Sir, Cristina Odone accuses me of a “witch-hunt against faith schools” and of alleging they are “selective, divisive and a law unto themselves” (Opinion, June 30). This is absolute nonsense, and I have ordered no investigation into their admission practices.

First, all schools, faith or not, have to comply with the School Admissions Code, introduced last year to outlaw unfair admission arrangements which in the past have penalised low-income families and vulnerable children. We announced further action in March to strengthen the law, passed by Parliament and supported by all the political parties at the time. This included asking the independent admissions watchdog to assess compliance across all of England’s 23,000 state schools. All the faith groups are committed to the code, and these additional measures have been publicly supported by the Board of Deputies, Catholic Education Service and the Church of England. Secondly, faith schools are popular, successful, thriving and the oldest established part of the schools system — I am 100 per cent committed to that continuing. There is no doubt that faith schools play a leading role in fostering understanding and integration in their communities. One of the first actions I took in this job was to sign the Faith in the System statement, alongside all the large faith groups.

It is the first time any government and all the leading religions in England had ever set out a long-term joint statement about faith schools’ wider role in society and the importance of nurturing young people in their own faiths. There can be no clearer demonstration of my support for the faith sector or supporting new providers, including faith groups, to establish schools in the state sector.

Ed Balls
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

Sir, If only Cristina Odone were right, but Mr Balls is neither “wooing the strident secularists” nor engaged in a hunt of any kind against faith schools. Expansion plans are at an all-time high. Every time an Education Secretary tries to have religious schools follow the public interest, he or she gets bullied into retraction. This happened over admissions codes even though he was perfectly correct. (In one of the three LEAs tested, Barnet, there were three infractions by community schools and more than 100 by faith schools.) Similarly, Alan Johnson was forced into the quickest U-turn in political history for the temerity to suggest quotas to improve cohesion.

Ms Odone seems intent on bringing up Muslims apart from the rest of the community even though, as study after study shows, the best way to integrate people is by educating them together from an early age.

Keith Porteous Wood
Executive Director, National Secular Society

Sir, Unfortunately the emotive and accusatory language of Cristina Odone’s In Bad Faith report makes it an unhelpful addition to the debate about faith schools. While we agree with her that there is much to be praised in many faith schools, their discriminatory admissions and employment practices mean these benefits are not available to all children even though most of their funding comes from taxpayers. Ms Odone risks polarising the debate, suffusing her report with a them-and-us mentality, which will do nothing to achieve what we all want.

All children — regardless of their faith, culture and family income — should have equal access to the best possible education in a good local school. Allowing schools to pick and choose pupils is not the best way to achieve this or to create young adults with the confidence and personal skills to live and work in our vibrant multicultural society.

Dr Mary Bousted
General Secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Explore Letters

• Feedback