Shoud Faith Schools Be Part of State Educational System?

Faith schools are maintained schools which follow the National Curriculum, have fully qualified staff, are inspected by Ofsted, have a governing body conforming to a standart model and should promote community cohesion(Teachernet,2011). Faith-based schools in England and Wales have been existed since Middle Ages. The Church of England and the Catholic Church founded first schools in England and Wales in 16th century to make education more obtainable for children from all social classes and family backgounds. Chadwick(2001). According to Parker-Jenkins,Hartas,Irving(2005), after the Industrial Revolution,in 19th century, it was apparent that faith schools were not able to provide a worthy educated worforce for the country. As a result, government began to provide not only financial support for faith schools, but also created a new form of universal education - "Board Schools". Nowadays, one third of all maintained schools in England are faith schools (Teachernet, 2011). Recent survey, which was carried out among Londoners showed that 44% of them said they believe that all faith schools should be banned(Smith,2011). Likewise, in 1980s the Labor party was against religious schools, because they increased religious, racial and cultural divisiveness. However, such policy was changed by the influence of number of reasons. The HRA said, "...the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure... education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions"(HRA, 1998). Likewise, Tony Blair's religious enthusiasm also affected on British educational system, especially for faith schools (Jackson, 2004). Accordingly, many arguments for and against faith schools have been criticized throughout Britain. Therefore, this essay attempts to investigate why faith-based schools should not be a compulsory part of British educational system focusing on the basis of pluralistic and democratic views. Divided into three parts, the essay will start with

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