Faith schools fail: Hackney is 9th most faith-based LEA in UK

It sounds like common sense although you'd think there would be studies somewhere saying the opposite. But this news story from Ekklesia says Church of England and Catholic authorities have turned a blind eye to all criticisms of faith schools. This time the research, presented at the Royal Economic Society today (Monday 20 2009), showed that faith schools increase social segregation and fail to improve local results over all.

It said: "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 was called 'Can school competition improve standards? The case of faith schools in England', and tracked 550,000 students in state secondary schools.

The Local Education Authorities (LEAs) which have the highest proportion of students in faith schools are: 35 percent - Wigan; 37 percent - Sefton; 37 percent - Hackney; 37 percent - Blackburn with Darwen; 38 percent - Southwark; 39 percent - Bolton; 44 percent - Lambeth; 46 percent - Hammersmith; 47 percent - Liverpool; 59 percent - Kensington and Chelsea; 65percent - Westminster.The Local Education Authorities (LEAs) which have the highest proportion of students in faith schools are: 35 percent - Wigan; 37 percent - Sefton; 37 percent - Hackney; 37 percent - Blackburn with Darwen; 38 percent - Southwark; 39 percent - Bolton; 44 percent - Lambeth; 46 percent - Hammersmith; 47 percent - Liverpool; 59 percent - Kensington and Chelsea; 65percent - Westminster.

The Guardian reports Hackney deputy director of children's services, Steve Goodman, saying that "standards in many social work university departments had declined so radically in the past 20 years that training courses were often "not fit for purpose". As a result, the borough had been forced to recruit consultant social workers trained abroad in countries like America, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand."

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