In Good Faith

Schools, Religion and Public Funding

Marie Parker-Jenkins, Dimitra Hartas, Barrie A. Irving

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138369733
• eBook ISBN: 9780429767159
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

First published in 2005, this timely volume challenges those who see faith schools as contributing positively to the well-being of society and responding to parent choice to think through the implications of September 11 for our multi-ethnic and multi-faith society without taking a position on the ultimate necessity of faith schools.

The authors conducted research in several faith-based schools representative both of older religious traditions in England and Wales, and of those which have been more recently established. The focus was on state-funded faith-based schools, but a range were visited to provide an overview of issues facing all faith-based schools, as well as those specific to newly funded institutions.

Chapter 1
Setting the Scene

Introduction

Faith-based schools in Britain are not new: those of a Christian tradition have existed for centuries. What is significantly different today is the development of a new type of school founded on an Islamic or Sikh ethos. Such schools see themselves as part of the national education system, yet wish to locate their teaching, learning and practices within a faith-based context. As we move beyond those institutions of a Christian tradition, issues emerge which have provoked fearsome debate about the wisdom of expanding this newer type of school. Historically, Christianity was embedded in the state education system, and Judaism became an acceptable part, but the same may not be said of others. Why is it that some faith-based schools are regarded differently from others? What makes Muslim and Sikh schools, for example, different from those classified as Church of England, Catholic or Jewish?

At the heart of the debate is the question of segregation in terms of race and ethnicity. As faith-based schools continue to grow in number and to represent a wider range of religious beliefs, there is a pressing need to explore the issues that will impact on all schools, religious or 'secular'. There are different levels of diversity in society, for example cultural, socio-economic or those based on special needs and disability. To what extent do faith-based schools mirror this diversity, or indeed wish to? In some geographical locations, community schools are reflective of a monocultural population. Conversely, a number of inner-city community schools are comprised of a majority of non-Christian pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds. If such schools are to respond positively to cultural and religious diversity, what are the challenges they will face? Moreover, will the development of faith-based schools lead to greater social disharmony, reinforce gender stereotyping and provide opportunity for the promotion of narrow religious doctrines? Clearly the development of faith-based schools, particularly those highly representative of ethnic diversity, will have implications for all educational institutions, whatever their religious or philosophical basis. These are some of the issues with which this book is concerned and which are explored with reference to the education system in England and Wales.

Educational research has not involved large-scale enquiries into faith-based schooling in this country. In fact a number of writers maintain that the relevance of faith-based cultures and the academic outcomes from their particular school systems have been largely ignored within mainstream educational study. As such, much of the current political and public debate about these schools has been conducted at the level of prejudice and generalization (Grace 2002b; Francis and Lankshear 2001; Arthur 1995). This is particularly true of minority-faith schools which have significant ethnic representation. Yet state-funded faith-based schools account for approximately one-third of primary schools and one-sixth of secondary schools in England and Wales, accommodating over 7 million pupils (Department for Education and Skills 2003b). Similarly, some religious authorities have not encouraged systematic and critical research of their own schools. For this reason, we have attempted to obtain first-hand evidence gained from visits to faith-based schools, new and old, interviewing practitioners to obtain an insight into the practical issues involved in running a school based on religious principles which is in receipt of public funding.

Our own research background in the area includes previous project work funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (1993-95), the Leverhulme Trust (1995-98), the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (1999-2000) and the Centre for British Teachers (2001-2003). These studies have been concerned with issues of diversity and opportunity with particular reference to Muslim communities. Whilst this has provided a useful background to underpin this present study, we also undertook research specifically for the book to illustrate and explore issues contained in each chapter. This has involved research of a sample of Church of England, Catholic and Jewish institutions, and we have incorporated perspectives from more recent additions to the educational landscape, namely Muslim, Sikh and Greek Orthodox schools which have joined the state sector since 1998.

We were informed in our study by the work of Poyntz and Walford (1994) who conducted a survey of new independent Christian schools in which 11 institutions were visited and data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. We used the DfES database (2002) to provide a sampling frame and from that we identified the newly funded, faith-based schools. Methodologically this involved visiting ten institutions between 2002-2003 to provide qualitative research from a range of religious perspectives. The focus was on interviewing senior management to explore questions of: religious ethos; cultural background of pupils; admissions policies; community involvement; curriculum issues; special needs education; staff recruitment; school performance; and accountability and inspection. A framework for data analysis was developed to review the information collected from this approach and to help identify emerging categories concerning issues of commonality and difference among state-funded faith-based schools. In addition, we also reviewed school prospectuses, policy documentation and inspection reports from these institutions. A further cohort of faith-based schools and associated organizations, incorporating independent institutions, were also included in our study, to provide an additional database which would enrich our understanding of the field especially in terms of the difference that state funding makes in managing schools of a religious character.

As such, a range of faith-based communities were contacted and generously participated in this study, for example, Church of England, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Greek Orthodox educational institutions, the only exception being the state-funded Seventh Day Adventist school which unfortunately did not wish to participate, despite frequent requests. Our particular focus in the book is on the full-time faith-based schools in receipt of public money because this is the category of school the government has signalled its intention to expand. Supplementary schools, such as 'madrassahs' or 'chedarim' which provide instruction in Islam and Judaism respectively, also constitute a type of faith-based schooling, but for the purpose of this book the focus is on full-time education at primary and secondary levels which is supported by state finance.

The book is not, therefore, about religion per se: it is about contextualizing education within a religious framework. This is reflected in our use of a wide range of political, social, theological and philosophical literature. By drawing on our evidence-based research we aim to provide an innovative perspective on issues not previously examined, such as the development of schools on Muslim, Sikh and Greek Orthodox lines. It is an applied text in that it is accessible and covers practical issues, but it is also underpinned by theoretical and philosophical perspectives. Our position here is unambivalent: we are not arguing for or against faith-based schools – they are clearly going to exist, with or without government funding. If, therefore, we accept the view that state-funded faith-based schools will remain a feature of the educational landscape for the foreseeable future, we need to look at the emerging challenges they are likely to face. This is of particular relevance for newly funded non-Christian institutions that will be operating within a nationally prescribed system of education. The challenges include their dealings with Ofsted, the delivery of the National Curriculum, and fulfilling parental expectations in terms of the quality and effectiveness of the education they provide. The question therefore is what shape these schools will take in the future: how should they operate; and what challenges might they face? In examining these questions in the book we:

• provide an overview of the development of faith-based schools in England and Wales;
• focus specifically on the emergence of new faith-based schools which may have different values from existing schools;
• explore common issues which have application to all faith-based schools as well as those specific to new institutions; and
• highlight and discuss social and political implications of the expansion of this category of school.

The purpose of the book is to help inform a wide audience: theologians, educationalists, teachers, students, academics, politicians and policy-makers; and to provide insight and understanding of the issues and challenges facing both the school communities involved and the wider educational and political establishments. For parents, faith-based schools are seen as attractive because of the cultural appropriateness of the educational setting and the religious ethos of the institution. They also provide an alternative to community schools which may be successful academically but which may fail to provide a culturally sensitive model acceptable to some parents. We have written the book to provide an opportunity to reflect on these issues and on broader ones concerning religion, diversity and inclusion, from the point of view of faith-based schools once they receive public funding. By looking at the issues facing these schools we reflect on the changing situation for schools in general: that is, a need to compete with other institutions for resources; to make enrolment more inclusive especially in terms of religious, cultural and socioeconomic difference; to ensure high academic attainment of all pupils; and to accept and provide for pupils with special educational needs. By exploring these themes from the perspective of faith-based schools, we also reflect on the changing situation for schools in general.

The new faith-based schools are emerging in a climate of greater parental choice and increased availability of state funding to support choice in education. They will also be operating in the context of what already exists, that is, a tradition of Christian and Jewish schools that have been influential in the development of schooling and in dealings with the state. However, the new state-funded, faith-based establishments, for example Muslim, Sikh and Greek Orthodox institutions, share issues of ethnicity to an extent not experienced by the earlier groups. They provide evidence of how religious diversity is put into practice, especially where there is an ethnic dimension, which gives the issue of funding faith-based schools its more controversial nature.

We are arguing, therefore, that Muslim schools, for example, which constitute the largest group within the new state-funded faith-based school sector, would not provoke criticism if their pupils were predominantly white, and that issues of both race and religion are at the centre of this controversy. For example, a MORI poll conducted for the Times Educational Supplement (2001f) reported that 27 per cent of respondents opposed the expansion of faith-based schools, a number which increased to 43 per cent when asked the same question with reference to Muslim, Sikh and Greek Orthodox schools. The debate about the wisdom of providing support for these schools cuts across political alignments, with racism in general – and Islamophobia in particular – featuring as part of the controversy now that a new type of culturally located faith-based school is accessing the public purse (Cush 2003). Ironically, there are a substantial number of community schools which, due to demographics, are highly representative of Muslim communities, yet these are not seen as threatening because they have not been set up deliberately to provide an Islamic education for Muslim children (Department for Education and Skills 2003b).

Exploring Themes of Race, Ethnicity and Culture

Debate about the expansion of new faith-based schools brings to the forefront the issues of race, ethnicity and culture to an extent not demonstrated by the establishment of Christian and Jewish schools. The concept of community and our understanding of the related terms of culture, race and ethnicity have been stretched to include school communities based on such religions as Islam and Sikhism. By the term religious community, we mean here a group of people living in the same locality and/or having the same religion, and sometimes sharing the same ethnic background. In the mapping of minority ethnic populations in Europe, religion has been identified as an important differentiating factor (Rex 1993), and the concept can be drawn broadly in the Islamic sense of the 'ummah' to encompass all Muslims regardless of national borders.

New cultural and religious identities are commonplace in many parts of Europe now as a result of immigration, displacement by war, and those seeking political asylum. As a result of this Diaspora or movement of people, our understanding of 'culture' and how it relates to 'ethnicity' is changing. Culture, which consists of norms, values and specific rules which are learnt through socialization, can be expressed through routine behaviour and symbolic representation (Kirby et al. 1997), and replicated through education. Many fundamental values are derived through teaching (Werbner 2002a) and this is particularly true of the new faith-based schools in our study which use the curriculum, both formally and informally, as a vehicle to transmit cultural heritage and religious identity. We have, within the multicultural West, diverse communities some of which are undergoing change themselves, yet trying to retain their cultural heritage, and very significantly trying to secure toleration of difference from the wider community, and respect for their religious identity.

The construction of identity draws on a number of factors such as ethnic origin and religious belief (Kirby et al. 1997) and it is possible for individuals to have a number of social identities. Most individuals organize meaning and experience in their lives through a primary identity which is fairly continuous (Giddens 2001), but for some people there may be a religious rather than an ethnic boundary around them, a marker which helps to define their sense of who they are, and helps reinforce the strength of their religious belief. Religion is open to interpretation and a variety of expressions are used about what it is to be a Hindu, or what constitutes a Muslim. Religious identity is often more than formal beliefs which distinguish a group: it includes the historical process by which a cohesive community of believers comes to be consolidated and reproduced through a mixture of texts, myths, rituals and symbols often under the direction of a religious leader (Oberoi 1994). Religion can also be used to help a community define itself and maintain its subculture, especially within a dominant cultural group. The centrality of family and places of worship influences identity and acts as a resistance to the erosion of religious boundaries, and serves to challenge the perceived secular and increasingly individualistic society. Within a faith-based school, individuals may feel a greater sense of association with the religious identity of their group than they would in what that group perceives as a secular or non-religious community school.

For some individuals and communities there is an overlap between religion and ethnicity in terms of identity and group loyalty. The importance of an 'ethnicreligious' identity (Young 1990) for different groups is particularly significant and can serve as a major force for political mobilization. Trying to categorize whether it is racial or religious identity which is the major descriptor further highlights the complexity of the situation (Weller et al. 2001), but for faith-based schools religious identity has become a dominant factor for providing community cohesion and mobilizing political activity especially in the struggle for public funding.

Whilst there is huge differentiation between and among religious groups, what is particularly striking today is the importance that religion plays in terms of personal identity (Modood et al. 1997), and how faith-based schools are being chosen by parents who see them as places providing compatibility between the religious values promoted in the home and those practised in schools. The fluidity and multiplicity of issues that communities are dealing with means that there is not a fixed or static sense of culture or religious identity (Giddens 2001), and there are multiple or hybrid senses of identity (Hall 1992) especially for the younger generation. However, members of some ethnic groups see themselves as culturally distinct, and in turn they are seen by the wider society as such. Diversity as espoused through government rhetoric is felt to be important enough to promote and embrace, yet communities fear loss of cultural identity through policies of assimilation and integration (Parekh 2000). Schools particularly are seen as the place where cultural and religious values come into play and identity may be undermined (Miller 2001; Sarwar 1994). It is this perceived undermining of religious identity which has provided the impetus for new groups, particularly those based on Islam, to establish their own schools. What unites rather than divides faith-based schools and their communities is that they all share a desire to perpetuate faith and this is often associated with cultural and linguistic heritage.

New faith-based schools have been established which reflect greater diversity in terms of race and ethnicity than previously experienced in England and Wales, and the role of parents has been central in securing what they see as an appropriate upbringing for their children. This is in the face of a perceived increase in secularization in mainstream society. Parents opt for faith-based schools which they see as the place where the curriculum can reflect and celebrate their cultural heritage and serve as a site for religious worship. They also struggle as a community to seek government recognition and financial support to offset the financial burden of paying school fees, as traditionally provided for schools of a religious character.

Organization of the Book

Throughout the book we argue that the emergence of new, state-funded, faith-based schools is an extension of the tradition afforded other schools established on a religious ethos. It would be unjust to continue to give primacy to those religions which have historically established schools and ignore new additions to the educational landscape which satisfy government criteria. Equality before the law requires equitable treatment for those faith-based schools that have been marginalized in the past by now providing equal access to state funding Furthermore, the emergence of this new group presents challenges both within and outside the school communities.

To explore these themes in depth the book is organized as follows. This chapter provides a context for the book overall, and an introduction of the key issues and the question of appropriate nomenclature to describe the variety of 'faith-based schools' in England and Wales. Chapter 2 provides an historical perspective of the development of faith-based schooling, detailing the role of the clergy in establishing academic institutions based initially on a Christian ethos, and the subsequent growth in Jewish schools. We move on to highlight immigration and settlement patterns, the Diaspora or movement of peoples in the post-1960 era, and the introduction of new languages, cultures and religion among pupils and their families. Chapter 3 serves as a context, therefore, in which to examine the recent development of Muslim, Sikh and Greek Orthodox schools. International comparisons are also incorporated to see how issues are handled elsewhere, particularly with regards to the development of Muslim schools in the Netherlands and Australia. We then look more closely, in Chapter 4, at the idea of 'community, family and culture' in light of the continuing movement and displacement of populations, the basic right to religious freedom and the extension to choice of school based on religious convictions. Chapter 4 also highlights the alleged failure of the 'common school' to satisfy parent expectations and the increasing advocacy for minority rights in education.

Having established the historical and cultural context of faith-based schools, the next three chapters of the book focus on practical issues concerning legality, accountability and pedagogy. Chapter 5 looks at adaptations within new faith-based schools with regard to the legal framework in which they operate, and issues of accountability in terms of the recruitment of staff, admissions policy and government inspection. We also examine the case presently being promoted by some sections of the media and government, that faith-based schools are academically more successful than community schools, and look at the evidence to support this view. Curriculum matters are then explored in Chapter 6 with discussion of such issues as: the teaching of world religions within a mono-faith school; the inclusion of a Biblical interpretation of 'creationism' within science education; and the meaning of 'citizenship' for pupils who have a dual or multiple sense of cultural identity. These serve to highlight some of the controversies concerning education for children within faith-based schools.

An increasing emphasis has been placed on exploring educational policy, practice and discourse in the context of social justice and human rights. This has stimulated...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Setting the Scene
• 2 Faith-Based Schooling: An Historical Perspective
• 3 The Emergence of New Faith-Based Schools
• 4 Community, Family and Culture
• 5 Legal Matters and Accountability
• 6 Curriculum Issues
• 7 Special Educational Needs Practice in Faith-Based Schools
• 8 Social Justice or Social Division?
• 9 A Future for Faith-Based Schooling: Final Thoughts
• Bibliography
• Index