Faith School in the UK - Essay Example

Faith School in the UK al affiliation funded faith schools in the UK restrict social cohesion and ethnic integration Introduction In the United Kingdom, the term state funded faith schools is applied to the schools that teach the courses but have some formal links with specific religious characters or organizations. There are currently different types of state funded faith schools in the United Kingdom some of which include voluntary controlled schools that are always run by volunteers, voluntary aided schools that are majorly funded by volunteers and faith academies whose curriculums have a lot to relate to religion (Mackinnon, & Statham, 1999). A faith school usually contains a group of people who share the same religion and thoughts. There are many of these schools in the UK such as Muslim Faith School, Christian, Jewish and Hindu. A faith school is defined as a school that is financially supported by a particular religious group, usually for children from that religion (Mackinnon, & Statham, Hales, 1999). Discussion Scholars argue that faith schools should be allowed in our society while others, who have a different point of view claim that the government should not allow faith schools in the UK. Despite the fact that state funded faith schools are mostly managed like other state schools in the UK and are subjected to the same curriculum other than religious studies, they have the freedom to teach their religion. This is an implication that these schools have are allowed by the government to incorporate religions teaching in their curriculums (Gibbons and Silva, 2006). Faith schools generally ‘give priority to the applicants who belong to the faith of the school and are allowed to do that by some of the specific exemptions found in the section 85 of the UK Equality Act 2010’ (Equality Act, 2010). However, the law requires state funded faith schools to admit other applicants in line with the school admissions code whenever they are unable to fill all their places with the applicants who belong to the faith of the school. In the recent past, unfair discriminatory admissions and employment policy of most faith schools has returned considerable argument due to its potential negative impacts on the social cohesion and ethnic integration. This essay will discuss whether the government should allow different faith schools in the UK or not, and how a faith school can have an effect on the society in the UK. The recent history of faith schools in the country was on the year 1944 following the passage of the 1944 Educational act that resulted from the negotiation between Archbishop William Temple and the then education Minister, R.A Butler. ‘The Act particularly created a unified framework under which church schools were brought under state control but left with considerable independence including their right to determine their own selection criteria or receive financial support from the church’ (Mackinnon et al., 1999:110). The Local education authority schools were consequently named county schools; church schools became voluntary schools with the latter being of two main types namely ‘Aided’ and ‘Controlled’ schools. Aided schools are state controlled but they provide their own premises or meet some maintenance costs and have a degree of control. On the other hand, controlled schools provide their own premises. Despite having their own premises, their budgets are taken care of by the government agencies concerned with religious education. According to Brooksbank and Ackstine (2004: 17), ‘the term ‘faith schools’ was particularly introduced in the UK in the year 1990 after calls by the Muslim community to be allowed to have institutions similar to the existing Christian church schools’ The 1998 School Standards and Framework Act also significantly impacted on the faith schools in a number of ways including changing the names of county schools to community schools. However, legislation currently varies between different countries of the UK as education is currently devolved (Annette, 2005). There are a number of great values of having faith schools that may be used to explain the continued existence of state funded faith schools in the United Kingdom. For example, according to Annette (2005), faith-based schools are especially planned to help students to develop knowledge and ability to implement choices regarding their personal lives. Regardless of the particular content associated with a given syllabus, all the faith-based schools constantly integrate sex education into the framework of a religious understanding that concerns to sex plus human relationship that puts more weight on the significance of a faithful marriage as the excellent framework for sex (Gibbons, & Silva, 2006). In addition, the government’s constant credit of the function of the governing bodies, coupled with discussions with the students’ parents, has helped in judging the content that best fits such lessons thus serving as an encouragement to the faith-based schools. Further, the few parents who do not wish that their children form part of the lessons centred on sex education are often free to detach their children from the said lessons. However, not all the faith schools have this provision (Annette, 2005). Despite some of the recent claims that they are boosting academic performance in the United Kingdom, faith schools have recently faced a number of controversies particularly due to the sheer discrimination in their admissions and employment of staff (McKinney, 2008). Generally, this is particularly attributed to the fact that many faith schools are currently granted exemptions under section 85 of the UK Equality Act 2010. The equality laws were primarily meant ensure that the UK schools do not discriminate against pupils and students on the basis of their religion or beliefs. However, the faith schools in the UK are currently permitted to give priority in admissions to the applicants who belong to the faith of the school, or the children whose parents practice the school’s religion when the faith schools are oversubscribed (Dwyer, & Parutis, 2012). The discriminatory admissions policy practiced by most faith schools is not only unfair but is also likely to be antithetical to social cohesion and ethnic integration in the United Kingdom. According to Mackinnon, et al (1999), the exemptions that allow faith schools to give priority in admissions to the applicants who belong to the faith of the school, or the children whose parent’s practice the school’s religion has disadvantaged the local children of the ‘wrong religion’ and those whose parents are non-religious. For example, there have been cases where parents have complained that they are often unable to send their children to their local state schools due to their lack of religious beliefs (Brooksbank, & Ackstine, 2004). According to Dwyer and Parutis (2012) wider ranging concerns regarding the anomaly of state funded faith schools have been expressed due to their had effects on an increasingly secular society. As the number faith schools particularly the academies run by religious organizations continue to increase, the issue of admissions is likely to become more controversial. According to Brooksbank, and Ackstine (2004), allowing faith schools to run their own admissions criteria contrary to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 may prompt the administrations to inappropriately select the middleclass children at the expense of other equally qualified applicants from the unfavoured religious, ethnic or economic backgrounds. This is an implication that these schools may admit students depending on their ability to pay for the services as opposed to focusing on their merit (Berkeley, 2008). The continued existence of the faith-based schools within the UK has produced varied opinions among different people. Partners who support the faith-based schools claim that the schools encourage fairness and justice for parents, children and the religious communities (Annette, 2005). They also believe that the schools’ systems encourage social cohesion along with the integration of the smaller communities at the same time as supplying a positive response towards discrimination and providing high-quality education (Gibbons and Silva, 2006: 39). On the other hand, opponents of these schools identify factors like presentation of narrower scope of faith and division of the society based on faith as issues that restrict social cohesion and ethnic integration. They assert that the curriculums in these schools play and imperative role in dividing the societies along religious and economic lines (Dwyer, & Parutis, 2012). There are a diverse number of reasons why faith schools should be stopped in the UK particularly with regard to their restrictive effects on social cohesion and ethnic integration (Dwyer, & Parutis, 2012). Many critics of faith-based schools say that the schools restrict the pupils’ personal freedom through presentation of a narrower scope of a specific faith; they sow division and discord in the community by separating individuals belonging to varied religious plus non-religious backgrounds. According to Grace et la., (2007: 88), the move to make use of students’ selection processes that favour pupils from families that are more financially endowed renders other schools disadvantaged. However, the unpleasant practices that the opponents keep referring to are not in any way inherent to the faith-based schools alone. Every school should be charged with the duty to encourage social justice including tolerance to disparity in religious backgrounds, acceptance of other religions. They should also encourage the ability to criticize constructively and promotion of interaction and dialogue between pupils of varied background (Berkeley, 2008). On the other hand, faith schools have also been allowed to discriminate in employment on the basis of the religious backgrounds of the applicants and this may negatively impact on both social cohesion and ethnic integration (Annette, 2005). For example, many teachers from the ‘wrong faiths’ or ethnic backgrounds have increasingly found themselves blocked from particular positions in the faith schools purely on religious or ethnic grounds. This means that qualified and suitable teachers will continue to be unjustly discriminated against in the faith schools if these schools are allowed to continue. This is expected to derail fairness and contribute to poor quality education from unskilled teachers (Grace, & OKeefe, 2007). Generally, every school has the duty to encourage community cohesion. This is better illustrated by the move by the Church of England to join other main faith-based schools inside England to sign a common vision to promote community cohesion using schools that bear a religious character in September 2007 (Chapman et al, 2014). In this agreement, the government plus the religious groups assured the community of their commitment to constantly work together to implement bridges to more improved mutual trust, to enhance the life chances of children and to lead to a cohesive and just society. On the same note, the missions were to be accomplished regardless of whether the involved schools had a religious character. Amazingly, this scheme bore positive results. As opposed to the previous time, it was noted that school administrations exercised fairness during their selections and teachers from faith schools were viewed as equally qualified as teachers from other ordinary schools (Grace, & OKeefe, 2007). The faith-based schools deem it best to teach children about main faiths that are represented within the contemporary U.K. However, this was not the case for other faith schools that did not embrace the Christian religion. It is in this light that the religious education syllabuses covered in the Christian faith-based schools have been bearing the multi-faith outline while requiring students and pupils to gain knowledge of six or more main world faiths (Grace, & OKeefe, 2007). With regard to the effects of faith schools on ethnic integration, one of the negative impacts of faith schools on social cohesion and ethnic integration is the schools’ segregation. School segregation formally takes different dimensions; these varieties of schools segregation involve the division of faith schools in relation to social class, ethnicity as well as social segregation. Some school administrations admit students according to their social statuses and ethnic backgrounds. During such instances of discrimination, students of the lower social classes are rarely given opportunities to join the faith schools. The governmental restrictions on social cohesion and ethnical integration have exclusively led to a decline of the voluntary preservation of the community. Every issue associated with social cohesion and integration by these schools is left to the policy makers and implementers. For this reason, very little is being done to consider the overall implication of a divided education (Jivraj, & Palgrave, 2013). Secondly, the government’s failure to reinforce social cohesion and clear managerial guidelines makes administrations of faith school more biased Grace, & OKeefe, 2007). Other schools unconditionally divided by locations or an expressed preference for subject by the government. Most systematically experienced inhibitor of free choice within faith schools is that of faith- and the vast majority of faith schools are supported by the state; hence the government must accept the responsibility for social cohesion and integration restrictions. People of no faith are ultimately excluded form about a quarter of faith schools due to lack of responsibility of either the government or these schools to fight social cohesion and ethnical integration restriction. The religious identity often overlaps with ethnic identities. This is to mean that faith schools effectively exclude some of the minority communities or separate them in the case of minority faith schools hence contributing to the ethnic segregation. The exclusive attribute of the minority groups from these schools negatively affects the manner in which they live amongst themselves especially owing to fact that they are segregated along ethnic lines. Ethic segregation emerges as one of the negative issues affecting faith schools operations in a socially and ethically stable manner. Ethnic segregation as a restrictive issue affecting operations of faith schools has overly led to social unrests and poor community cohesion. Virtual apartheid is experienced among the faith schools which have in the recent past hindered unification of England community as one society (Dwyer, & Parutis, 2012). Additionally, ethnic segregation has ultimately polarization; an effect that is concomitantly blamed on the emergence of faith schools in England. These schools have negatively failed to prepare students for life in a multi-ethnic society full of racial tensions hence negatively involved in the embracing of social cohesion and ethnic integration negatively (Dwyer, & Parutis, 2012). Conclusion In conclusion, state funded faith schools should not be allowed in the UK because of their widespread discrimination that restricts social cohesion and ethnic integration. Despite some of the recent claims that they are effecting academic performance, the discriminatory policies of faith schools in admissions and employment are completely unfair and should no longer be allowed in a secular, multicultural and democratic society like that of the United Kingdom (Dwyer, & Parutis, 2012). In order to enhance greater social cohesion and ethnic integration, a comprehensive and inclusive educational system that values and serves all pupils equally with no regard to their religious, social and economic background should be developed. References Annette, J. (2005). Faith schools and communities: communitarianism, social capital and Citizenship, London: Routledge. Berkeley, R. (2008). Right to Divide?: Faith Schools and Community Cohesion, London: Runnymede Trust. Brooksbank, K., and Ackstine, A. (2004). Educational administration. Harlow: Councils and Education Press. Dwyer, C., and Parutis, V. (2012). ‘Faith in the system? State-funded faith schools in England and the contested parameters of community cohesion,’ Transactions of the institute of British geographers, 38 /2, 267-284. Equality Act. (2010). legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives [Online], Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents [Accesses 26th December2014]. Gibbons, S. and Silva, O. (2006). Faith Primary Schools: Better Schools or Better Pupils?  London: Centre for the Economics of Education. Grace, Gerald. OKeefe, & Joseph, S. J. (2007). International handbook of Catholic education: Challenges for school systems in the 21st century, Dordrecht: Springer. Jivraj, S., & Palgrave, R. (2013). The religion of law: Race, citizenship and childrens belonging. Mackinnon, D. and Statham J., Hales, M. (1999). Education in the UK: facts and figures (3rd ed) London: Hodder and Stoughton/Open University. McKinney, S. J. (2008). Faith schools in the twenty-first century. Edinburgh: Dunedin publishers. Read More