Government backs down on faith schools discrimination

[ramonmercado]

Government backs down on faith schools discrimination -16/01/06

The British government has backed down on proposals in its Equality Bill which would have allowed faith schools to discriminate by excluding pupils or 'subject[ing] them to any other detriment' on the grounds of their religion or belief.

Alan Johnson, secretary of state for the Department of Trade and Industry, is proposing an amendment to remove this provision at the Commons Report stage of the Bill today.

The change of position is being seen as a victory by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights and by the British Humanist Association (BHA), which lobbied against these provisions with the support of a range of parliamentarians.

The reversal will also be welcomed by those in Britain’s faith communities who wish to see a level playing field in public education and an end to discrimination.

The BHA says that this is the latest in a series of “welcome climb-downs” by the government over the powers of faith schools since the Bill was first introduced in the House of Lords in 2005.

Initially, part two of the Equality Bill also exempted faith schools from new duties not to harass pupils, but after lobbying this provision was removed.

At the time, education secretary Ruth Kelly, a Roman Catholic, commented: “We recognised [that] we went too far in exempting faith schools from the harassment as well as the discrimination provisions of the Bill.”

Ms Kelly, who has been associated with the secretive religious movement Opus Dei, is presently in hot water over the number of registered sex offenders teaching in schools in England and Wales, and her own role in one contested case.

Hanne Stinson, executive director of the British Humanist Association, says that she recognizes that “some exemptions are needed to protect the legitimate activities of religion and belief bodies, but in the interests of human rights and equality, they should be as narrowly drawn as possible.”

In particular, recent opinion polls have demonstrated the public unpopularity of religiously and culturally segregated schooling.

But the government’s Bill outlawing religion and belief discrimination in other walks of life avoids this issue, and prime minister Tony Blair has pushed hard for schools run by religious groups – sometimes very narrow ones – to have a key role in Labour’s controversial education reform platform.

The question of admissions, where discrimination will remain lawful, is a particularly contentious one.
The heads of the large faith communities in the UK all back religiously based schools and say that they can form part of a mix of options in a plural society.

But on a TV programme last year Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Engand and Wales, and Tom Butler, Anglican Bishop of Southwark, both admitted that they would be unhappy with Christian children attending a Muslim school.

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks also said that he needed to reflect on the consequences of segregating Jewish children or removing them from mixed schools – the likelihood that children from Muslim and other backgrounds would grow up without first-hand knowledge of the Jewish experience.

The BHA says that rightly outlawing discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief in other areas of life while simultaneously encouraging it in schools makes no sense. This is a view supported by teachers’ unions and by the UK Christian think-tank Ekklesia.

www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndica ... iscr.shtml

 

[pixelprince]

what's yer point Dora?

 

[ramonmercado]

its an important defeat for the godsquad and a victory for humanism.

thats my point!

no gods!
no kings!

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Yet another member of a school board, this time in Massachusetts, USA, demanding that his spiritual beliefs be reflected in the curriculum of the school.

Link:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/lovecraftian_school_board_member?utm_source=a-section

 

[colpepper1]

a victory for humanism.

But humanism is an ism and by definition can't be right. Like fascism or communism and the other big ideas. Give us little ideas please.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

...

But humanism is an ism and by definition can't be right. Like fascism or communism and the other big ideas. Give us little ideas please.

Minimalism.

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

no gods!
no kings!

Just humans... which I find a bit depressing really considering we're such bastards to each other.

 

[Quake42]

I'm opposed to faith schools on principle but, given that such schools exist, it seems logical to me that they should be allowed to select pupils who subscribe to that particular faith.

Or am I missing something

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

I was thinking the same thing... but I suppose it is a victory for those parents who want to send their children to faith schools because they are generally better schools without having to bother with pesky church and stuff.

It doesn't help that most faith schools are voluntary aided by the local faith either...

 

[Quake42]

I was thinking the same thing... but I suppose it is a victory for those parents who want to send their children to faith schools because they are generally better schools without having to bother with pesky church and stuff.

Sure, but the whole justification for allowing faith schools in the state sector is to allow parents to choose a school which reflects their religious and cultural beliefs. Admitting that most parents choose these schools simply because they achieve better exam results rather negates the point.

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

Its an unfortunate stiuation either way you look at it really.

 

[barfing_pumpkin]

Just humans... which I find a bit depressing really considering we're such bastards to each other.

Yeah ... and especially so when it comes to religion.

 

[Analogue Boy]

I'm opposed to faith schools on principle but, given that such schools exist, it seems logical to me that they should be allowed to select pupils who subscribe to that particular faith.

Or am I missing something

Hmmmmm. The idea of children subscribing to a particular faith. They can't even decide which Power Ranger they like best. Or are children born Catholic, Protestant, Atheist etc ?

 

[Quake42]

Hmmmmm. The idea of children subscribing to a particular faith. They can't even decide which Power Ranger they like best. Or are children born Catholic, Protestant, Atheist etc ?

No indeed, I should have said "pupils from a particular faith background" or "pupils whose parents subscribe to that particular faith". Nonetheless, you get the point. If faith schools can't select on the grounds of faith, why have them?

 

[Analogue Boy]

I do get the point. I'm just playing devil's advocate.
Maybe it just comes down to preaching to the converted and guaranteeing future attendances.
I personally think that religion should be kept out of education apart from study as a reference to a classical work along the lines of greek mythology.
If they want to instill a code of morals, it would be better to teach actual Law and more relevant lessons from history.

 

[Quake42]

I personally think that religion should be kept out of education apart from study as a reference to a classical work along the lines of greek mythology.

I tend to agree, although I would add in study of contemporary religions, but from a non-partisan standpoint. However, that's not the issue here - the argument is not whether or not faith schools should exist. The argument is whether, given that they do exist, they should be able to limit their intake to pupils who share the same faith, or at least favour such pupils when looking at applicants. To my mind, that is entirely reasonable - in fact logical. The only reason it has become an issue is because some parents are choosing those schools, not because they share the faith in question, but because such schools tend to perform well in league tables.

Coming from the North East of England I find it all rather curious - when I was growing up the local faith schools were always seen as inferior to the local comprehensives, and indeed bright students often transferred into the comprehensives for A-levels. It would have been hard to imagine anyone choosing such a school for a non-religious reason.