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Last week Maralyn Parker, the education editor of the Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph, made some pretty inflammatory comments about religious schools. She described small religious schools as ‘ghetto schools’ and claimed that small Christian and Islamic schools teach creationism and hatred of homosexuals.

If this wasn’t provocative enough, she suggested a direct causal relationship between Christian ‘fundamentalist’ and Islamic schools and growth of religious bigotry in Australia. Her solution: abandon choice in schooling.

While a defense of the specific teachings of Christianity and Islam is best left to religious scholars and leaders, it is important to take a rational look at Ms Parker’s claims about the effect of religious schools on Australian society and the usefulness of her policy response.

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing in the romantic ideal of public schools. In public school utopia, every school has a racial and ethnic profile that reflects Australian society. Every teacher is energetic, inspiring and entirely free from prejudice. All students embrace each others’ differences and learn together in a spirit of harmony and respect.

The reality is that no school meets that ideal, be it public or private, secular or religious. Every school falls short in some way.

Given that there is a common and agreed upon set of values that should be promoted by all schools for the benefit of society, the question is, are religious schools more likely to fail at this role than public schools?

For example, some religious schools may teach against the practice of homosexuality but they also teach that above all else one should love thy neighbour. Public schools teach that homosexuality is normal and acceptable, but you would be hard-pressed to find a public school free from homophobia.

No school is perfect just as no school is intrinsically flawed. There is no evidence that religious schools create bigotry and hatred any more than public schools prevent it.

Nevertheless, the extent of religious freedom allowed to schools has long been a subject of interest to education policy analysts. No-one believes that schools should be allowed to inculcate anti-social views and promote unjust cultural practices. How to define these, and where we draw the line, is a matter for thoughtful debate. Knee-jerk responses are unhelpful and arguably counterproductive.

Ditching policies that facilitate school choice, and limiting the freedom of parents to choose their child’s schooling, will not promote social cohesion. Parents will continue to seek faith-based education for their children as they have always done. Reason says that it is better for this to take place in schools that are part of the education system rather than drive religious education out of the public eye and under the radar. Instead of alienating Christian ‘fundamentalist’ and Islamic schools, the community should actively embrace them and in doing so avoid them becoming ‘ghettos’.

The appropriate policy response is not to reduce choice but to create more of it. It is not at all easy to open a school in Australia. There are a great many logistical, financial and legislative hurdles. This goes a long way to explaining why ninety five per cent of non-government schools are religious schools. Organised religions are well-placed in this arena. They have the necessary human and financial capital and are accustomed to working with government agencies.

In order to provide more variety in schooling in Australia, particularly secular schools, a number of changes to legislation are required. First, the requirement that schools be non-profit should be removed. This would create more choice in the non-government school sector as investors and entrepreneurs seek to fill the gap in the market for secular schooling options.

Second, charter school legislation should be enacted. Charter schools are independently-run public schools. Charter schools can be run by groups of teachers, by professional charter school operators, by charity organizations or any number of alternative scenarios. They are funded on the same basis as public schools on the condition that they meet the terms of their charter, which can include attendance and enrolment benchmarks and achievement standards.

Religious schools and public schools in Australia have a proud history. Social cohesion is a complex issue and requires a more sophisticated community and policy response than to eliminate schools on the grounds of their religious affiliation. Even to suggest it demonstrates intolerance of the kind such a move is supposed to curtail. 

Jennifer Buckingham is a research fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.