How to measure the claim that "faith schools are popular with parents"? This claim is usually backed up by pointing to faith schools where there are more applicants than there are places. But this kind of correlation takes no account of whether it is the schools' faith "ethos" or their good exam results which attract more applications.
Ok, how about this as a different measure...if parents were genuinely keen on having faith schools, as supposed to merely academically successful schools, where parents have got together to campaign for new schools in their neighbourhoods then we should expect parents to be asking for those new schools to be faith schools....right?
Thanks to a recent report we have at least one small opportunity to use this test. Research released by the LSE "Parents in the Driving Seat?: Parents' role in setting up new secondary schools" found:
"Nearly all of the campaigns for a new school wanted or assumed that the new school would be a community not a religious school. There was a concern that faith-based schools were replacing non-faith schools. There is a case for a debate on this issue, given that choice for parents who want a school without a particular religious focus/sponsor could diminish."
So when parents come together to campaign for a new school they almost always want a community school not a faith school. Well, fancy that!
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