Bishop of Oxford welcomes report by think-tank Theos on faith schools; Think-tank calls for more constructive debate around faith schools; Primus’ response to publication of the 2011 Census Returns in Scotland
Bishop of Oxford welcomes report by think-tank Theos on faith schools
Bishop John Pritchard , Chair of the Church of England’s Education Board, has welcomed the publication of “More than an Educated Guess: Assessing the evidence”, a new report published on 30 September 2013 by the think tank Theos about the social and educational impact of faith schools in England.
Bishop Pritchard said:
“The Church of England emphasises that our schools are inclusive as well as effective and distinctive, and I am pleased to see that this report recognises two very important facts. The first is that faith schools contribute successfully to community cohesion; they are culturally diverse and there is no evidence that there is any social division on racial or ethnic grounds.
“The second important fact acknowledged in the Theos report is that faith schools do not intentionally filter or skew admissions in a way which is designed to manipulate the system. But church schools differ from faith schools more generally, as they have always been there first and foremost to serve their local communities.
“The report rightly recognises the complexity of the situation and cautions against drawing simplistic conclusions, but affirms that faith schools’ admissions policies are clear, transparent and fair. Attendance of a church is the only basis upon which objective assessment can be made, but this is an activity entirely open to all irrespective of wealth or background. Nevertheless, we are still left with some challenging questions about how we can ensure that pupils from less privileged backgrounds are fairly represented in the school’s intake. But, as the report makes clear, this is a problem throughout any system which espouses parental choice, it is not peculiar to faith schools. Any oversubscribed school faces the same issues, not least because of the link between the popularity of a school and the value of housing in its catchment area.”
“One conclusion might be that, rather than continually adopting the ‘battleground’ approach, which often leads to a reticence on the part of local authorities to expand faith school provision, a better way would be to celebrate the quality, popularity and success of faith schools and seek to expand them. This way the problems of oversubscription and resulting admissions criteria would be greatly reduced.”
“Such an approach would refocus the debate to make it more about the philosophy of education and the place of ethos, values, virtue, character and spirituality in the development of a successful school system. It may not attract the sensational headlines of some of the more familiar debates, but I suggest it would serve our children well.”
Think-tank calls for more constructive debate around faith schools
The Theos think-tank has called for a more “constructive” debate about the benefit of faith schools.
In a new report, the think-tank argues that the issue of faith schools is being overloaded with wider debates about the place of religion in society.
“The existence of faith schools is controversial, in part, because the debate around faith schools serves as a proxy for other contentious issues,” the report reads.
“Often the faith school debate is in fact about the role of religion in the public square.
This manifests itself in the seemingly intractable tensions between the religious advocates of faith schools, for example, the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, and their secular opponents, such as, the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society.”
The report said there was little evidence to back up the claim of opponents that faith schools are socially divisive.
“Rather, they are as successful as community schools at reflecting the multicultural make-up of English communities and promoting cohesion,” the report said.
However, it noted that giving schools complete control over their admissions could result in “a degree of socio-economic ‘sorting'”.
“For Christian schools in particular, there are strong reasons to reassess policies around pupil selection, to avoid what looks like a degree of indirect socio-economic sorting, especially given their historic ethic of concern for the poorest in society,” the report said.
Schools with a religious character account for around a third of all state-maintained or non-fee paying schools in England, with over 99% of these being Christian.
While there was a clear “faith school effect” visible in areas like academic performance, this became weaker when the profile of the school intake was taken into consideration.
The report recommends that those engaged in the debate “acknowledge the partiality and contested nature of many of the conclusions and seek to make conversations more constructive”.
Faith school supporters are also encouraged to move away from justifications based on academic outcomes and instead “develop a stronger understanding and articulation of the value of an education in a school with a religious character, possibly in relation to ethos, a more holistic approach and development of character”.
Response to publication of the 2011 Census Returns in Scotland
In responding to the publication of the 2011 Census returns in Scotland The Most Revd David Chillingworth, Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church says : “The figures for religious affiliation in Scotland are a significant challenge for churches. Nominal membership of traditional churches is swiftly changing into ‘no religion’.
“The reasons are clear. Traditional patterns of church life have difficulty attracting people in a mobile, fast-changing and increasingly sophisticated society. Congregations are communities of affection which gather in time-hallowed buildings and they find change challenging.
“But all is far from lost. A majority of people in this society still identify themselves as Christian. Their faith, their hopes and their interest are a mission opportunity for open and attractive faith communities which are creatively led. Rising levels of interest in spirituality – evidenced by growing interest in pilgrimage, prayer and other faith-related activity – show that many people are searching for depth and meaning in their lives. Many are open to exploring discipleship even if they are unlikely to become church members in the traditional sense.
“Churches need to change and I welcome that. We need to become more creative and flexible. We need to think less about surviving and more about thriving. We need to help people to develop their experience of the spiritual. And we need to learn to work together in mission to this new kind of society.”