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The Education Debate: discerning the times

The home, the school and the media are the three main carriers of virtue and value along with the media in its many forms

Schools undoubtedly have a significant influence in the spiritual and moral development of all young people - for good or for ill. In this country Christians also have a long history of provision for schools for the education not only of their own children but also for children in general.

The Church of England which vacated much of secondary education after 1945 has now come to see that this was a mistake and is now ambitious to provide at least two Church secondary schools in every diocese.

There is recognition that many, although not all, church schools are academically successful and also provide an encouraging ethos which is underpinned by sound moral values. My own concern about the church school route is that it inevitably leads to an association and partnership with local education authorities some of which are, in my view, part of the problem. It is, however, good to see that among the first of the three City Academies recently announced there is to be an independent Church of England City Academy in Liverpool. There is no guarantee that the education provided in a church school will be distinctively Christian. This is a sad reality.

Need for change

Concerns about education and schooling remain. Most people will applaud the initiative of the government in primary education with its emphasis on literacy and numeracy. There is, however, deep concern about the pervading atmosphere of relativism in many primary and secondary schools and in terms of sex education in many of them there is often deep parental concern.

The situation at secondary level is more serious. Currently, one third of secondary school leavers cannot read and write in a competent manner. In many schools discipline is non-existent. In more schools than we realise, teachers tolerate from children what is intolerable and unacceptable. As a result many parents are turning to home schooling. It is estimated that there are 150,000 children being home schooled at present. The figure is projected to rise to 250,000 by the end of this decade.

In huge numbers of schools there is a spiritual and moral vacuum and recognisable Christianity finds no place. As has been said on many occasions, we do not have a system of comprehensive schools in urban areas. We have selection by parental ability to pay for decent housing. We have a system of neighbourhood schools with skewed intakes.

There is an urgent need for radical change and one of the more courageous responses of the government has been the announcement of the City Academy initiative.

I have had considerable involvement in this and am confident that these Academies will emerge, and that some of them are likely to be Christian-based.
The process will take longer than the government hoped and the government has a problem. It wishes the Local Education Authorities to willingly accept independent City Academies, but this will mean their voluntarily giving up control of schools. This is a tall order and in many areas the resistance to this is immense.

Political talk

It is not for me to speculate on the outcome of next year's general election.
But it is illuminating to note recent statements by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in relation to faith-based education. Speaking at the Black Majority Churches Joint Millennium Celebration at Brighton in July 2000, William Hague said: 'The state should be supporting the Judaeo-Christian values of our society, not undermining them. Community projects are sometimes forced to tone down or even abandon their religious ethos to make them eligible for state funding. This is wrong. Faith-based groups must be free to operate in ways consistent with their beliefs and not be excluded from receiving a share of the public funds that their members are taxed to provide. We should end discrimination against faith based groups'.

Mr. Hague, in a speech to Politeia in July 2000, has also spoken of his desire to see groups setting up Christian schools which will then be available for financial support from public funds.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, speaking at the same conference as Mr. Hague in Brighton also discussed education and said: 'The black communities and churches are now a vibrant and essential part of modern Britain. You have enriched this country, and re-energised our culture.

'It is essential that communities - including faith communities - have a real stake in the schools in their areas. We want to see local communities take more responsibility for running schools themselves. Faith communities have an important part to play in this.

'We welcome the emphasis on moral and community values that such communities can bring to schools. With strong educational leadership such schools secure outstanding standards and we want to see more of them. I know that some of the churches and faith groups represented here are keen to pioneer their own schools. The government will look seriously at any proposals you make.'

David Blunkett particularly highlighted the opportunity for faith communities in his proposal for faith communities in his recent proposals for new City Academies. City Academies will be new, state-funded but independently managed secondary schools in areas of urban disadvantage.

On the alert

Where are we now as a nation in terms of schooling and how might it look in five or more years' time? Christians need to be alert and active on many fronts in a fast-changing situation.

For Christians the current situation is extremely worrying. For the sake of our own children and the nation's children, we must be concerned to continue to work and witness as far as we are able in all the schools of this country. We need more biblical Christians active on the governing bodies of schools. We need to understand what is going on in those influential areas that are often not assessed in terms of public examinations - sex and relationship education, personal and social education, health education and citizenship. In most schools in these areas the mind set is relativistic, amoral, hedonistic and atheistic.

Diverse pattern of schooling?

Up and down the country there are small, independent Christian schools, usually fee paying, many of which seek to be based on biblical truth. Sometimes these schools have a secondary department. I understand the financial and other difficulties in expansion in this area but I would encourage people to prayerfully consider doing this while looking to the future.

I would like to see in suburban and rural areas, and where City Academies do not seem a possibility at the moment, more churches becoming involved in the creation of independent schools for children of all faiths and none, that charge modest fees. The time may not be too far distant when these schools can become part of the publicly-funded education system.

Looking ahead I am convinced that the role of the local education authority will be considerably diminished and the distinction between the private and the publicly funded schools will fade. I believe that we can now see the beginnings of an opening up in the fairly near future of a diverse pattern of schooling and, within this, the possibility of many more schools, small and large, with a distinct Christian basis. This may be accompanied by a reform of the taxation system with the introduction of tax credits and/or education passports which would allow wide choice of schooling to parents of limited means.

Immediate opportunity

Too often Christians are wrong-footed and are left to react to events rather than leading them. Those of us who believe that biblical Christianity is public Truth must now be praying, thinking and working hard for possible opportunities to reclaim our culture for Christ.

An immediate opportunity is before us. The government has announced a rolling programme for City Academies. They are to be independent and non-fee paying. Some of them may be Christian based and starting from scratch. We are offering Emmanuel College as a possible model for a City Academy. On Tyneside, the school is an independent, non-fee paying, publicly-funded, and biblically-based City Technology College. It is one of the few truly comprehensive schools in the country with 1,250 young people in the 11-18 age range. This year 99% of the year group gained five or more high grade GCSEs.

We need to rescue children from idols and introduce them to reality and truth.

John Burn OBE is the retired Principal of Emmanuel College and Chairman of The Christian Institute. This article is part of an address given at the recent 'Seize the Day' conference at The King's Centre, Chessington in October.