Good News for Faith Schools

Anglican, Catholic, Jewish and Islamic Schools breathed a sigh of relief tonight. In a significant u-turn, the Government rightly announced a retreat from forcing faith schools to adopt a "non faith"2 quota of 25%. This was clearly a misdirected policy, particularly since it was aimed primarily at stopping Islamic schools from becoming radicalised, and forcing them to become more "community inclusive".

The truth is that most faith schools - of whatever religion - can be a force for good. They tend to have better exam results and their pupils come out of school with a much higher level of achievement. Many faith schools already have a policy of welcoming significant numbers of pupils from other faiths or even no faith at all. To compel these usually excellent schools to adopt a quota system would have been a step too far in Government control and a classic example of New Labour authoritarianism. It was a case of penalising everyone, including the good, in order to punish the bad.

If the Government is worried about community cohesiveness and Islamic extremism/isolationism getting a foothold in Islamic schools, then a much better way to stop this is to ensure that the schools are regularly inspected. Any real signs of radicalism or extremism, any failure to ensure that all pupils are taught about their British inheritance and civilisation, should mean that the schools are immediately shut down. Let us hope that the Government pledges to inspect faith schools are based on these principles and not a hotch potch of pointless OFSTED/DFES bureaucratic inspection targets.

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