Press Release

British Humanist Association welcomes the Government's u-turn on 'faith schools'

10 January 2008

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has given a cautious welcome to statements from  Ed Balls MP, that, ‘It is not the policy of the Government nor my department to expand the number of faith schools,’ but urged that government words should be backed by government action.

Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said, ‘Having spent the last few years promoting the expansion of religious schools within the state sector, it can only be welcome that the Government has listened to the overwhelming majority of British people who are against them and responded. Polls regularly show that at least three-quarters of people oppose state funded religious schools and no doubt the public will join humanists and others in welcoming Ed Balls’ statement on this issue.

‘Words from Government, however, are not enough. State funded religious schools are permitted by law to discriminate in employment and admissions with public money and they are not bound by the same rules governing curriculum as community schools. If the Government is serious about responding to the concerns of teachers and parents they need to take action to prevent the growth of state-funded religious schools and regulate more strictly those that exist, not just wash their hands of the issue and offload it to local authorities.’

‘The expansion of state-funded faith schools, which now make up a third of all state-funded schools, and encouraging independent faith schools to join the state sector has proved disastrous. There is increasing discrimination in school admissions against pupils and their parents and increasing employment discrimination against teachers, and more and more young people are segregated by religion and ethnicity and denied them the right to a fully balanced education.’