Research released by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Market
and Public Organisation on the 10 year anniversary of race riots in
Oldham has shown that religious discrimination in schools continues to
present a large barrier to integration, and that ethnic segregation
throughout English schools has become entrenched.
Writing in the current edition of the journal ‘Research in Public
Policy’ on the ongoing levels of segregation in schools in Oldham, Simon
Burgess and Rich Harris from the CMPO argue that the problem may be
occasioned by local attitudes that have prevented greater mixing in
schools, but also because the of the "... prevalence of faith based
schools ... [that include] demonstrable practice of a faith among their
admissions criteria."
Oldham was rocked by uprisings and riots in 2001, which reached their peak on 26 May and had a strong ethnic component.
The academics declare, on the basis of their research, that "...
over England as a whole, there has been essentially no change in levels
of ethnic segregation over the last ten years".
Their comments coincided with the Centre for Market and Public
Organisation creating an interactive website called ‘Measuring
Diversity’, which publishes detailed local statistics on ethnic
segregation in schools from 2002 onwards and helps users assess the
level of segregation in schools in England by each local authority
responsible for education.
The chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain,
commented: "Segregation and intercultural tension have many causes –
their roots are often economic, accidental and residential. However, we
know that mixed schooling has a very positive effect upon increasing
mutual understanding and improving community cohesion."
He continued: "It therefore seems reckless for the government to be
actively encouraging religious division by allowing faith schools to
have admission policies that divide children on religious lines, which
can so easily lead to division on the grounds of social background, race
and ethnicity too."
Dr Romain said: "State funded schools should be open and suitable to
children of every background, no matter what their parents’ or their own
beliefs. Our society is becoming increasingly diverse. Schools that
discriminate on religious grounds must not be part of this future."
The Accord Coalition brings together both religious and non-religious
groups and individuals, including Christians, Humanists, Jews, Muslims,
Hindus and others, to work for the substantial reform of faith schools.
Other research backs up the latest findings. ‘Identities in
Transition: A Longitudinal Study of Immigrant Children’, by Rupert
Brown, Adam Rutland and Charles Watters from the Universities of Sussex
and Kent (2008) found that “... the effects of school diversity were
consistent, most evidently on social relations: higher self-esteem,
fewer peer problems and more cross-group friendships. Such findings show
that school ethnic composition can significantly affect the promotion
of positive intergroup attitudes. These findings speak against policies
promoting single faith schools, since such policies are likely to lead
to reduced ethnic diversity in schools.”
Among the key findings of ‘Social Capital, Diversity and Education
Policy’, by Professor Irene Bruegel of the London South Bank University
Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group (2006) were that:
“Friendship at primary schools can, and does, cross ethnic and faith
divides wherever children have the opportunity to make friends from
different backgrounds. At that age, in such schools, children are not
highly conscious of racial differences and are largely unaware of the
religion of their friends... There was some evidence that parents
learned to respect people from other backgrounds as a result of their
children’s experiences in mixed schools.”
The ‘Oldham Independent Review Report 2001’ was commissioned by the
Government, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council and the local police
authority in the aftermath of the 2001 riots. It found that “Educational
mixing: This is closely linked to residential, and in our view it is
desirable in principle that as many schools as possible, should have
mixed intake so that children growing up can learn one another’s customs
and cultural backgrounds and accept that stereotypes and racism are
unacceptable”
* More on Accord: http://accordcoalition.org.uk/