Government signs up for abolition of Catholic sixth form colleges

BY LUKE COPPEN
SiAlI and pupils at Catholic sixth form colleges in England and Wales faced growing uncertainty this week after it emerged that the Government had unwittingly approved a European Union law threatening the very existence of Catholic colleges.
Last week The Guardian newspaper revealed that the Government had signed up Britain to an EU directive making it illegal for Catholic sixth form colleges to select pupils on the basis of their faith.
Government lawyers met officials at the Catholic Education Service earlier this month in an attempt to find a loophole in the law. They are expected to present their recommendations to the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, or to Archbishop Vincent Nichols, chairman of the Department of Catholic Education before July 17, when the House of Commons rises.
The Church and the Government hope to find a formula that will protect 16 sixth form colleges against the application of Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam. The article makes it illegal for colleges to discriminate on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in the areas of employment and training.
The problem arose because a decision was taken by the Government to reclassify further education colleges as "providers of vocational training", and students as "vocational trainees", bringing them within the scope of the new regulations.
Catholic school sixth forms will not be affected by the directive and will be able to continue as normal.
Opposition education spokesman Damian Green, demanded an explanation of why ministers signed up for the directive, without securing exemptions for Church sixth form colleges.
"It's always possible to get a derogation in advance, but not after it's in place," he said. "I'm not a lawyer, but I don't know what they can do about it now."
In February, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools singled out Catholic sixth form colleges for praise. Four Catholic colleges were among the top 21 colleges named in the inspector's annual report.
Catholic college principals said this week that they were optimistic that the situation would be resolved by the end of this month.
A spokesman for Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the talks between the Church and the Government were "positive and on-going", and that further public comment would be inappropriate at this stage.
The Department for Education and Skills was unavailable for comment.