A report from a leading think tank has argued that faith schools should not be their own admissions authorities unless they select students by ability only.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) announced next month’s release of its Fair choice – choosing a better admissions system report as local authorities in England prepare to write to parents this week with offers of secondary school places for this autumn.
Other schools under fire from the IPPR over independent admissions policies were academies, foundation schools and trust schools.
According to the IPPR report, every school should be part of a local system of admissions “order to give parents a fairer choice of school places and to help tackle educational segregation”.
IPPR welcomed the Admissions Code reforms but said that unless it results in “significant reductions” in segregation by income and ability, schools should “cease to be their own admissions authorities and local education authorities should take over this role instead”.
New research from the IPPR claims that faith schools which are their own admissions authorities are ten times more likely to be “highly unrepresentative” of their surrounding area than faith schools where the LEA is the admissions authority.
The think tank said, meanwhile, that non-religious schools with their own admissions policies are six times more likely to be “highly unrepresentative” of their surrounding area than community schools - for whom the local education authority is the admissions authority.
In light of its findings, the IPPR is recommending that the no school administer its own admissions process but that there should instead be an independent admissions administrator in every local education authority.
The IPPR report also recommends that faith schools should adhere to ‘fair banding by ability’, although it said that faith schools could give priority to applicants on the basis of faith within each ability band.
