Public money, private beliefs

摘要

It is conference time for the teachers' unions, and complaints about badly behaved children, badly treated teachers and an unsympathetic government are rife as always. But this year the teachers have alighted on an important subject: how much influence mainstream churches and more esoteric sects should have over state-funded schools. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers voted on April nth in favour of banning state funds for new religious schools by 2020. Over the Easter weekend, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) is to debate calling for an eventual end to state money for all such schools.