Simon Jenkins has yet again highlighted a fundamental issue of disparity between conflicting views of freedom, this time in educational provision (Schools should bond communities: faith schools divide them. Why are ministers making that worse?, 2 May). The secondary school I attended in the 1960s had a high proportion of Jewish children, which gave me the privilege of insight into cultural and religious differences in a context of shared learning and friendship. I worry that the growth of separate provision will deny that opportunity in future.
There is one matter on which Simon will no doubt be happy to be corrected. Selection at 11-plus has not ended. England still has 163 grammar schools, concentrated in areas such Kent, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire and parts of London and the north-west. This reflects local decisions not necessarily linked to party politics – Conservative areas such as Hampshire abolished selection in the 1970s and 80s and went on to establish successful schools and sixth-form colleges, a move popular with parents wanting their children educated locally.
Central government nudged and incentivised, but decisions remained local. With the extreme erosion of local decision-making, there is now no clear way to debate what local communities want and the sense of local schools belonging to those communities has been diminished. Simon’s praise for the role of democratically elected local government in developing schools is well placed but rare: is there a chance that decades of denigration and financial savagery of local government might have been misplaced?
Andrew Seber
Winchester, Hampshire
• As a lifelong atheist and educator, I was dismayed to read that the government is now lifting the cap on selection to faith schools (England scraps 50% rule on faith school admissions, 1 May). It seems extraordinary to me that in an increasingly secular society, admission to any school might be based upon the acceptance of mystical precepts. Apart from leading to the possible exclusion of non-faith children, this will lead to the cynical spectacle of parents attending places of worship simply to obtain a place for their children in a particular school.
The excellence of any school is surely based on rational and well-evidenced educational and social principles, rather than on belief in the numinous. It’s a disturbing decision that may well lead to further inequalities for young people. We should have faith, of course – in the teachers who are currently leaving the profession in such large numbers.
Emeritus professor Graham Mort
Lancaster University
