No Faith In School System
A Jewish government minister has called for Jewish schools and those dedicated to other faiths to be forced to accept pupils from different religious backgrounds.
In a high profile speech, Work and Pensions Minister Margaret Hodge told the Labour thinktank Progress, faith schools should be forced to enact policies that supported rather than hindered integration in British society.
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“If we want to avoid education drifting into contributing rather than solving the problem, we must be prepared to close down faith schools that do not conform in these key areas.”
The Department for Education and Skills denied the comments were a signal of a shift in the government’s attitude on faith schools.
A spokesman said there would be no change to the current policy, which requires Jewish schools to take on pupils of other faiths only if they cannot fill all their places.
He added: “Margaret Hodge was speaking in a personal capacity. We have a long history of faith schools in this country and they encourage social cohesion. Currently, 30 per cent of grant-maintained schools are faith schools.”
But the speech came in the wake of several recent attacks on religious schooling. In August, Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Commons education select committee, warned against the “ghettoisation” of the education system and a poll conducted by the Guardian found 64 per cent of people felt the government shouldn’t fund faith schools.
And last week former Conservative minister Edwina Curry said she was opposed to Jewish schools because they “cause divisions”.
Simon Goulden, Chief Executive of the Agency for Jewish Education, said: “The decision-makers in government have made their position clear, and that’s what’s important. Only in the last couple of weeks the government has given significant funding for a Hindu school. I think that makes clear what their view is on faith schools.”
“We certainly all agree faith schools should promote positive models for living in a multicultural society but that is not to say we should go down the route Margaret Hodge has suggested.”
But Rabbi James Kennard, headmaster of King Solomon High School, said: “I have a very real fear Margaret Hodge’s agenda will be imposed on Jewish schools, which will seriously threaten the character of Jewish state schools in this country.”
He told Jewish News there had been a growing resistance to faith schooling in certain sections of the Labour Party for some time, and to faith in general, since the 7/7 attacks.
He continued: “There is a feeling faith schools must be divisive although there is no evidence that they lead to a divisive society. On the contrary, the evidence is that members of faith communities who feel secure and confident and don’t feel marginalized and alienated are far better able to integrate and contribute to wider society.”
There is a problem, he added, of critics failing to see the difference between the Christian faith and Judaism. While Christianity is happy to spread its message to non-Christians, Judaism believes its faith is not appropriate for non-Jews.
“Therefore, if Jewish schools took on a proportion of non-Jewish pupils, we would have to make completely alternative arrangements whenever there were expressions of Jewish faith, which is often.”
He added that Anglo-Jewry’s status as a “tiny minority” meant faith schools were also important to preserve its identity.
Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.
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