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| The Observer view on the role of faith in Britain’s schools | The Observer view on the role of faith in Britain’s schools |
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| It is impossible to make sense of the world around us without understanding the faiths and worldviews of the people that make it up. Yet, as highlighted by the cross-faith Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, the roles that religion and faith play in the education system is perhaps one of its most old-fashioned aspects. | It is impossible to make sense of the world around us without understanding the faiths and worldviews of the people that make it up. Yet, as highlighted by the cross-faith Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, the roles that religion and faith play in the education system is perhaps one of its most old-fashioned aspects. |
| The framework that has shaped religious education in schools was set by the 1944 Education Act, when almost all children were of Christian heritage: its purpose was to build on the religious instruction that began in the home and church. Since then, Britain has grown more secular and pluralistic: fewer than one in three young people aged 18-24 have a religious affiliation. | The framework that has shaped religious education in schools was set by the 1944 Education Act, when almost all children were of Christian heritage: its purpose was to build on the religious instruction that began in the home and church. Since then, Britain has grown more secular and pluralistic: fewer than one in three young people aged 18-24 have a religious affiliation. |
| Related: Faith in British schools: share your experiences with us | Related: Faith in British schools: share your experiences with us |
| But in many schools, religious education remains stuck in the past: far from being a lens through which to understand the world, it has retained the flavour of old-fashioned religious instruction. Too often, it fails to support children who want to explore and develop their own beliefs, or critically to evaluate the benefits but also the harms associated with some religious beliefs, such as the role they may play in reinforcing gender, sexual and ethnic stereotypes, or the way some use faith as a justification for terrorism. | But in many schools, religious education remains stuck in the past: far from being a lens through which to understand the world, it has retained the flavour of old-fashioned religious instruction. Too often, it fails to support children who want to explore and develop their own beliefs, or critically to evaluate the benefits but also the harms associated with some religious beliefs, such as the role they may play in reinforcing gender, sexual and ethnic stereotypes, or the way some use faith as a justification for terrorism. |
| This is a serious failing of the modern curriculum: the commission is right to call for wholesale reform. It is also right to argue that the arcane requirement for all schools to provide daily collective worship, already ignored by the majority of secondary schools, should be replaced with time for reflection. | This is a serious failing of the modern curriculum: the commission is right to call for wholesale reform. It is also right to argue that the arcane requirement for all schools to provide daily collective worship, already ignored by the majority of secondary schools, should be replaced with time for reflection. |
| It is to the commission’s credit that it also managed to achieve consensus on an even thornier issue: the negative consequences of religious selection in state schools. If there is one public institution that should be a beacon of integration in our communities, it should surely be the state school. A YouGov poll carried out by social integration charity The Challenge last month found significant public support for this idea. Yet far from discouraging segregation, our school system seems to be promoting it: segregation is higher among children of school age than 18 to 34-year-olds, for example. | It is to the commission’s credit that it also managed to achieve consensus on an even thornier issue: the negative consequences of religious selection in state schools. If there is one public institution that should be a beacon of integration in our communities, it should surely be the state school. A YouGov poll carried out by social integration charity The Challenge last month found significant public support for this idea. Yet far from discouraging segregation, our school system seems to be promoting it: segregation is higher among children of school age than 18 to 34-year-olds, for example. |
| Faith schools are not the only factor driving segregation in Britain’s schools, but they are a significant one. Religious selection is the most common type of selection in the school system, and it goes hand in hand with lower ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. The 2001 race riots were a stark reminder of the dangers of communities living parallel lives in places such as Oldham and Bradford, the product of a liberal, multicultural approach to diversity that had little concern for cohesion and integration. | Faith schools are not the only factor driving segregation in Britain’s schools, but they are a significant one. Religious selection is the most common type of selection in the school system, and it goes hand in hand with lower ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. The 2001 race riots were a stark reminder of the dangers of communities living parallel lives in places such as Oldham and Bradford, the product of a liberal, multicultural approach to diversity that had little concern for cohesion and integration. |
| If we were designing a school system for modern Britain from scratch, faith schools would not feature. But abolition is unrealistic: a third of schools are faith schools, mostly of Christian denomination, and it would be discriminatory to deny other faiths the right to set up similar schools. | If we were designing a school system for modern Britain from scratch, faith schools would not feature. But abolition is unrealistic: a third of schools are faith schools, mostly of Christian denomination, and it would be discriminatory to deny other faiths the right to set up similar schools. |
| A more pragmatic approach is to reduce the impact of faith schools on segregation by reducing religious selection, as the commission has recommended. Religious selection need not – and should not – be a defining characteristic of a faith school; indeed, some dioceses already encourage their schools not to select on the basis of faith. More faith bodies should follow their lead. | A more pragmatic approach is to reduce the impact of faith schools on segregation by reducing religious selection, as the commission has recommended. Religious selection need not – and should not – be a defining characteristic of a faith school; indeed, some dioceses already encourage their schools not to select on the basis of faith. More faith bodies should follow their lead. |
| And government should not approve new faith free schools and academies unless they demonstrate they intend to market places to parents of all and no faiths, and set out a clear plan for their pupils to mix children from other faiths and ethnicities. | |
| All schools – faith or not – should also take their responsibilities for social cohesion more seriously. Schools could do more actively to avoid segregation through admissions codes and catchment areas. | All schools – faith or not – should also take their responsibilities for social cohesion more seriously. Schools could do more actively to avoid segregation through admissions codes and catchment areas. |
| There is also much to learn from Northern Ireland’s Sharing Education Programme, under which schools of different faiths are obliged to ensure that children from different backgrounds have the opportunity to mix. | There is also much to learn from Northern Ireland’s Sharing Education Programme, under which schools of different faiths are obliged to ensure that children from different backgrounds have the opportunity to mix. |
| The role of out-of-school activities is also important in getting children from different backgrounds to mix: the government’s National Citizen Service scheme, which brings together 16 to 17-year-olds from different backgrounds to work on community projects, is a step in the right direction, but arguably comes too late: it should be supplemented with similar schemes for younger children. | The role of out-of-school activities is also important in getting children from different backgrounds to mix: the government’s National Citizen Service scheme, which brings together 16 to 17-year-olds from different backgrounds to work on community projects, is a step in the right direction, but arguably comes too late: it should be supplemented with similar schemes for younger children. |
| The relationship between religion and the school system is a political minefield that politicians long avoided. The commission’s report shows people of faith taking the lead in advocating a more modern, progressive approach to religion in British schools. It has achieved a cross-faith consensus that government cannot ignore. | The relationship between religion and the school system is a political minefield that politicians long avoided. The commission’s report shows people of faith taking the lead in advocating a more modern, progressive approach to religion in British schools. It has achieved a cross-faith consensus that government cannot ignore. |