A Government bill intended to tackle the problem of unregistered faith schools risks creating a ‘two-tier’ system of educational provision, the National Secular Society has warned.
Writing to the Government, the NSS raised concerns that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will apply less stringent standards to unregistered faith schools by reclassifying them as ‘non-school’ independent educational institutions (IEI).
Currently, if an institution provides full time education to more than five pupils of compulsory school age, it is legally defined as a school. Any institution which meets the legal definition of a school must register with the Department for Education, although some deliberately evade registration in order to teach a very narrow, religion-based curriculum without oversight.
Under changes set to be introduced by the bill, some institutions which provide full time education would not be classified as schools, and would instead be registered as ‘non-school’ IEIs.
The NSS said this potentially includes yeshivas – Jewish scripture schools for boys – a significant number of which operate covertly as illegal unregistered schools, or use loopholes to operate on the margins of the law.
Most yeshivas operate full time, but deliver almost entirely religious instruction with little or no secular education. This deprives many boys in Charedi (‘ultraorthodox’) Jewish communities of basic skills including maths, science, and English.
Measures in the bill affecting yeshivas have been strongly protested by members of the Charedi community.
In a parliamentary debate on the Bill, education minister Jacqui Smith confirmed that different types of settings can be subjected to different standards, including IEIs. She added that no decision had yet been taken regarding what standards will apply to non-school IEIs, and that this will “only follow extensive engagement and consultation”.
In its letter, the NSS said that where an educational setting functions in practice as a school – providing full-time, structured education to children of compulsory school age – it should not be able to avoid relevant inspection, safeguarding, and minimum educational standards simply by reclassifying.
It warned that creating carve outs for certain categories of full time educational provision, subject to weaker or differentiated standards, risked undermining the bill’s objective of ensuring all children receive a suitable education.
In September, the bishop of Manchester tabled an amendment to the bill which would have effectively exempted schools that offer only religious education, including yeshivas, from regulation. Speaking during the debate, the bishop of Oxford specifically argued the amendment was needed to allow yeshivas to continue to operate.
NSS: Government risks ‘institutionalising’ low expectations
National Secular Society spokesperson Jack Rivington said: “All children, regardless of the type of educational setting they attend, are entitled to an education that equips them with the knowledge and skills needed to participate fully in modern society.
“Unregistered faith schools work against this principle – purposefully depriving children of certain kinds of learning, thereby limiting their options and cutting them off from the wider world.
“The Government risks facilitating and institutionalising these low expectations, constructing a two-tier system of different standards for different children in order to satisfy religious leaders who object to following the same laws as everyone else.
“The Government must urgently clarify how non-school independent educational institutions will be distinguished from independent schools, and how minimal educational standards will be enforced across all types of educational setting.”