A new survey from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) shows that 23 percent of Jewish respondents report that their children have experienced antisemitism at school, in its vicinity or travelling to or from it.
Unsurprisingly, the survey, written by JPR’s senior research fellow, Dr Carli Lessof, shows that Jewish children in mainstream schools are more likely to experience antisemitism at school, while those attending Jewish schools are more likely to experience antisemitism while travelling to and from school.
But more intriguingly, one in five Jewish parents with children in mainstream schools say they are more likely to send their children to a Jewish school following the October 7 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza.
The JPR report, “Antisemitism in schools: how prevalent is it, and how might it affect parents’ decisions about where to educate their children post-October 7’, draws on data collected in June and July 2024, eight months after the October 7 attacks on Israel and in the context of the war in Gaza.
It explores Jewish parents’ understanding of whether their children have experienced antisemitism either at school, in the vicinity of school, and travelling to and from school. The research investigates whether parents would make different choices about where to educate their children in light of the events of October 7 the war in Gaza and the rise of antisemitism in the UK.
Among the key findings are that 23 percent of British Jewish parents reported that their child or children had experienced antisemitism at school (12 per cent), in the vicinity of school (six percent) or travelling to or from school (nine per cent).
Parents of children at a Jewish school are more likely to report that their children experienced antisemitism while travelling to or from school (13 percent) than at school (three percent).
In comparison, those with children at mainstream schools are more likely to report their children experienced antisemitism at school (21 percent) than travelling to/from it (two percent).
Three-quarters (73 percent) of Jewish parents with children in mainstream schools said that the October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza would not affect their choice about where to educate their children, but one in five (20 per cent) said they would now be more likely to send their children to a Jewish school. This proportion doubles (40 percent) for parents whose children have experienced antisemitism in, around or travelling to or from their mainstream school.
Just over half of Jewish parents with children in Jewish schools (52 percent) said that the attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza would not affect their school choice, though most of the remainder (46 percent) saying they would be even more likely to opt for Jewish schooling now.
There are 136 registered Jewish schools in the UK, educating over 36,000 Jewish children. That figure, broken down, shows that about two-thirds of all Jewish children are educated in these schools: almost all strictly Orthodox children learn in Jewish educational settings, as do an estimated 43 per cent of other Jewish children.
