Faith schools need not divide our city

Published in the Evening Standard

How do you solve a problem that looks, to many, like a solution? For some, faith schools are a danger to the cohesion of society, herding children into ghettoes at the very age they’re least burdened by prejudice. Just when they’d be happy to mix, faith schools keep them apart.

And yet parents seem to like them. They perform well and are often over-subscribed, forced to turn away those clamouring to get in. When so many state schools struggle with a reputation for mediocrity, not least in London, the near one-third of state schools animated by religion are seen as a welcome source of success. So is this a problem to be solved or a solution to be celebrated?

The truth is, a bit of both. Faith schools have undeniable strengths, but they come with dangers. The trick is to deal with the latter, without undermining the former.

Which is what the Church of England clearly had in mind with its latest proposal, to offer one in four places at Anglican schools to children outside the faith. They hope that will combat the de facto segregation identified in the Cantle report as a key cause of the tension that erupted in riots across several northern towns in 2001. Instead of an all-Christian, and often all-white, school surrounded by non-white, often-Muslim neighbours, these new-look Anglican institutions would be integrated.

You can’t knock that intention, but it may be naïve. For will those 25% of places be filled by Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims? Or will those communities be edged aside by the white, middle-class parents who, thus far, have done such a good job of dominating C of E schools? Until now, it’s been Mr and Mrs Pushy who’ve been belting out the hymns and buttering up the vicar, in a bid to secure a place for Jocasta in a Church school. Sure, they’ve fibbed a bit about their faith, but it’s been worth it to escape the run-down, under-performing reality of the rest of the state sector. If the church is not careful, its new 25% policy will simply allow the Pushy’s to drop the pretence, admit their atheism – and still bag a place at the best school in the area. What’s hailed as a policy for inclusiveness, may instead turn into a licence to middle class families to have a lie-in on Sunday mornings.

That’s not solely because the white middle-class have sharp elbows. It’s also because the other ethnic and faith communities that concerned Ted Cantle might be reluctant to submit their children to a Christian education. As a Jewish parent, I know that I would consider almost any other option – including moving house – before sending my children to a school run by the church. I would fear that my kids would constantly feel excluded, shut out from the prevailing culture of the school. Some Muslim or Hindu parents might feel differently – glad for any ethos rather than none – but I doubt there would be enough of them to fill those 25% of places. They would surely prefer either a faith school of their own, or a regular, secular school.

Still, all credit to the churches for meaning well. Less credit to David Cameron, who yesterday jumped on this bandwagon and drove it a crucial stage further, demanding what the churches had pointedly not demanded: that schools of other faiths – and he meant Muslims - open their doors to outsiders too.

It was a daft thing to say if only because of the numbers involved. There are 4,646 C of E schools and 2,041 Catholic ones. Guess how many Muslim ones in the state sector there are. A thousand? Five hundred? Nope. There are eight. That’s right, a grand total of eight Muslim schools in the entire country. If children in this country are failing to mix, that is less likely to be the fault of the eight all-Muslim schools than of the nearly 7,000 all-Christian ones.

But Cameron’s call also fails the practicality test. Are there really so many non-Muslim parents who would choose to send their children to an Islamic school? If it’s not a matter of choice, then it would become one of compulsion. I think of my own area, Hackney, and I imagine the ultra-orthodox Jewish girl receiving the letter that says she has been denied her first choice of school, so will have to go to a Muslim one instead. No, I fear this is a classic Cameron wheeze: sounds nice enough, but simply not thought through.

Still, the need to combat segregation is genuine – and, happily, there are things that can be done about it. The first move is one parents themselves can make. My wife and I have chosen a Jewish primary school for our children. We want them to know about their heritage, and we like the idea that that basic foundation – a knowledge of the customs, history and traditions of the Jewish people – will be laid early.

As it happens, their school is exceptionally diverse, full of children from mixed families, making it a microcosm of our neighbourhood. Still, when it comes to secondary school, we aim to make a different choice – to ensure our sons see beyond the Jewish community and experience a general, secular education. I hope that combination will bring the best of both worlds: both a solid Jewish grounding and preparation for life in an integrated, diverse city and country.

Even while kids are at a faith school, it needn’t be a ghetto. I think of the Passover ceremony at our school – when the front row was filled by pupils from the mainly-Muslim school down the road. That’s just the kind of “contact” Cameron rightly praised yesterday – and there should be more of it.

So let’s get faith schools to stage plays or do sports together, even to have the odd shared assembly. That, surely, is a smarter way to ensure the barriers come down – without forcing people into a shape they just don’t fit.

Posted on October 5, 2006 02:39 PM

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