NCS provider issues school segregation warning

Research commissioned by youth charity The Challenge found that in 2016, a total of 40.6 per cent of secondary schools were either considered to be fully "ethnically segregated", because they did not reflect the ethnic make-up of their local area, or were "potentially contributing to segregation", because disproportionality in their intakes was having a knock-on effect on other schools.

For primary schools, the figure was found to be 26 per cent. Meanwhile, 29.6 per cent of primary schools and 27.6 per cent of secondary schools were found to be segregated by socio-economic status, based on proportions of children receiving free school meals (FSM).

The study compared more than 20,000 registered state schools' intake of ethnically diverse pupils and those on FSM with results from the 10 schools closest to them geographically.

It considered schools to be ethnically or socio-economically segregated if the proportion of ethnic minority pupils or pupils on FSM varied greatly to the proportion of pupils from the neighbouring schools.

Jon Yates, director of The Challenge, which is a major regional provider of the government's National Citizen Service (NCS) initiative, said the study showed more needed to be done to ensure school intakes were representative of local communities. 

"We know that when communities live separately, anxiety and prejudice flourish, whereas when people from different backgrounds mix, it leads to more trusting and cohesive communities, and opens up opportunities for social mobility," he said. 

In light of the findings, the charity is calling on the government, local authorities, academy chains and school leaders to promote NCS and other out-of-school social action schemes that aim to unite young people from different schools and backgrounds. 

It also wants local government, faith authorities, academy chains and individual schools to review their admissions practice, and for school governors to publish details of their intake, compare trends over time and act upon poor integration.

The research also found faith schools at primary level were more ethnically segregated than schools of no faith and were more likely to cater for advantaged students.

Compared with neighbouring schools, 28.8 per cent of faith primaries were ethnically segregated in contrast to 24.5 per cent of those of no faith, and 4.4 per cent of primary level faith schools had a high FSM intake compared to 11.4 per cent of non-faith schools, compared with schools nearby.

Jonathan Romain, chair of the inclusive-education campaign group Accord Coalition, which contributed to the research, said society needs to "urgently challenge the prevailing culture that says it is ‘okay' for state-funded schools to be seen as belonging to and serving certain groups".

"Otherwise, we risk only compounding disadvantage and leaving a legacy of fragmentation and division for future generations," he said. 

Ted Cantle, founder of the community cohesion research organisation iCoCo foundation - the third partner for the research - said schools were the best location for promoting integration.

"Children need to grow up with others of different backgrounds, especially where their communities are segregated and they have no experience of difference," he said.

"We know that contact between groups improves tolerance and breaks down prejudice - and will even contribute to tackling extremism. But we appear to be going in the opposite direction.

"Tackling residential segregation is more difficult - people cannot simply be moved from one area to another.

"So schools are our best chance for integration. They can be the bridges between communities. But instead, schools appear to be compounding the problem and slowly dismantling the bridges."

The research was based on Department for Education data, which did not include information from independent and unregistered schools.