Faith schools are the wrong platform for all our diversity debates, says think tank

Summary of existing research concludes we should stop overloading a narrow issue with all our anxieties about religious difference

The religion and society think tank Theos today launches “more than an educated guess: assessing the evidence on faith schools” which offers a cool-headed summary and analysis of the relevant research, academic and other, to help interested parties get a handle on what’s really going on. It concludes that many of the claims made on both side of the debate are overstated. It finds:

• From the research examined, there is no reason to think that faith schools are divisive in terms of race or ethnicity, but are instead at least as successful as non-faith schools in reflecting the make-up of English communities and promoting cohesion.

• The summary suggests that when faith schools act as their own admissions authorities, their admissions policies can disadvantage the less well off. This also occurs in non-faith schools who act as their own admissions authorities, but to a lesser extent

• The evidence points to a clear “faith schools effect” in enhanced academic performance but the cause of this currently seems to be related to the school’s intake rather than the impact of a faith-based approach to education.

The report finds that in the main faith schools are neither a silver bullet for academic attainment nor a strong driver of division and inequality, but instead “just schools”.  The debate around them often acts as a proxy for a larger debate about values and how we live together with our differences, especially religious differences.

Elizabeth Oldfield, director of Theos said:

“The report suggests that this overheated debate is not solely about ‘evidence’, which can only decide so much, but also about ideology – the kind of society people want to live in and why. The faith school landscape varies enormously and the line between most faith schools and other schools is increasingly blurred. Therefore, making faith schools the site for all these wider debates loads a narrow issue with an ideological weight it cannot bear, and distorts it.

That noted, the report also suggests that the concerns around the fairness of admissions have some basis. For both practical and theological reasons, Theos hopes that faith schools will reassess their admissions policies to ensure they remain true to their historic ethic of concern for the poorest in society. This would go a long way to making the debate more constructive”.

Notes for editors
1. The summary focuses on  voluntary controlled and voluntary aided schools with a religious character, rather than free schools, academies or foundation schools, as there is as yet very little research relating to the latter. Similarly, most research relates to the Anglican and Catholic schools which make up the vast majority of schools with a religious character.
2. The report focuses on research related to schools in England.
3. The full report is available as a free pdf download: www.theosthinktank.co.uk/cmsfiles/archive/files/More%20than%20an%20educated%20guess.pdf 
4. Theos is a religion and society think tank based in Westminster.
5. Please direct all media enquiries to the Theos press office:
02078287777
press@theosthinktank.co.uk
07875343554