The Archbishop of Canterbury has released a statement affirming his
support for the use of faith-based criteria when it comes to selecting
pupils for church schools.
Following
an article in The Times that suggested Archbishop Justin Welby had
advocated a change in position, the Most Reverend Justin Welby dismissed
the idea that he was supporting a revision of policy.
In his interview with Ruth Gledhill, Religious Correspondent for The
Times, the Archbishop praised the work of church schools and placed
special emphasis on the importance of family and "outstanding school
leadership" in education.
He spoke of the growing "commitment to the common good" of Church
schools" and "a steady move away from faith-based entry tests".
However, his office at Lambeth Palace issued a statement clarifying
that the Archbishop was not advocating a change in policy and remains in
support of the ability for church schools to set their own admissions
criteria.
"I fully support the current policy for schools to set their own
admissions criteria, including the criterion of faith.," he said.
"Nothing in my wider comments to The Times on this subject should be
seen as 'revealing' any changes nor dissenting from current policy."
The Church is the biggest education provider in England, with an
estimated million children currently attending one of its schools.
These schools are widely renowned for their excellence and
consistently achieve top results, which has led to them being
oversubscribed across the country.
Many church schools favour the allocation of places to students whose
parents are regular churchgoers and attendance registers are sometimes
taken in churches within the catchment area of the most popular schools.
This had led to the coining of the phrase "get on your knees, avoid
the fees", in reference to the possibility of pupils receiving a private
school level of education without their parents incurring the cost.
The Church of England has been criticised in the past for taking
faith into consideration in the admissions process to its schools, with
some labelling the system unfair and biased.
Andrew Copson of the British Humanist Associaton said admission
criteria based on faith "segregates pupils on the basis of their
parents' beliefs and on socio-economic and ethnic grounds. Any move to
end it must be welcome."
In his interview, the Archbishop maintained however that "the Church
is part of the solution for building community blessing at local level
... [it] has been an integral part of delivering education in this
country since before the state ever agreed to get involved."