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Churches call for greater Government commitment to collective worship in schools

12 June 2006

Robust defence of religious content in school assemblies issued by Church leaders

 

The country’s main Churches have today urged the Government to recognise the importance and support the place of daily collective worship in schools, stressing that school worship helps promote tolerance and understanding and prepares students for adult life by giving them an opportunity to express their spiritual nature.

In a fresh initiative, leaders of each of the main Churches in England – including the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church and the Baptist Church – have signed a joint letter addressed to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Alan Johnson MP, calling for a greater investment in training and resources for school staff charged with organising collective worship. The Churches’ position paper accompanying the letter also calls on other groups, from any faith backgrounds or none, to support the call for action by the Government.

The signatories include the Rt Revd Dr Kenneth Stevenson, Bishop of Portsmouth, and the Most Revd Vincent Nichols, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham.

The Churches’ position paper stresses that, through the spiritual and moral development it encourages, Collective Worship provides a means of developing an appreciation that goes beyond the material world, fosters a concern for others and provides a forum for exploring shared values. The paper also highlights the role that worship plays in encouraging strong links between schools and colleges and their local communities.

The Church leaders argue that Collective Worship helps “equip young people to understand more about themselves, foster a sense of the aesthetic and to cope with life-changing moments.” Lack of compliance over Collective Worship, especially in secondary schools, diminishes students’ education experience, they argue.

Rather than blaming schools, the thrust of the letter calls for greater emphasis to be placed on high quality ongoing training for teachers and school leaders.  “Headteachers and others who lead and facilitate Collective Worship need to feel secure and have access to good quality resources. We note that neither Initial Teacher Training nor the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers address this statutory aspect of school life. Consequently, teachers and headteachers are insufficiently prepared to fulfil their role in preparing and leading Collective Worship,” they argue.

Recent research based on OFSTED inspections has revealed that while the vast majority of primary schools manage to arrange daily Collective Worship, many secondary schools struggle to meet this legal obligation. The document explains that this is often a result of misunderstanding: “Many problems relating to Collective Worship derive from the existing guidance…or lack of knowledge of the law rather than the law itself. A clear statement of the implication of the law for schools, backed up with other resources, may resolve some of the issues leading to dissatisfaction with the legislation.”

The Rt Revd Dr Kenneth Stevenson, Bishop of Portsmouth and Chair of the Churches’ Joint Education Policy Committee*, adds: “This policy is not about criticising schools for failing to deliver what can, admittedly, be a tough demand. Schools need adequate support from a range of bodies, including faith communities, to help them meet the requirements and to provide Collective Worship worth celebrating.

“It is vital that other organisations with an interest in the quality of the spiritual development of this country’s young people add their voices to our call for action. Schools and colleges that invest in the activity are startled at the impact it can make on the rest of the school day – and the attitudes of their students. We hope that the message of our letter is heard and acted upon.”

ends

 

Notes

*The Churches’ Joint Education Policy Committee, the body responsible for the move, is formed by education experts appointed by the mainstream Christian Churches. The body, which has existed for more than fifty years and is currently chaired by the Bishop of Portsmouth, is a formal committee of Churches Together in England.

 

Dear Secretary of State

Collective Worship

When Charles Clarke was Secretary of State, he mentioned to us his concern about the place of school collective worship. He suggested that, when there had been progress on the issue of Religious Education in the school curriculum, the next matter to address would be collective worship.

In discussion with your immediate predecessor it was clear that, despite pressure from some teachers’ associations and from the then HMCI, she would not support a change in the law on collective worship. We understand that to have been the consistent approach of the Department ever since the changes in 1988. The last government guidance on collective worship was Circular 1/94 (when John Patten was Secretary of State).

Against that context, the Christian Churches in England, represented on the Churches’ Joint Education Policy Committee, have developed an agreed position on collective worship. We have discussed it with our colleagues in other faith communities, who are also supportive of our position.

As you see, our position is that this is an important part of pupils’ and students’ entitlement in school and that the law is flexible and inclusive. We would like to see a growth in understanding of the law and an improvement in its application - especially in secondary schools, since it is already well observed in primary schools.

We stand ready to continue our own support for implementing best practice in this area. We hope that you will agree that the time is right to increase the level of government support and training for teachers and school leaders as they organise and / or lead collective worship.

 

Bishop of Portsmouth                                        

Chair                                                                           

 

Archbishop Vincent Nicholls

Catholic Education Service

 

The Revd Mark Fisher

Free Churches Education Committee

 

 

The Churches and Collective Worship in Schools - A position paper

 

Approved by the Churches’ Joint Education Policy Committee

 

The Churches represented in the Churches’ Joint Education Policy Committee take the following position:

1.      We strongly support the continuation of Collective Worship in all schools, recognising the major contribution it makes to the spiritual and moral development of pupils, which is a prime goal of education. It is believed by other faith groups to be of benefit even though its emphasis is mainly Christian. We look for Government support for an improvement in the quality of acts of collective worship and for ensuring that all pupils are able, with their parents’ consent, to attend meaningful acts of worship at school.

 

Educational benefits

2.      Collective Worship is of educational value to children, young people and adults within school and college communities. It provides a means of developing an appreciation that goes beyond the material world, fostering a concern for others and providing a forum for exploring shared values.

3.      It is important that children and young people become familiar with the language and silence common to many forms of public worship. They are all likely to attend, at the very least, at some point in their lives, a funeral, a wedding or a baptism.

4.      Collective Worship is a shared experience. It offers children, young people and adults an opportunity to participate in humanity’s shared search for God, and in doing so builds community in and beyond the school.

5.      Collective Worship in most schools also provides the opportunity for students to gain an awareness of worship practices of faiths other than their own.

6.      Collective Worship offers opportunities for co-operation and the fostering of strong relationships between individual schools and the local communities they serve. Local faith leaders should be utilised as a resource and invited to play a part in Collective Worship in schools in their own localities.

 

Spiritual benefit

7.      Collective Worship contributes towards schools’ statutory obligation to provide opportunities for students’ spiritual and moral development. It helps to equip young people to understand more about themselves, foster a sense of the aesthetic and to cope with life-changing moments. Collective Worship provides experience of meditation, reflection and prayer as spiritual resources.

 

Training

8.      Collective Worship can only make a significant contribution to school life when it is of high quality, respecting the integrity of pupils and staff, and providing opportunities for varied levels of participation.

9.      Headteachers and others who lead and facilitate Collective Worship need to feel secure and have access to good quality resources. We note that the competencies listed for neither Initial Teacher Training nor NPQH address this statutory aspect of school life. These omissions result in teachers and Headteachers being insufficiently prepared to enable them to fulfil their role in Collective Worship. The TDA, NCSL and faith communities all have complementary roles in ensuring training is available.

 

Legislation

10.  We are concerned at the high level of non-compliance with the Law on Collective Worship in Secondary Community schools and the lack of engagement with this issue.

11.  We are committed to working towards better implementation and support of the Law as it stands, for we believe it is already sufficiently flexible to achieve its aims. Many problems relating to Collective Worship derive from the existing guidance (Circular 1/94) and from misunderstanding or lack of knowledge of the Law rather than from the Law itself. A clear statement of the implications of the Law for schools, backed up with other resources, may resolve some of the issues leading to dissatisfaction with the legislation.

ends

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