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PROJECTS AND RESOURCE CENTER
Current LSS Projects
Faith Schools
Admissions
Employment
Academies
Dress codes
School policies and religious belief
Religion in the workplace
Sexual orientation and faith based discrimination
Faith based arbitration and mediation in the UK
Secular Medicine
Animal welfare and religious privilege
Faith Schools
FAITH SCHOOLS
Admissions
1. Admissions to faith schools are a contentious issue. Admission to faith schools is subject to strict criteria which some schools attempt to avoid in order to attract the best pupils. Once the school is full discrimination on the grounds of faith is permitted. The Government has a policy of expansion of faith based education and the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats have said that they will continue the policy if elected.
2. The issue of whether the faith element of the school is what makes it a good school is analysed in a paper by Stephen Gibbons and Olmo Silva of the London School of Economics called: “Faith Primary Schools: Better Schools or Better Pupils?”
3. Faith Schools present two separate problems. The impact on social cohesion of providing a school system based on faith is a problem causing concern to many. Rather than all children being schooled together, communities are being segregated on sectarian lines creating the potential for fostering mistrust and hostility between communities. The second problem is that faith schools are removing the freedom of young people to be educated together in a neutral secular space and to make up their own mind about faith. The law allowing faith schools to refuse to employ or to sack teachers of the wrong faith or no faith, or whose conduct is not in accordance with the ethos of the school risks entrenching faith based discriminatory views in the next generation.
Employment
1. Currently Faith schools equate to approximately one third of state schools. There are two varieties of Faith school: Voluntary Controlled and Voluntary Aided. In VC schools one fifth of teachers including the head teacher, and in VA schools all teachers do not have the protection of the law against religious discrimination. These teachers can be refused employment or dismissed either because they are not the same faith as the school, or because their conduct is not in accordance with the ethos of the school. The law as it exists at present allows discrimination against teachers who get divorced, live with a partner outside marriage or are in a same sex relationship.
2. The LSS is working with Members of Parliament and related organisations to obtain legislative reform in this area. The Government is currently defending breach proceedings issued against it by the European Commission for failing to correctly implement the Employment Directive. The Government has also failed to amend the law to remove the right to discriminate in employment in faith schools following the introduction of the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003. The 2003 Regulations specifically preserve the right to discriminate. The Employment Directive is clear that discrimination can only be permitted if being of a particular belief is a genuine occupational requirement of the job. Each case must be assessed individually. The requirement must relate to the belief of the employee and cannot be imposed in relation to a characteristic of the employee unrelated to belief that is imposed as a requirement of the employer’s belief, such as marital status or sexual orientation.
3. Relevant legislation:
i. School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31) – sections 58-60
ii. The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 No. 1660
iii. Education and Inspections Act 2006 (c. 40) – section 37
iv. COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation directive 2000/78/CE
4. The legality of the exemption from the requirement to apply a GOR in faith schools remains untested by the courts. A Scottish case examined the Regulations and found that they applied, however the Education and Inspections Act 1998 did not apply in that case: Glasgow City Council v. McNab [2007] UKEAT 0037_06_1701 (17 January 2007).
1. Academies are not exempt from the The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 No. 1660 and therefore staff can only be subject to discrimination on the grounds of their belief or lack of belief if the school can establish a GOR.
1. Religious dress in schools has been the subject of several recent court cases. For an analysis of the scope of Article 9 of the Convention (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) see the judgment in the case of Begum.
2. Religious dress and pupils:
i. Begum, R (on the application of) v. Denbigh High School [2006] UKHL 15 (22 March 2006)
ii. X v Y School & Ors [2007] EWHC 298 (Admin) (21 February 2007)
3. Religious dress and staff:
i. Azmi v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council [2007] UKEAT 0009_07_3003 (30 March 2007)
ii. The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 No. 1660
School policies and religious belief
1. 1. The Christian Tradition of smacking a child as part of a policy of discipline was not an enforceable right in the case of Williamson & Ors v Secretary of State for Education and Employment [2002] EWCA Civ 1926 (12 December 2002).