14 June 2010

Academy Opportunities

The new academies announced by the Conservative government offer new opportunities for Christians to engage, but also raise questions about how free faith-based academies would be, according to the Forum for Change.

Education Secretary Michael Gove is writing to all primary and secondary schools in England inviting them to become academies - state-funded schools independent of local authority control.

The Coalition's Programme for Government promises to "give greater powers to parents and pupils to choose a good school." The new academies, which will be presented to parliament in the Academies' Bill, are envisaged to be smaller schools which are set up and run by existing educational providers, charities, trusts, voluntary groups, philanthropists and co-operatives.

The social reform charity Jubilee Centre, with support from the Forum for Change, produced a report earlier this year on the Conservatives' plans for new academies, authored by Dr Guy Brandon and Dr John Hayward.

Dr Hayward, executive director of the Jubilee Centre, said: "This raises new opportunities for faith schools in creating teaching resources with a Christian, relational message at their heart, rather than tacked on as a corrective afterwards.

"However, the new Government still needs to clarify how parents and other stakeholders in pupils' education will be responsible for school operation in practice, whilst retaining a safety net of accountability to maintain standards and, where necessary, prevent unsuitable application."

He added that if the new schools have to be non-selective with respect to both pupil intake and staff appointment, the Jubilee Centre wonders what the Government understands a faith school to be and what the impact this will have on existing faith schools funded by the state.

Despite the research suggesting that faith schools may promote community cohesion and equality of opportunity more than non-faith schools, the Jubilee Centre says further study is needed into the nature and effect of different types of faith schools, and what they each contribute to education. A distinction should be made between those who see their distinctiveness in terms of: how the school's Christian community impacts pupils' own identity; the wellbeing and spiritual development of the whole child, regardless of their membership of the Christian faith community; a moral and ethical framework for character formation and promoting civic values; and its contribution to pupil performance through beneficial learning habits.

The report, 'Conservative Party Education Policy: Opportunities for Christians', was produced by the Jubilee Centre and supported by the Evangelical Alliance's Forum for Change. 

The Forum for Change education cluster, facilitated by the Evangelical Alliance, aims to inform and invite the church to consider how, as part of their wider mission to be "salt" and "light" in society, they could be more involved in their local schools and colleges; offering a more distinctly Christian approach to the nurture of children's lives and social interactions and to the pursuit of the common good through engaged citizenship.