Faith schools 'shunning other religions'

Many complain that it is “inappropriate” for pupils to learn about faiths other than their own, particularly at a young age, it is disclosed.

According to Government inspectors, some schools also used teaching materials that displayed a “bias” in favour of certain groups.

In one instance, a Muslim school used “inflammatory language” to describe the situation in Palestine and a Jewish school stocked books with “strong language” about the Middle East.

“Some of the published teaching materials seen contained biased or incorrect information about the beliefs of other religions,” said the report.

The report was commissioned after Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said "concerns" had been raised about the extent to which private faith schools were preparing pupils for "life in wider British society". Earlier this year, a think-tank study claimed some Muslim schools were allowing pupils to be influenced by extremist values.

At the moment, there are about 7,000 state-run faith schools in England and several hundred in the private sector, the vast majority of which are Christian.

In the latest study, Ofsted inspected 51 fee-paying faith schools, including those teaching Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu children, to evaluate how well they prepare children for “modern Britain”.

It said that all schools “worked hard” to develop children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils were also brought up to feel they belonged as British citizens, but usually within the context of their own religion.

“There was some dissatisfaction… with the phrase 'preparation for modern Britain',” said the report. “For some of the schools, their concern was to protect children from the perceived negative influences of secular society, such as electronic media.”

Twelve of the schools visited raised “concerns about any requirement to teach details of other faiths”, it said.

In a further conclusion, many parents told Ofsted they wanted more acceptance of religion in state schools, particularly the opening of prayer rooms and uniform rules which allowed children to wear religious dress.

One parent questioned why a state school could provide facilities for prayer during Ramadan but not during the rest of the year, the study said.

Miriam Rosen, executive director of Ofsted, said: “All schools have an important role in preparing their pupils for life in modern Britain. Our inspectors found that in these independent faith schools, pupils gained a strong sense of identity and of belonging to their faith, their school and to Britain.”