The National Secular Society has joined school equality campaigners in calling on the Government to review the role of faith schools in social division, after new analysis found faith schools are among the least inclusive in the country.
Out of the top 200 least inclusive state-funded secondary schools in England, 38% (76) are faith schools, the analysis found. This makes faith schools the second biggest group in the top 200 after grammar schools (118, 59%).
Because faith schools make up approximately 18% of secondary schools, this represents a “significant overrepresentation” of faith schools among the nation’s least inclusive schools, campaigners said.
The analysis by Comprehensive Future, the National Secular Society, and TRAK found most (88%) of the faith schools in the top 200 operate faith-based admissions.
In response to the findings, the Church of England told Schools week that most of its schools had “no faith selection criteria”.
But the top 200 list includes 17 Church of England schools which operate religiously discriminatory policies. Only two do not; these use academic selection instead.
Four schools in the list, all Catholic, use both religious and academic selection.
In a joint letter to schools minister Georgia Gould and education minister Bridget Phillipson, the organisations have called for reforms to school admissions to “ensure school places are allocated in a way that is equitable, inclusive, and consistent with the principles of fairness the Government has pledged to uphold”.
Faith-selective admissions “deter or disadvantage precisely the families who most need fair access to good local schools”
The analysis examined the proportion of how many children eligible for free schools meals (FSM) schools admit compared with local FSM rates (the ‘FSM gap’). Only pupils from low income families are eligible for FSM, so FSM eligibility is often used as a measure of pupil disadvantage.
Schools with a bigger FSM gap have fewer FSM pupils in their intake than expected for their local area. The bigger the FSM gap, the less representative the school’s intake is in terms of socioeconomic disadvantage.
Overall, faith schools admit 3% fewer disadvantaged children than nonreligious schools, according to the analysis. Catholic schools have a 4-point FSM gap compared with their local area, Islamic schools a 6-point gap, and Jewish schools a 14-point gap.
To gain a place at popular faith schools, families may be required to complete lengthy ‘supplementary forms’, obtain supporting statements, or show regular attendance at religious services over many months.
This means that faith-based admissions can “deter or disadvantage precisely the families who most need fair access to good local schools”, the letter said.
Recent research has also found faith schools admit fewer pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and create barriers for children in care. A report from the Sutton Trust last year also found faith-based secondary schools are more socially selective. In a recent court case, the Government also admitted faith school admissions are likely to disadvantage certain racial groups.
The Government has said white working-class children and those with SEND “have been betrayed” in education and pledged to “create a school system where every child, in every classroom, has the support they need to achieve”.
Comprehensive Future, the NSS and TRAK said the Government therefore must “review the role of faith schools in segregation, social division and inequality in our communities”.
It has also called on the Government to collect and publish data on which schools apply any form of selective admissions – including faith, aptitude and partial academic selection — on its “Get Information About Schools” online service.
In 2021 the Department for Education admitted it does not know how many schools operate religious selection in their admissions.
An amendment to the Government’s flagship Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill tabled by Liberal Democrat peer Lorely Burt would have required the Government to collect and publish this information, but it was not moved.
Government “supports the right” of faith schools to religiously discriminate
Replying to the letter, Georgia Gould said that although the government is “determined to have high standards for all children” and ensure they “have access to every opportunity to thrive”, it also “supports the right of schools designated as having a religious character to use their faith based admissions criteria as part of their published oversubscription criteria”.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans called the response “disappointing but not surprising”.
He said: “Earlier this year the Government acknowledged that faith-based admissions can disadvantage pupils from particular ethnic backgrounds – but it didn’t seem to care.
“If the Government truly wants to ensure Britain is a cohesive society where every child is treated equally regardless of religion, belief or race, it cannot continue to ignore the problem of religious discrimination in our state-funded schools. It must end this state-sponsored segregation of our children.”
Dr Nuala Burgess, chair of Comprehensive Future, said: “It’s disappointing that the Minister’s response does not address the clear evidence we’ve shared.
“Too many school admission policies still result in less inclusive intakes than the communities these schools serve, and the government should act to put fairness first.”