SCHOOLS have again hit the headlines because of issues that are
very much the concern of all those who take seriously holistic
education in a religious context, and its explicit incorporation of
moral and spiritual values. This has had repercussions at the
highest levels of government, which reveal a profound
misunderstanding about how such values are threaded through the
life of a school.
A more measured approach to Christian values has, however, been
explored by the Bishop of Oxford and chairman of the C of E Board
of Education, the Rt Revd John Pritchard. He examined the necessary
underpinning of church school communities with Christian moral
principles and example (Comment, 23 May). The
National Society has also recently published a report on chaplaincy
in schools, The Public Face of God, noting the growth in
this ministry (News, 30
May).
From my experience as the former head of a non-denominational
maintained school, and currently as director of the School
Chaplains and Leaders Association (SCALA) and a school governor, I
have two overriding concerns. The first is that politicians and
many educational advisers seriously misjudge the relationship of
spirituality and moral behaviour to the character and functioning
of schools.
The second is that the National Society is worryingly slow in
understanding the significance of school chaplaincy, and its part
in the moral and spiritual growth, and behaviour, of young people
(Letters, 6
June).
AFTER their families, schools are where future generations are
given the wherewithal - a moral compass - to live a focused, moral
life, and to understand themselves, as well as the inconsistencies
of the world.Chaplains refract the Christ-light of their calling to
all in their schools.
They also support - and at times challenge - leadership teams
and governors, who shape the ethos of their schools, and set out a
documentary and practical working out of this moral compass.
Chaplains deal all too frequently with the emotional turmoil
that often arises either from the journey through adolescence or
from challenging life-events that affect individuals or school
communities, such as the one that tragically occurred at Corpus
Christi College, Leeds, when a teacher was stabbed (News,
2 May).
In spite of what the chairman of the Independent Schools
Association said last month about state schools' allegedly failing
to teach values, I would argue that no school that is a genuine
educational community can function effectively without such a
compass, because the school's cohesion depends on a shared set of
values which, by and large, are derived in Britain from Christian
moral principles.
THE morality of a school is intrinsic to its behaviour as an
educational community. Successive governments have consistently
failed to understand this point. Instead, they stipulate curricular
provision for the inculcation of morality, as if schools had never
taken it seriously before, and - just as significantly - as if
moral behaviour can be taught in the abstract rather than learned
through living in a structured, purposeful community, as most
schools are.
The presence of a chaplain in an increasing number of schools is
powerful evidence that schools do take it seriously, and are
prepared to resource it properly.
The National Society's new report, however, draws attention to
the view of many chaplains that they "do not feel that the Church
is sufficiently clear about, or affirming of, the place of school
chaplaincy within its ministry". They consistently feel that, with
some notable diocesan exceptions, they are on the margins of the
Church.
They would like some proper acknowledgment that their ministry
is of significance to the parishes, deaneries, and dioceses in
which they are located, through regular conversations with those
who inhabit these structures.
They would also appreciate a recognition that the ministry of
chaplaincy is a viable alternative to parish ministry. An
invitation from parishes, as well as deanery and diocesan synods,
to school chap-lains to present an overview of their ministry as
part of the wider ministry, would be an affirming process.
Greater dialogue between schools and parish communities would
also be beneficial. SCALA is one of several organisations that is
trying to broker such overviews. Those in independent schools feel
particularly isolated.
IT HAS been frustrating to witness the Church's painfully slow
awakening to the fact that the "rumour of God" is only ever going
to reach the majority of emerging adults through their schools.
Only now is there the glimmer of an understanding that ministerial
training should include an introduction to school chaplaincy and
governance.
Only very recently have representatives from the National
Society begun to champion the cause of school chaplaincy. It is
encouraging to read that the outgoing Chief Education Officer of
the National Society welcomes a recommendation of the report for
"new national and diocesan structures that help schools to appoint
chaplains, decide on the part they should play and evaluate their
work".
Many in the large network of those who have been trying to bring
the work of school chaplains to the attention of the main
structures of the Church of England believe passionately in the
need for practical support for those in schools who are responsible
for implementing a Christian moral compass there.
A vital part in this belongs to the school chaplain, the person
charged with the spiritual well-being of our young people, and,
ultimately, the future of the Church.
The Revd Gordon M. W. Parry writes here in a personal
capacity.