"Yes, faith schools are a GOOD thing"

Bess writes: Following on from last week's Schoolgate debate on whether Faith Schools are good or bad for education, Sajda Khan, our Muslim guest blogger and teacher puts the case below for faith-based education..

Sajda writes: One of the main criticisms levied at faith schools is that they undermine community cohesion and encourage the indoctrination of a particular faith.

Other faiths are taught across the school curricula and it has strong links with non faith schools.

At A-Level, I have taught my students the ontological and cosmological arguments, the theodicies of evil and suffering (a justification of God’s existence in the face of evil) all from a Christian perspective. My classroom is far from a place of indoctrination; my students question and challenge!

There is no doubt that the school has a distinct Islamic ethos. This, through teaching students there is no dichotomy between being a good British citizen and a Muslim, prepares our students to be responsible citizens, confident individuals and successful learners.

The core values of Islam are concurrent with the core values of British society: a core Islamic value for example is that individuals should contribute to the overall good of society. This is also a core British value. Tolerance and respecting people’s beliefs, upholding justice, being concerned for the wellbeing of all people are paramount to both Islam and to British society.

Community cohesion is about working towards a society in which strong, positive relationships exist and are developed be it in the workplace, schools or in the wider community.

My students have gone on to universities; some pursuing careers in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, law, nursing, teaching etc. They are clearly making a very positive contribution to society; the fact that they were educated in a faith school has not hindered them from integrating in a wider society.

The argument that faith schools are mono-cultural or mono-ethnic is untrue. For example, Christian schools reflect a very broad intake of ethnic, religious and cultural intake. Other faith schools, although small in number in comparison to Christian schools, also reflect a broad intake from various cultures and ethnic backgrounds.

On the whole, faith schools have excellent academic records. They serve their communities and provide their students with the environment in which they can develop a strong religious identity, be confident in their own beliefs, yet respectful of others, including those with no faith.

The fact that faith schools do so well should not be an enigma; they succeed because parents, students and the school work in partnership. All are very clear about the ethos of the school and the values and the beliefs they and the school share.

This is a threefold strength which makes a very positive contribution to the academic, moral and spiritual development of the students.

Of course, it would be ludicrous to suggest that non-faith schools cannot achieve similar objectives, but many parents prefer to educate their children within a context of their own faith narrative as this brings the abstract to life throughout the school.

Faith schools, in other words, demonstrate how to 'live out' the faith in a natural way. They exemplify the importance of kindness, being fair and just, being charitable, showing concern for the world's poor and destitute, thus developing students’ awareness of global citizenship. My school has been very forthcoming in fundraising for many parts of the world. For example, at the moment we are raising money for the survivors of the Haiti earthquake.

Having a secular approach to education is not a neutral position; it is a conscious decision to exclude faith from the most important learning years of a child’s life. For people of faith this could be seen as undermining the values and principles that are important to them.

The furore around faith schools is exaggerated. It is important to bear in mind that their mere existence is led by parental demand.

Parental choice has been a cornerstone of education in Britain since 1944 and has been very successful in ensuring that children are indeed “educated according to the wishes of their parents”.

Withdrawing funds from faith schools would leave some parents with no choice but to send their children to private religious schools, with less regulation. Let us not forget that the parents who want places for their children in faith schools are also tax-payers; why shouldn’t they have a say in how their taxes are spent?

Instead of arguing whether faith schools should exist or not, perhaps it might be more productive to work with and forge links with faith schools, share and exchange good practice.

Faith schools can be a catalyst for constructive and positive contribution to education on a broader level; this within itself will be a great contribution to community cohesion.

People who support faith schools do not call for all schools to be turned into faith schools; critics of the latter want to see all schools turned into non-faith schools. Which is the more tolerant approach?

Sajda Khan is a British writer and teacher in a faith school. She is currently studying for a doctorate on Islam in Britain.

[click here to read Sajda Khan's article on Being Muslim during Christmas]

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