The government has proposed dropping the cap on faith admissions for new and existing free faith schools in England. This would mean that oversubscribed faith schools in this category – those established as new academies, rather than converted from existing council-maintained schools – would no longer have to offer 50% of their places to children from outside their religion.

In practice, this would lead to an increase in the number of faith-based schools in England, and increased faith-based admissions to existing faith schools.

The Department for Education has launched a consultation on these plans, as well as on the proposal to allow new special academies – for children with learning difficulties and disabilities – to have a religious character.

The government is proposing this change as a way to improve school standards. It points out that faith schools are more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted and have better GCSE results than other schools. But the problem is that this has little to do with the schools themselves, and everything to do with their intake criteria. Faith schools take children who are likely to be higher-attaining or from less disadvantaged backgrounds.

Read more: Should you send your child to an........

© The Conversation