Plans to allow new faith schools in England to increase the share of pupils they take on religious grounds will not improve standards, a report says. The Education Policy Institute research body also said the move was unlikely to boost social mobility.
The proposal is part of a range of measures, including opening new grammar schools, aimed at boosting the number of places in high-performing schools. The government said faith schools were some of the best and most popular.
And the Church of England, which is the biggest provider of faith schools in England, said its 4,700 schools offered "a distinctive blend of wisdom, hope, community and dignity".
The Department for Education's plans to allow new faith schools to recruit more than half of their pupils on religious grounds are based on the assumption that children do better in these schools. They appeared in the Green Paper, Schools that Work for Everyone, which sets out plans to allow successful schools to expand.
