In England, we have a conundrum at education’s heart in England, according to Clare Foges, former speech writer of David Cameron. Prime Minister Theresa May wants children to be taught British values while at the same time encourages segregation, by allowing the proliferation of faith schools.
I Background to the creation of faith schools/academies
A considerable number of the 24,000 state schools and academies in the country already belong to one faith or another. State-funded faith schools were established by Rab Butler, the Conservative Secretary for Education, in 1944. At that time, the Church of England educated 20% of children and Roman Catholic Diocese 8% funding the education through fees and/or religious subsidies. Several faith schools were in a state of disrepair. Following difficult negotiations during the Second World War, they became state funded but the religious bodies continued to control their admission arrangements. The plans to convert them into state schools gestated for nearly four years, in the run-up to the Education Act 1944.
The freedom given to the Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants to semi-control their own schools was later extended to the Jewish community and, following the influx of East African (South-East) Asians (who had dual citizenship) into the country in late 1960s and early 1970s, Muslim, Hindus and Sikh schools began to mushroom.
The two main providers of faith schools today are the Church of England and the Catholic Education Service. There are various state-funded institutions, including voluntary aided, voluntary controlled and faith academies. In 2014, roughly 22% of state schools/academies in the country were faith institutions – about 6,210 altogether. Broken down by religion, their numbers in 2014 were as follows.
- 4,395 Church of England
- 1,661 Roman Catholic
- 36 Jewish
- 9 Muslim
- 5 Sikh
These numbers mask additional ones established under the Free Schools scheme. They opened over the last few years and are permitted to take up to 50% of pupils belonging to the faiths that the founders espouse.