ABSTRACT
Historically, the English education system has been characterised by its diversity and the involvement of various Christian denominations in the provision of schooling. Before the nineteenth century the education of children was considered to be the private affair of parents. Apart from a few schools for children in workhouses, all schools were private schools. In order to understand the importance of the decisions about the two Muslim primary schools and the one Seventh Day Adventist secondary school, the chapter outline of the way that religious schools historically have been included within the state-maintained sector in England and Wales. It provides an indication of some of the debate about schools for religious minorities. Within England and Wales in 1997 about 20 per cent of pupils were educated within religiously-based state-maintained schools. As the various ethnic minorities became increasingly financially well established, during the 1980s and 1990s, it became more possible for these parents to consider establishing their own private faith-based schools.
