Muslim pupils are more liberal and tolerant than their white counterparts, according to a study released in September. Nearly a third of white youngsters questioned in Burnley, Lancashire, the scene of race riots in 2001, believed that one race was superior, compared with 10% of Asians who thought the same.

Almost half of the white pupils felt that respecting others regardless of religion was not important and a quarter did not feel it was important to tolerate people with different views.

The research was carried out as part of the Burnley Project, a Home Office-funded investigation in the wake of the riots. More than 400 15 year-olds were surveyed about their attitudes towards race, religion and cultural integration earlier this year.

The research was conducted by Lancaster University’s religious studies department. The pupils came from three unnamed non-religious schools, all in deprived areas. One in Burnley, attended mostly by white pupils, and two schools in Blackburn, where one had mostly Indian or Pakistani pupils and the other was ethnically mixed.

Study author Dr Andrew Holden said a “disturbing” finding of the survey was the response to the question of racial superiority. “The greater degree of racial tolerance in an overwhelmingly Asian/Muslim populated school again calls into question the common sense assumption that mixed schools represent the most tolerant environments.

“The much higher levels of intolerance at the white school were linked to the cumulative effect of myths and stereotype, negative perceptions of cultural diversity and fundamental fear of difference, that teachers, outreach workers and educational support staff must make every effort to combat,” he concluded.

Dr Holden added that most pupils at the mainly Muslim school were well integrated and loyal to the UK.