By Liz Lightfoot
(Filed: 19/10/2006)
Alan johnson, the Education Secretary, warned existing faith schools yesterday that they must become less exclusive as he spoke of the need for them to help break down tensions between communities.
All new faith schools will need to set aside a quarter of places for children from other religions or no religion at all but this was just a start, he told the a conference of the National Children and Adult Services in Brighton.
"Through the current consultation on the new admissions code, we should explore whether there is more we can do by encouraging existing faith schools to further promote community cohesion,.
"Building on the agreement signed earlier in the year by all the faith groups to teach each other's religion in their RE classes, I want to see teachers exchange between different religious schools, so that pupils and teachers are exposed to the ethos and approach of different faiths." Mr Johnson's school admissions code, which is out for consultation, forbids faith schools from insisting that parents put them as their first choice and tells them that they "should consider how their particular admission arrangements impact on the local community,".
It defines "contribution to community cohesion" as "having admission arrangements that are inclusive of other faiths and of all elements of the population of their local area".
A spokesman for Mr Johnson said there was no plan to extend the 25 per cent non-faith quota to existing faith schools.
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