Rationale

Schools form habits of mind. When a school’s public materials treat one political frame as settled fact — on sex, race, borders, climate policy, speech, or childhood identity — children learn that dissent is a moral defect rather than a claim to be tested. That is indoctrination, whether or not anyone uses the word.

Ideological capture is a problem because it narrows the range of things a young person is allowed to notice. It rewards conformity. It makes staff cautious. It turns pastoral care into a programme. Independent minds need the opposite: competing accounts, open argument, and the right to withhold assent.

Pluralistic debate is the better school culture. A pupil who can hear two serious views, ask what would falsify each, and keep their own counsel is better prepared for adult life than a pupil trained to recite a house line. The index is useful because that difference is now hard to see from a prospectus. Websites, policies, and official social pages are the record the institution itself chose to put in public. Scoring that record gives families a compact signal they can check against the source.

This page is only the case for keeping the record. Who started the index, and the mission they set, is on Authors. The questions, the 0, 1 and 2 findings, and the grade rules are on Methodology. They are not repeated here.

For parents: use the score as a prompt, not a verdict. Open the school page, read the Yes answers, follow the sources, and decide whether the published stance matches the education you want for your child.

For prospective students: the index shows how the institution talks when it thinks the public is watching. If you want a place that can bear argument, look at whether its policies leave room for it.

For employees and applicants: official pages are also a workplace signal. They tell you what the organisation expects staff to affirm. That is worth knowing before you sign a contract.

Automated ratings will miss pages, misread tone, or go stale. The school record includes a public comment box for that reason. Officials and ordinary readers can challenge an answer, add a missing source, or note a change of policy. The point of the index is a usable public map — and a way to keep that map honest.