The Fair Admissions Campaign aims to abolish the faith-based selection of pupils in state funded schools in England and Wales.

Aims

The Fair Admissions Campaign aims to open all state funded schools in England and Wales to all pupils regardless of the religion of pupils or their parents and views the current admissions system as unfair. Although some of the supporting members of the Fair Admissions Campaign are opposed to state-funded faith schools the Fair Admissions Campaign itself is not.

History

Many of the organizations which would later become supporting members of the Fair Admissions campaign wrote a letter to the

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. ...

on 16 December 2012 which called for end to faith-based selection policies at English and Welsh state funded schools. The Fair Admissions campaign was officially launched in June 2013.

Support

A ComRes poll conducted on behalf of the

Accord Coalition The Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education is a campaign coalition of civil society groups and individuals which seeks to ensure all state funded schools in England and Wales are made open and suitable for all, regardless of staff, children or the ...

indicated that 73% of British adults agreed that 'State funded schools, including state funded faith schools, should not be allowed to select or discriminate against prospective pupils on religious grounds in their admissions policy.' The Fair Admission Campaign is supported by both local and national organizations including the

, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the British Humanist Association,

British Muslims for Secular Democracy Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (''née'' Damji; born 10 December 1949) is a British journalist and author, who describes herself as "a leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim...person". A regular columnist for the ''i '' newspaper and the ''Eveni ...

, ICoCo Foundation, the

Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education The Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE) is an independent centre and registered charity based in the United Kingdom which aims to promote inclusion in education. As part of their work, they publish booklets on inclusive practice, and ...

, Ekklesia, the Hindu Academy, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, the

Runnymede Trust The Runnymede Trust is a race equality think tank in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1968 by Jim Rose and Anthony Lester as an independent source for generating intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain through research, network building, ...

, the

Socialist Educational Association The Socialist Educational Association (SEA) is a socialist educational organisation in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the Labour Party as a socialist society. It assists in the development of and monitors educational policies of the ...

, the

General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC or colloquially British Unitarians) is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians, and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Irelan ...

. On 8 October 2013 an

Early day motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion, expressed as a single sentence, Table (parliamentary procedure), tabled by Member of Parliament, members of Parliament that formally ...

was tabled by

Barry Sheerman Barry John Sheerman (born 17 August 1940) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huddersfield, previously Huddersfield East, since 1979. He is also Labour's longest continuously servi ...

, the motion currently has 12 signatories which include MP's from the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...

Research

The Fair Admissions Campaign aims to generate a map of primary and secondary schools in the England and Wales based on their religious admissions policies and how representative of the local area the intake of the school is socio-economically.

Law regarding religious selective admissions

Section 85 of the

Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...

provides protection for pupils against discrimination based on protected characteristics, which includes religion and belief, in the admission of the pupil to the school. However there are exemptions for selective admissions based on religion or belief for schools in England and Wales which are : *

Foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

or Voluntary schools (including

Voluntary Aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation (charity), foundation or Charitable trust, trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influ ...

and

Voluntary Controlled A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy than ...

schools) with religious character * Listed on the register of independent schools for England or Wales and it is recorded on the register that the school has a religious ethos * A grant-aided school that is conducted in the interest or a church or denominational body.

References

{{reflist Political campaigns in the United Kingdom Religious education in the United Kingdom