The Accord coalition for inclusive schooling has welcomed plans by the National Union of Teachers to campaign for an end religious discrimination in school admissions.

A growing number of people from different religious communities are speaking out for the reform of faith schools in Britain, countering accusations that the call for change is just a secular fad.

If we are to have publicly funded faith schools, then they must serve the whole community, says Anglican vicar Jeremy Chadd. They mustn’t exist to prop up one community, nor to offer escape routes from a more diverse real world to those who already have all the advantages in life.

The Liberal Democrats have become the first mainstream political party to acknowledge that many faith schools currently pursue unnecessary practices in admissions and employment which work against inclusion - and pledge to challenge them.

The Liberal Democrats have become the first mainstream political party in Britain to admit that many faith schools currently pursue unnecessary discriminatory practices in admissions and employment, and to pledge to challenge them.

Faith schools should be stripped of their power to choose pupils, according to research that suggests that some secondary schools are flouting new rules designed to prevent middle-class pupils dominating the best comprehensives.

While the Catholic Church across Ireland is promoting its own schools this week, integrated education campaigners in the North are working to build community schooling that crosses religious and other divides.