I rarely blog about my own personal beliefs but I am a Christian and my oldest two children attend a Catholic school. For many years I also taught in a Catholic school before it became a joint faith school. Therefore reading today that religious teaching in schools is under scrutiny interested me on several levels. Do Catholic schools cause segregation? Should children have a daily act of worship in schools?
Firstly the religious teaching that takes place in the school I taught in and at my own children’s school might include a prayer, a reading or a moment of reflection each day. A candle may or may not be lit. It is not ‘heavy’ or forced down throats, more it is in the ethos of everything they do. This ethos includes believing in children, offering forgiveness when they make mistakes and guiding them to make the right choices. All values I want my children to learn and put into practise.
It has been suggested that:
Selection by religion segregates children not only according to different religious heritage but also, frequently and in effect, by ethnicity and socio-economic background. This undermines equality of opportunity and incentivises parents to be insincere about their religious affiliation and practice.”
However I believe that Catholicism or indeed Christianity as a whole is not segregating children. In fact my children’s social circle is wider than ever after attending a Catholic school. They have friends of many ethnicities and many are Catholic, why do we assume that Catholic = White middle class British? My children’s form photograph would certainly challenge that assumption.
Likewise the middle class assumption is incorrect with many families being from all socio economic classes. Maybe a look deeper into how many children are pupil premium would help dispel that myth. The school I taught in was in a more deprived area where we had many children in poverty, and we are talking real poverty. I have had children come into school hungry on more than one occasion and we would need to feed them. Likewise there were children in local authority care and those on the edges of criminal activity.
My children spend a day a year on retreat, there are a few Masses during the year and they have a daily act of worship over a tannoy system. However if you ask them what it is like going to a Catholic school they would tell you that they like their school, that they have lots of friends and their school is inclusive. They are learning to treat others with respect, dignity and kindess – I am sure that is taught in many of the other secondary schools too. I understand the argument that faith schools can be seen to cause segregation between religious groups but I also feel that faith schools are unfairly tarnished. I respect the choices of others, I do not expect everyone to share my religious views like they don’t share my political views (that much is evident from the lack of Labour voters in the last election!) however I do feel that my choice of what school I have sent my children to is under scrutiny and I do feel that assumptions are made about the people that go there.
I don’t really mind if an act of worship is removed from the curriculum – although I feel it would be shame as I think valuable morals are taught in these assemblies. Afterall many of us still believe in the ten commandments. If you don’t know them, look them up, how many do you agree with? I do, however, object to being told that faith school segregate. The faith schools I know all work hard to foster strong relationships in the community and with other schools. It would be wrong to take this choice away from parents.
4 Responses
I honestly don’t think that religion has a place in education. I know that not many people will agree with me on that one though! I strongly believe that faith is something that somebody should find for themselves not be force fed at school. I know you say that your school isn’t ‘heavy’ but prayers, mass, retreats? To me that sounds really heavy!
I’m C of E and went to a C of E primary, a normal comprehensive and then a C of E based private school for 6th form. Given the C of E primary was in a village, it was predominantly white, but there wasn’t a need to be C of E to get into the school. We just sang hymns, said the lord’s prayer, and had a leavers and Christmas service in church. The school for my 6th form had chapel twice a week, and RE classes which as you got older were more like philosophy and challenging religion (well, in the class I was in). But there, you had every faith, because predominantly it was public school, for children whose parents wanted them in a caring, nurturing school, or if foreign, in a boarding school. Children of every faith went to chapel service, they had no choice. So it didn’t segregate.
My son goes to a C of E primary. These days even at 4, they’re learning about other religions, something we didn’t do until secondary school. They also have a few muslims in the school – school of 90, maybe around 8-10. While the school is welcoming to all (again, it’s C of E, they have prayers and hymns at assembly twice a week, have a once a term church service and as far as I can gather they say grace before lunch, but there’s no criteria on entry to be C of E), I find there’s more segregation now because those of other faiths don’t take part in anything that could be seen as religious. They go home instead of going to church, they don’t take part in assemblies, and they’re not taking part in the Christmas performances. To me that’s sad, and I feel that’s not the schools segregating them, but themselves. All religions as far as I can tell are about having a faith of some sort, being kind and good to other humans, and all inclusive.
I think some schools might encourage more segregatation because they do ask people to only study one religion and are stricter in entry requirements, but they do also teach the values that most good people live by just under secular or another religious name. We should be able to send our children to the school that we think suits them best. Mind you, if the law goes ahead, it’ll be interesting in how some of the more extreme religious school change. I expect there’ll be lots of human rights arguments to sort through, and lots more schools applying to be free schools or academies so they can do what they want
Like you, my children go to Catholic School and this is not just a judgement made on religion but the quality of the school, the feeder school, the teaching methods, the location and I have no issue if people want to judge me on my choice of school for my children as that is my choice, not theirs.
There are so many different faith schools but it always seems that Catholic schools get a bad name. Our school has a strong community presence and whilst I may sometimes moan about the money we send into school, I know that they support many good and worthy causes both locally, nationally and internationally and I for one, am proud of that!
My daughter goes to a church school and i was very pro faith schools before she started. Now she is there I am less sure about them. I find the ‘faith’ element can be used as an excuse to do/not do things at times. Also I was disappointed at how many parents refused their children permission to visit a local temple on a school trip? How can you send your child to a faith school and then not be supportive of learning about other faiths? I don;t know where my feelings stand of faith schools anymore.