of blaming the victims. If ethnic minorities "isolate" themselves, it is because [whites keep them out of the best housing, jobs, schools etc.]. Times Education Supplement, 24/5/02. ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester Christian teachers will not be content with an unbridled “pluralism” which refuses to ask questions about ultimate truth and goodness. They will want strongly to promote the narrative of God’s saving acts in history, given in the Bible and through the memory and experience of the People of God, and in daily life. We are able to “own” the narratives of God’s love for us most fully when the horizons of our experience are allowed to meet with those of Scripture. Christian teachers should not be alone in asking the “faith” questions but they will emphasise this way of dealing with the world: Why is the universe as it is? Why is there a moral order? Dealing with these questions will be important for Christians in schools. Educating pupils within a Christian moral and spiritual frame-work does not exclude questioning of the most rigorous sort, but it does mean that teaching has to be related to ultimate questions of causation, morality and ethics. The Church was the first to offer universal education in this country. Now, we welcome the involvement of the State and others in this vital task. Our commitment is still to be distinctively Christian… Rochester Link (diocesan newsletter), July/August 2002 ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Oona Stannard,
director of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales Presenter: Most agree that children should learn about other religions, but for church schools to be compelled to take in pupils of other or no faith can be a difficulty for some. While the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, supports the opening up of church schools to other faiths, the Catholic church has sometimes been reluctant to do that. Oona Stannard is the director of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales. Oona Stannard: Our faith is the bedrock of all the decision-making, all the planning and all the day-to-day life of our schools. It isn't a bolt-on, it's the fundamental for why we are there. It's the fundamental that guides the head in their leadership and management of the school, all the middle managers, all the teaching and all the other staff. They are there to bear witness to God and to deliver the mission of that school as a Catholic school. Presenter: While the Church of England might open its doors to other religions, it rejects any attempt to bring in quotas. Canon John Hall is general secretary of its Board of Education and is confident that Phil Willis's amendment will fail. Canon John Hall: To apply a particular quota, a particular figure of 25% of other faiths across the board to every school would be unrealistic in our current situation. Presenter: Even if John Hall is right, many faith schools can expect pressure on them to become more inclusive than they are today. The Church of England is very likely to change its admissions policy and Phil Willis expects that education authorities will become increasingly reluctant to fund schools that exclusively serve firmly orthodox religious communities. Phil Willis: I don't believe, however, that our education system is there to give succour to fundamentalist views of any sort whatsoever. I think that if parents and indeed particular groups of churchgoers want to see children educated in a very narrow faith-based way - and I believe they have the right to do that, by the way - then it should be in the private sector and not in the public sector. Presenter: This could pose a particularly serious problem for Muslim schools, where pupils are now almost exclusively from Muslim families. Ibrahim Hewitt is from the Muslim Schools Association. Ibrahim Hewitt: I think the proposal to have quotas for schools which will take in non-faith members or even people of no faith at all is an impractical suggestion and very unreasonable, given, certainly in the Muslim schools' case, the demand for places from within the Muslim community, which far outstrips the number of places available, and to start saying now we have to give some of those places to non-Muslims I think is very unreasonable. Presenter: Oona Stannard from the Catholic church thinks the move towards greater inclusiveness if it is imposed could put her church in a very difficult position when faced with Catholic parents angry their children can't find a place at their local Catholic school. Oona Stannard: We're now going to say to you that you must actually turn away a certain proportion - perhaps 25% - of those Catholics that you would usually have taken in order to make those places available to others who may have no particular affinity with your aims and your philosophy and of course your faith. I find that a somewhat strange idea if that is meant to be contributing to social cohesion and harmony. [BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme, 3 February 2002] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Oona Stannard, director of the Catholic Education Service The CES supports the right of Catholic governing bodies to determine their own admissions criteria. We see no need to obligate new faith schools to take a percentage of pupils of other faiths… [Times Education Supplement, 30/11/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Faith schools must teach and exemplify tolerance to those of other faiths. The way to do this is not to insist that they be compelled to take pupils of other faiths or no faith, but to require that they demonstrate…a willingness to engage with the society beyond the boundaries of their community" [Times Education Supplement, 30/11/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
We're too poor to be inclusive say Catholics (Headline in Times Education Supplement, 8/2/02) ________________________________________ |
||||
| Canon
John Hall, general secretary of the Church of England board of education
- a new definition of "inclusive" The Church intends that its schools offer distinctively Christian education and are open and inclusive of all who seek such education. [Times Education Supplement, 7/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Canon John Hall should be better informed [when he says C of E schools "reflect their local communities"]. He would do well to read more closely the admissions criteria of many, particularly urban, church schools to see how unrepresentative they can be of the communities in which they are sited. [Letter in Times Education Supplement, 21/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
| Church
of England admits divisiveness risk
DIOCESAN authorities are to be given stronger powers to make church schools more inclusive. The changes are expected to be effected during the passage of the current Education Bill. One consequence might be that fewer church-school places are available for the children of Christian parents. Education officials in the Church are sensitive to the criticism that faith schools are divisive, made with increasing force since the Church of England, with government support, announced it would open 100 new secondary schools over the next five years. Critics can point to a minority of oversubscribed schools that fill most of their places with Christian children. So the Board of Education has asked the Government to support an amendment to the 1991 diocesan boards measure, which means school governors must consult diocesan officers over admissions and "have regard to" their advice. It is unclear exactly what might happen to a church school that refuses to heed diocesan advice. At some schools, centuries-old trust deeds specify that they are for the education of Anglican children. Others say that they are oversubscribed, and their first responsibility is for the children of church families. Nevertheless, all admissions policies must be agreed with the Department for Education and Employment. Its final sanction is a judicial review… [Church Times, 18/01/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Rev Peter Shepherd, head of Canon Slade comprehensive school, Bolton The Rev Peter Shepherd says he will refuse to admit children of other faiths to his successful Anglican school, in defiance of the Church of England. . . At Canon Slade [mixed] comprehensive, Bolton, places are reserved exclusively for good Christian churchgoers. Parents and children must have a record of four years of attendance for at least 45 Sundays a year. He says: "If the diocesan board of education asks us to take children of other faiths or none, we will politely decline. We are a Christian community serving Christian families. What's so wrong about that?" Times Education Supplement, 24/5/02 ________________________________________ |
||||
|
If Canon Slade school in Bolton only admits C of E children who have a four-year record of church attendance, then why, I wonder, does it not apply the same rules to its teachers? "Could it be that church attendance is a very effective academic selection criteria [sic] for children but is much less helpful when it comes to selecting the most able staff? And if so, what does this tell us about the kind of Christian values Canon Slade school upholds? Letter from Laurence Hicks, Times Education Supplement, 7/6/02. ________________________________________ |
||||
|
I am a foundation governor of a voluntary-aided school, also a parent. This school has an exceptionally strong church "feel" which under a new vicar has increased dramatically. . . [I]t is a fairly large primary school in a village where there is no alternative unless parents can transport their children some distance. A majority undoubtedly feel that the faith element is getting excessive: pressure to attend Sunday services, frequent week-day assemblies in church, a very heavy ration of religious education, lots of pressure to contribute money for the upkeep of the building. . . "Problem page" letter in Times Education Supplement, 7/6/02 ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Yussef Islam, Association of Muslim Schools WELL WHILE WE HAVE so many Christian schools - I mean if there is going to be a general ban on all religious schools then I am sure that, you know, there would be no griping amongst anybody… [BBC Radio 4 Sunday programme, 18/2/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
THE IMMEDIATE PROBLEM for Holy Cross School is that it is a Catholic building on the wrong side of the Ardoyne Road. That is to say, the Protestant side, so that Catholic parents must journey there each morning and afternoon. [The Independent, 22/6/01] ________________________________________ Funding and encouragement comes from government-sponsored programmes of "Education for Mutual Understanding". But off the record, some admit that in effectively monocultural surroundings, it is almost impossible to create empathy with "the others"… [Mo Mowlam's view] "If people can grow up together and study together they are much more likely to be able to live together."… In the short term, the answer is clearly in negotiations. In the much longer term, integration should be at least part of the solution in "dealing with bigotry and hatred in the future." [The Independent on Sunday, 9/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Richard Dawkins FRS, Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University The behaviour of the Protestant mob in Belfast is indeed horrible. But why do the media so willingly acquiesce in the labelling of these unfortunate children as "Catholic children". Aren't four-year-olds too young to know their religious opinion? And isn't it this automatic labelling of children, when it is repeated generation after generation, the very root of the problem. The government should think very hard about its support for sectarian schools. [Letter in The Independent, 10/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Islamic school forced to close after parents and teachers are abused An Islamic school has been forced to close down temporarily after children and parents complained of being threatened with violent racial abuse. Muslims around the country were urged to be vigilant after the threats at the Islamia School in Kilburn, North London. Parents say that they were harassed by people shouting anti-Islamic abuse as they took their children to school and that teachers were also abused as they left the building…Security was also stepped up in mosques and schools in other cities, including Manchester, after several Muslims reported anti-Islamic racial attacks. [The Times, 14/9/01] ________________________________________ |
||||
|
Religious Test for School Transport A Sikh couple, Gurmit and Jaswander Ladhar, opted to send their daughter Mandeep to a Catholic middle school because they believed faith schools would provide a better and stricter education, and there is no Sikh school in the area. She was accepted at St Benet Biscop, but a county council ruling states that only Catholic pupils are entitled to free transport. Mandeep cannot have free transport because her parents decided not to send her to the local high school in Ashington. The Ladhars have since been forced to take her the five miles by car. Lauren Loan, 11, of Perkinsville, County Durham, despite being a practising Catholic is not allowed a free bus pass to take her to St Leonard's RC Comprehensive eight miles from home - because her parents are Anglican. [Newcastle Journal, 14/9/02, 21/9/02, NSS Newsline 22/9/02] |
||||
|
Division even within the Faith Liberal and Orthodox Jewish groups in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, are vying to open a Jewish school on the site of former Hillside School, which the council had planned to sell to developers for £19 million. The Jewish Community Secondary School (JcoSS) group says its proposed secondary school would be open to all Jewish children, irrespective of the synagogue they attend and whether they are orthodox or not. But the United Synagogue, an orthodox group, also wants to buy the school but would restrict it to only Halacha Jews. One United Synagogue rabbi was reported in the Jewish Chronicle as asking: "How can I possibly commend to my members," he asked, "that they send their children to a school where they will meet and socialise with, and possibly marry, children whom we do not, and have not for 4,000 years, recognised as fulfilling the halachach of traditional Judaism?" With 4,200 members in Hertsmere, the United Synagogue is alleged to represent the majority of the Jewish community. JcoSS says that many Jewish children who don't attend the orthodox synagogue would be excluded. [National Secular Society Newsline 25/8/02, 22/9/02] |
||||
Updated 23/5/03