Faith Schools Consensus or Conflict?

This text is an accessible overview of the debates, issues, and practicalities of faith-based education. It sets out the challenges and opportunities of different approaches to faith schools and addresses the choices faced by parents in our plural and multicultural communities, as well as the education investment and development currently undertaken by faith schools. Finally, the case is presented for and against faith schools, with a summary chapter attempting to provide the way forward for the debate.

The book addresses the concerns, questions, and interest surrounding the legitimacy, support, and intended expansion of faith schools in the UK. It sets out the historical and legal background of the establishment of such schools within the framework of state comprehensive educational provision and discusses the reason it is difficult to jettison these at present.

Until fairly recently the separation of pupils according to religion was felt to be compatible with a comprehensive education. That consensus no longer holds and there is a strong positive lobby either toabsorb faith schools altogether within the state system or at least to dilute their membership ensuring they include children from other faiths, or no faith at all. This book addresses the current concerns, questions and interest surrounding the legitimacy, support and intended expansion of faith schools. Divided into five sections,it includes chapters on: * the legal frameworks for faith schools and the rights of the child* faith-based schools in the UK, Northern Ireland, France and the USA* the impact of faith schools on pupil performance* faith schools, religious education and citizenship* political and research issues. Faith Schools: Consensus or Conflict? is of interest to educators, policymakers, researchers and students of education, religion and sociology.

Introduction, Jo Cairns, Roy Gardner and Denis Lawton Part 1: Faith Schools: Past and Present 1. Faith Schools Now: An Overview, Roy Gardner 2. Faith Schools and Colleges of Education since 1800, Brian Gates 3. The Legal Frameworks for Faith Schools and the Rights of the Child, Marie Parker-Jenkins Part 2: Faith Schools: For and Against 4. Faith Schools: Are They Justified?, Richard Pring 5. Are Faith Schools Divisive?, Mark Halstead and Terence McLaughlin 6. Religion and Schools: A Fresh Way Forward, Marilyn Mason 7. Faith-based Schools in the UK: An Unenthusiastic Defence of a Slightly Reformed Status Quo, Harry Brighouse 8. Keeping Faith with Social Capital: From Coleman to New Labour on Social Justice, Religion and Education, Eva Gamarnikow and Tony Green Part 3: Faith Schools in Practice 9. Perceptions and Practices in Christian Schools, Bart McGettrick 10. Learning Together: The Case for 'Joint Church' Schools, Alan Murphy 11. Segregation or Cohesion: Church of England Schools in Bradford, Rachel Barker and John Anderson 12. Through the Looking Glass: Religion, Identity and Citizenship in a Plural Culture from the Viewpoint of the Modern, Orthodox Jewish School, Lynndy Lewis Part 4: Faith Schools: The Experience Elsewhere 13. Measuring Catholic Schools Experience: An International Perspective, James Arthur 14. Faith Schools and Northern Ireland: A Review of Research, Tony Gallagher 15. Exclusion or Embrace: Faith, Social Ideals and 'Common Schooling' in America's Public Education, Michael Totterdell 16. Faith Schools in France: From Conflict to Consensus, Cecile Deer Part 5: Faith Schools: The Way Forward 17. Faith Schools and Communities: Communitarianism, Social Capital and Citizenship, John Annette 18. The Impact of Faith Schools on Pupil Performance, Sandie and Ian Shagen 19. Faith Schools, Religious Education and Citizenship, John Keast 20. Continuing Personal and Professional Development and Faith Schools, Roy Gardner and Jo Cairns 21. Faith Schools: Some Political Issues and an Agenda for Research, Denis Lawton and Jo Cairns

Roy Gardner is Course Leader for Advanced Short Courses, Denis Lawton is Professor of Education and Jo Cairns is Lecturer in Education all at the Institute of Education, University of London.