Faith schools and social cohesion

At last some official recognition of the divisive effects on society of segregated education in faith schools.

In his Hansard Society lecture on citizenship, the chief schools inspector, David Bell (head of Ofsted, the education standards watchdog), emphasised the threat to social cohesion posed by the growth in the number of independent faith schools.

The full text is available from the Ofsted web site. The following summary is from the Financial Times (18 January 2005):

Schools chief attacks Muslim teaching

By Miranda Green, Education Correspondent.

Muslim schools threaten to undermine social cohesion by failing to teach pupils tolerance and respect for other religions and cultures, according to the chief inspector of schools.

In an outspoken attack on the dangers of segregated faith-based schools, David Bell said the advantages of a diverse society had to be balanced by teaching children "shared interests and goals".

"I worry that many young people are being educated in faith-based schools with little appreciation of their wider responsibilities and obligations to British society," he said in a lecture sponsored by the Hansard Society.

"We must not allow our recognition of diversity to become apathy in the face of any challenge to our coherence as a nation."

He went on to focus his criticism on Muslim schools, saying their curriculums needed to be adapted to promote understanding of English institutions and tolerance for other cultures.

The Association of Muslim Schools accused Mr Bell of "Islamophobia" and Dr Mohamed Mukadam, its chairman, called for evidence to back his assertions. "For a person in his position to make such a generalised comment beggars belief," he said.

Tony Blair is enthusiastic about faith schools. Aides say the prime minister believes they have "an ethos that offers something more than basic education".

Mr Bell backed the right of parents to choose different types of education as "the mark of a free and open society".

But he warned: "The growth in faith schools needs to be carefully but sensitively monitored by government to ensure that pupils at all schools receive an understanding of not only their own faith but of other faiths and the wider tenets of British society."

The annual report from the Office for Standards in Education would, Mr Bell said, draw attention to the growth in the number of independent faith schools, which number 300 including more than 50 Jewish schools, about 100 Muslim schools and more than 100 evangelical Christian schools. There are 7,000 faith schools in the state sector, of which all but 44 are Christian, and another six have been approved.

Muslim groups have called for more state funding to provide a traditional Islam-oriented education, which Mr Bell said yesterday "does not entirely fit pupils for their lives as Muslims in modern Britain".

The Department for Education defended the growth in faith schools, saying they could promote understanding between different sections of society.

See also Chief Inspector of Schools accused of 'Islamophobia' over 'faith schools' remark in The Freethinker, February 2005.