A pledge from the Conservative Party to end the use of ‘protected characteristics’ in admissions should mean schools can no longer select pupils based on religion, the National Secular Society has said.
In a speech on British integration this week, Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch MP said protected characteristics “will not be used as criteria for hiring, promotion, admissions or procurement”.
Most types of state-funded faith schools can have admissions policies which prioritise children based on their family’s religion when oversubscribed. Religion or belief is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010.
The NSS, which campaigns to end religious discrimination in state schools, said ensuring school admissions treat families of all religions and beliefs equally “would be a welcome move towards greater social cohesion and integration.”
Faith-based school admissions fostering religious, ethnic and socio-economic segregation, campaigners say
Although discrimination based on religion or belief is generally illegal, exemptions in the Equality Act allow faith schools to give their highest priority admissions criteria to children whose families can demonstrate sufficient religiosity – for example, by baptising their child or attended church regularly.
Children’s rights campaigners have criticised these exemptions because they mean children of different religions and beliefs can be effectively shut out of their local school. Research also suggests faith-based admissions disadvantage children from poorer families, children in care, children with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), and children from particular ethnic backgrounds.
Critics of faith-based admissions have highlighted how they lead to segregation based on religious, racial and socio-economic lines.
Tory leader speaks out against forced hijab and religious separatism
Badenoch’s speech, which was given at Policy Exchange on Monday, outlined the Conservatives’ plans to “deal with separatism, culture and integration”.
She said: “There will be no more state-sponsored division”.
She added: “Universalism will run through every aspect of government policy, from education to policing, welfare to immigration”.
Her speech also addressed separatism, which she said is “most visible in some Muslim communities, with Islamist extremism its most violent expression”. She said the victims are “the people trapped inside separatism”, including children “fenced off” from full life in England and girls “with rules of ‘modesty’ imposed on their clothing even in their school uniforms”.
NSS research has highlighted how some girls are forced to wear hijab at schools, and how some religious charities promote extreme modesty codes for women and girls.
Badenoch highlighted threats to free speech, including the campaign of intimidation against a teacher at Batley Grammar School for sharing a picture of Islam’s prophet Muhammad in class.
She indicated that while she wants to see “the end of women covering their faces in this country”, she would not use a ban to achieve this, pointing out that this “has not improved integration” in France.
Badenoch said she would create a Cultural and Integration Commission and an Integration and Cohesion Plan. Former Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman, who has regularly expressed concerns about religious fundamentalism in schools, is involved in these plans.
NSS: “For too long, religiously-selective faith schools have divided our communities”
NSS head of campaign Megan Manson said: “Ending the ability of state schools to select children based on their protected characteristics of religion or belief would be a welcome move towards greater social cohesion and integration.
“For too long, religiously-selective faith schools have divided our communities along religious, ethnic and socio-economic lines.
“We cannot see how the Conservatives can end the use of protected characteristics in admissions without removing the Equality Act exemptions for faith schools. We therefore urge the Conservative Party to be true to their word, and ensure no parents would be turned away from their local school that their taxes pay for simply because they don’t belong to the ‘right’ religion.”