The private school system doesn't just entrench privilege, it can allow abuse to go unchecked

A number of Christian fundamentalist schools in the UK have been downgraded by Ofsted after an investigation by The Independent revealed children are being taught that LGBT people are inferior and girls must submit to men. The investigation also prompted disturbing allegations by former pupils that children at some Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) schools had been subject to public exorcisms, physically beaten and “groomed” for marriage to older men inside church communities.

Former pupils told us they had kept silent for years because they were terrified of speaking out due to the deeply secretive and insular nature of the fundamentalist communities they are part of.

Due to a belief in what is known as “self-salvation”, children at these schools spend most of their days teaching themselves by reading textbooks in silence. Pupils at some schools don’t receive the chance to sit any formal UK qualifications, such as GCSEs or A Levels, instead only receiving certificates in “Christian education” meaning their opportunities for work or further study outside the closed Christian community were limited.

The chilling allegations have re-ignited debate about regulation of faith schools in the UK. Perhaps one of the most shocking aspects of the case is how long the schools were allowed to operate, many of which have been open in the UK since the 1970s, without the allegations being investigated.

A key aspect appears to be that the ACE schools are registered as private schools. In the UK, private schools are subject to much less regulation than their state counterparts. For instance, teachers at state schools must have qualifications; in private institutions, that is not a requirement. Similarly, it is forbidden to teach creationism as fact in state schools but is perfectly permitted outside the state sector.

Again, while state schools must give children the chance to sit mainstream qualifications like GCSEs and A Levels, private schools are given much greater flexibility – meaning some former ACE pupils have entered adulthood with only “Christian certificates” to their name.

Although corporal punishment became a criminal offence in state schools in 1986, it remained legal in private schools until 1998 in England and Wales, 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in Northern Ireland. This means that when teachers allegedly beat children at some schools as part of religious rituals “in God’s name”, they may have been acting legally.

Due to historic legacy and class privilege, private schools in the UK have long been subject to a different set of rules than their state counterparts. Elite institutions resist regulation and what they see as government interference in their methods and pedagogies. Our government – the upper echelon of which is populated by the alumni of the country’s top private schools – avoids stepping on the toes of powerful and privileged schools.

We assume that private schools must be good quality – why else would so many wealthier people send their children there at such great financial cost? But cases like our investigation into the ACE network raise serious concerns about a darker side to the private school system.

Some fundamentalist institutions may be able to register as private schools in the UK to ensure they are not subject to the same scrutiny as state educators. At some of these establishments, it appears that children have not been receiving an elite education at all. In fact, their education was, at best, non-existent and, at worst, actively damaging their progress towards adulthood and independence.

Private schools are deeply contentious in the UK. And rightly so. However, most criticism focuses on the class privilege which private education entrenches. While people are right to criticise private schools on these grounds, these allegations suggest we must not be blind to a much darker element of private education: that deregulation means far less oversight and opportunities to hold schools to account, creating a loophole where abuse can occur.