CofE hits back at ‘contradictory’ call to end faith-based admissions
by John Roberts, tes:
Church leaders question why report from former education secretary suggests phasing out religious admissions policies.
The Church of England has said a report calling on it to scrap all faith-based admission policies at its schools contradicts itself.
The report by former education secretary Charles Clarke and academic Prof Linda Woodhead called on the Church to phase out “all selection in their schools on the basis of faith, perhaps over a number of years.”
The authors said that the country needs to have fewer schools that select pupils on the basis of religion.
However, the Church of England has said that the report contradicts itself by also promoting the right of parents to choose a school of their faith for their children.
The Rev Nigel Genders, the CofE’s chief education officer, said: “We have consistently argued that the issue of school admissions is complex in a system where parental choice is valued.
‘What about parental choice?’
“There is an apparent contradiction in the Clarke/Woodhead report which promotes the right of parents to choose an education that is consistent with their faith, but suggests that schools move away from of any faith criteria in admissions processes to enable this.
“This seems a difficult square to circle and so the reason for calling for churches to remove all faith criteria is not clear.”
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