So are faith schools divisive?

The critics of our distinctive Anglican and Catholic state schools and our one Muslim faith state school – and, elsewhere in the county, some Jewish and Methodist schools – claim these schools are outdated, as fewer go to church these days, and add the charge they are ‘elitist’.

Church attendances may have fallen, but 70 per cent of the British population in the last census stated they were Christian, and any politician who sought the abolition of faith schools would be consumed by the public uproar which would follow.

There is huge attachment to faith schools because of their faith and because generally across the UK, specifically in East Lancashire, they are good schools.

This is not to decry non-faith schools – both my children went to one.

And, whether faith schools, foundation schools, or community schools are ‘elitist’ depends principally on their catchment area, ethos, and record. Not on their category.

So are faith schools divisive?

In a town like Blackburn, with large Asian communities, and concern about ‘parallel communities’ it’s a reasonable question.

On the face of it, it could well be that faith schools, with a preference at entry for children of that faith, would engender a sense of separateness, and exclusivity, and make matters worse.

Recent evidence, however, points in exactly the opposite direction. It enforces a view that if you respect and celebrate someone else’s faith, they are much more likely not just to respect and celebrate yours, but become inquisitive too about it.

The evidence is from a Church of England report with research by Professor David Jesson of York University, comparing how faith and non-faith secondary schools performed in OFSTED inspections on the promotion of what is called ‘positive contribution to the community’ in their reports. He found that faith schools received average grades 11 per cent higher than non-faith schools.

As the chief education officer for the Church of England, Rev Janina Ainsworth said: “For church schools, community cohesion is more than ticking a box for the government.

“It is about acting out the values articulated in the school’s mission statement in ways that serve and strengthen our human relationship.”

OFSTED scores for Blackburn and Darwen secondary schools – faith and non-faith – are similar, with Pleckgate (non-faith) and St Wilfrid’s (Anglican) rated ‘outstanding’ and all but one of the remainder ‘good’. This latter group included the Muslim Tauheedul Islam Girls High School.

Its inspection was three years ago, just after it was set up. My guess is that the next full inspection will put it in the ‘outstanding’ category, not least because it’s a humanities specialist with citizenship as a core subject, and it’s working hard with non-Muslim schools to improve understanding across the faiths Parents should have a choice between faith and non-faith schools, of course.

But criticism of faith schools as divisive is plain wrong, and the opposite of the truth.