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Leading article: Keep the faith - and the funding

Thursday 13 April 2006 00:00 BST
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This week, two of the teachers' unions will debate motions calling for a phased withdrawal of state funding to the country's 7,000 faith schools. The argument put forward at the National Union of Teachers conference, as well as the conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, is that the state should not be subsidising schools that push a particular religious faith. This follows concern that extreme sects or those of a fundamentalist persuasion could gain a bigger influence over the curriculum.

Delegates will cite as evidence of this concern Tony Blair's exhortations for faith groups to sponsor his academies and act as partners in the running of his new trust schools. The Emmanuel colleges, sponsored by the Vardy foundations - whose chairman, Sir Peter, is a Christian evangelist - have already been criticised for promoting creationism in science lessons.

We have some sympathy with this concern and hope that the Department for Education and Skills is genuine when it says it will keep a tight rein on sponsors of academies - and ensure they are suitable. Fundamentalist religious groups would not be suitable. However, calling for the abolition of all 7,000 state schools that are affiliated to a religion - which is what you would do if you voted to phase out their state funding - would be impractical. It would mean getting rid of roughly one-quarter of all schools in England and Wales.

Instead, it would be better to ensure that no mainstream religious group is discriminated against and faith schools' admissions policies do not disadvantage the non-believer. It has always seemed wrong that some church schools insist on regular churchgoing if a pupil is to be admitted. Happily, progress is being made in these directions. The latest figures for state-aided faith schools show there are 6,955 Church of England, Roman Catholic and Methodist schools, 36 Jewish schools, six Muslim, two Sikh, one Greek Orthodox and one Seventh Day Adventist school. The number of Muslim schools is growing.

The churches have produced a joint statement committing themselves to admitting pupils of other faiths and of none. It may not be perfect, but breaking down some of the segregation in faith schools is more realistic than withdrawing funds.

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