Teachers call for faith school ban

Ministers should immediately halt the building of any new faith schools with the ultimate aim of wiping them off the face of the British education system, they argue.

Delegates at the annual conference of the NASUWT union in Belfast will discuss the issue in what is certain to be a highly charged debate.

Church schools have a reputation for producing excellent results and are highly popular with parents.

But critics have long argued that children should not be exposed to narrow religious teachings, warning that greater religious and social segregation will follow.

NASUWT's Brian Williams, who proposed the motion, said many parents underwent "miraculous conversions" simply to win places for their children at highly rated Anglican schools.

"Schools exist to broaden people's minds and religions tend to be the antithesis," he said.

"Religions are there to close people's minds. Schools exist to educate. Religions exist to indoctrinate."

Ministers want faith groups to be more involved in state education to provide a "distinctive ethos", through privately sponsoring city academies or backing the new breed of "trust schools".

But Mr Williams, from the union's Cardiff branch, said this would allow suspect groups to apply for state funding to open religious schools.