Faith schools increase social division

Research presented at the UK's Royal Economic Society today showed that faith schools increase social segregation and fail to improve exam results overall. The paper by academics at the London School of Economics and the Institute of Education, both part of the University of London, also argues that it is the privileged intake of such schools which accounts for their better than average test results.

The study tracked 550,000 students in state secondary schools to examine the impact of religious schools on attainment and social stratification. While there was little evidence that faith schools drive up standards, they were found to cause segregation by class, ability and religion.

Despite a steep decline in church attendance across all denominations and limited support for the principle of state-funded religious schooling in attitude surveys, there continues to be relatively high demand for places at religious secondary schools. On a typical Sunday in 2005, just six percent of the UK population attended church, with under two percent in Anglican or Catholic churches. Yet 15 percent of children are educated in religious secondary schools, funded mostly or entirely by the taxpayer.

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