Anglican Mainstream

By John Bingham, Telegraph

Middle class parents vying to get their children into church schools have started a “rush to the font”, official figures showing a surge in demand for baptisms of nursery-age children suggest.

While the most recent annual figures from the Church of England show a further slight fall in attendance at Sunday services, the number of couples having their children baptised is on the rise.

And although the numbers of families having babies christened are growing steadily, demand for baptism from those with older children – mostly preschool age – are growing three times as fast.

There was also a boom in demand for less formal “thanksgiving” services for children, again primarily for toddlers and young children rather than babies.

The Church of England said it was clear that parents still see it as important to have their child baptised but are increasingly leaving it later to do so.

But, according to the Rev Dr Sandra Millar, who now runs the Church of England’s Christenings Project – an ongoing “market research” programme on baptisms, their motives are often mixed.

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By Graeme Paton, Telegraph

The Roman Catholic Church is set to take over struggling secular schools under Government plans designed to raise standards in the state education system, it has emerged.

Successful Catholic schools could be enlisted to act as “sponsors” to help run community primaries and secondaries in difficult circumstances, it was revealed.

The move would reverse an existing policy that prevents Catholic schools striking up federations with non-religious counterparts as part of the Government’s academies programme.

It comes two years after the Church of England embarked on a similar path which has resulted in a number of secular schools adopting a faith “ethos” under Anglican control.

The Government said it was keen to enlist the support of a range of bodies with a good track record of running schools to help address underperformance in parts of the state system.

But secular groups warned that the move could lead to the Catholic Church imposing its faith with “proselytising zeal”.

Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said: “We are alarmed that the Catholic Church is now seeking to extend its influence over the management of schools in a way never previously possible.”

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, told the Times Educational Supplement: “Whenever you have a merger of amalgamation of a faith and non-faith school, everything always leans towards the faith.”

But Paul Barber, director of the Catholic Education Service, insisted that Catholic schools were already part of the state education system and “wanted to make a contribution” to driving up standards.

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by Nicholas Hellen, Sunday Times

A CHURCH of England school where 75% of pupils are Muslim is conducting its assemblies without Christian hymns and has allocated separate prayer rooms to boys and girls.

The secondary school, which does not take account of church attendance in its admission criteria, treats the Bible on a similar footing to other religious texts in its communal worship.

This weekend Paul McAteer, headmaster of Slough and Eton Church of England Business and Enterprise College, said Anglican schools still have a purpose even when the majority of their pupils are Muslim.

Christian families are such a rarity in some inner-city communities that in a number of Church of England schools every pupil is a Muslim.

McAteer said 'The Church of England describes itself as a faith for all faiths.  Parents want to send their children to a faith school."

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By Cristina Odone, Telegraph

The Revd Jan Ainsworth the Church of England's Chief Education Officer said: "The APPG Report provides strong evidence for our continuing concern that RE is being downgraded as part of the curriculum. We have spoken out strongly about this over the past couple of years, particularly since RE appeared to lose its status in the original development of the Ebacc. We are concerned about the provision and quality of RE in all schools.

The Report shows that initial teacher training in RE is inadequate and the provision of in-service training is drying up. We are pleased that Church of England diocesan education teams are still offering CPD which is open to all schools, but that can't make up for the lack of support across the subject as a whole. RE is about religious literacy for all, growing understanding of the importance of faith, especially in this country, built on Christian values, to the lives of individuals and communities. It is has never been more important than in today's multi-faith society. We hope the Report is a wake up call for the Department for Education."

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By John Bingham, Telegraph

Children attending faith schools will have to “prove” their religion to qualify for free school buses, under a radical council plan.

In what is thought to be the first move of its kind in the country, children in Flintshire, north Wales whose parents are non-believers will be denied free transport to school.

Parents and Roman Catholic priests in the area have united to accuse the council, which is making cuts, of discrimination against people without religious faith.

It comes in stark contrast with controversy elsewhere in the UK where councils have scrapped subsidised travel to faith schools – worth around £500 a year per child – across the board.

In such cases councils have been accused of introducing a “tax on religion” and discriminating against people of faith.

But in Flintshire, the council proposes to single out parents who do not profess religious faith but want their child to benefit from education in a church school.

Under the proposal, due to come into force next year, children would have to produce a baptism certificate, a letter from a priest or other “suitable evidence of adherence to the faith of the school”.

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By Rod Dreher, The American Conservative

• Sherif Girgis, Yale University
• Professor Lynn Wardle, Brigham Young Law
• Professor W. Bradford Wilcox, University of Virginia
• Professor Paul Kerry, Brigham Young Law
• Dr. Robert Lerman, Urban Institute
• Dawn Eden, Author

The lectures were thoughtful and incisive—so much so that I quickly discarded my original plan of staying for a few sessions before returning to work. The speakers, to a T, were academics who based their arguments and presentations on facts and reason, not on bigotry or prejudice. Only one speaker, author Dawn Eden, made an argument based on religious grounds, and her lecture, “Everything is Tolerated and Nothing is Forgiven,” was about chastity and dealing with the excesses of permissiveness, not about the LGBT community. Only three speakers broached the issue of same-sex relationships, and only two of those three explicitly passed judgment on these relationships.

 

Even then, the arguments were made on strictly rational grounds. Lynn Wardle outlined the case for traditional marriage on the notion that the family was the original, fundamental building block of society as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. Disagree as I may, this was not the rambling of a bigot. This was a reasoned, principled argument based on a fundamental respect for the LGBT community coupled with a specific interpretation of American history.

 

As I listened to the issues—both agreeing and disagreeing at times—I felt a particular sense of excitement, picking up viewpoints I have seldom heard since coming to Columbia.

From The Tablet

Read correspondence between bishops and Equalities Minister

This week the bishops' conference of England and Wales published its correspondence with Maria Miller, Minister for Women and Equalities, on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

From God and Politics UK

By Richard Garner, Independent

More than 100 religious groups have applied to the Government to open one of its free schools, official figures have revealed for the first time.

They include the Plymouth Brethren – an exclusive religious sect which refuses to teach technology and preaches creationism – which has put in 14 applications to bring existing private schools they already run into the state sector. All the applications have been refused.

The figures show that 132 of the 517 applications to open free schools in the past couple of years have come from faith groups. These applications include 31 from Muslim groups.

The information emerged after the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, bowed to a ruling from the Information Commissioner to release the details of all applications – including whether they were for a faith school and of which denomination. Faith groups seeking to open their own schools included Jews, Hindus and Sikhs and Christians.

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By Jonathan Kay, National Post

From the Church of England Website

The Rev Jan Ainsworth the Church of England's Chief Education Officer said: "We welcome today's announcement and will await more details of what it will mean for our schools. Our concerns about the Government's Ebacc plans have always focused on the downgrading of Religious Education as a core subject.

In modern society understanding and learning about faith has never been more important for both civic discourse and cultural enrichment, and we eagerly await the findings of the All Party Parliament Group on RE to be published next month.

Church schools have always followed the national curriculum, providing an inclusive education with a distinctive Christian ethos, with a commitment to the disadvantaged. We hope that Mr Gove's plans will be for the good of all pupils, not just the academically gifted."

From The Christian Institute

More than 40,000 teachers say they will probably refuse to teach about “the importance of” same-sex marriage, according to a new poll.

And 56 per cent of teachers believe any colleague who takes such a stance risks damaging their career.

The survey has led to concerns that tens of thousands of teachers may face being sacked or disciplined over their views, because of how legislation is worded. 

It comes ahead of an important vote on redefining marriage in the House of Commons tomorrow.

The poll, conducted by ComRes, found that one in ten teachers say they are likely to refuse to teach about gay marriage.

It also uncovered that a further 17 per cent of teachers, 74,000, said they would probably teach the importance of gay marriage but “wouldn’t be happy about it.”

The results come as a leading employment lawyer warned of the effect redefining marriage would have on teachers.

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By Edward Malnick, Telegraph

The Church of England has warned that the Government has “no real interest” in religious education.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Church’s lead spokesman on education issues, said ministers viewed the subject as a “scary nuisance”, despite retaining a legal requirement for schools to teach it.

The Rt Rev John Pritchard’s warning came in a letter to bishops following a meeting with David Laws, the Liberal Democrat schools minister.

Highlighting RE’s exclusion from the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), the new school leaving certificate, the bishop wrote: “The state and future of RE is still a major concern. Not only is it not in the EBacc, but teacher training places have nearly halved and a spiral of decline seems inevitable. The latest survey shows secondary schools not filling vacancies and reducing time for RE, and some primary schools giving the responsibility to teaching assistants.”

He added: “We’ll keep up the pressure as I’m sure you will too, but it’s clear that Government has no real interest in RE because they see it as a scary nuisance, and its protected status as a guarantee that all is well. It isn’t.”

Pupils can gain the EBacc certificate for achieving good GCSE grades in English, maths, science, history or geography and a foreign language.

Bishop Pritchard said that the exclusion of RE from the certificate had caused a “diminution” of the subject in the minds of head teachers, adding that he feared a “general decline” in the teaching of religion.

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By Joanna Moorhead, Guardian

As the government plans to reform RE teaching, we asked professionals and parents what they would like to see taught in religious education in schools

Stephen Lloyd MP, Eastbourne and Willingdon

RE is falling off the curriculum, and we need to get it back on. What has happened is that because it wasn't included in the Ebacc subjects, it has been sidelined. And the thing is, RE really does matter: children need to understand faith issues and the different religious traditions, and if they don't, the consequences could be very serious. I'm chairing a new all-party parliamentary group on religious education and we're currently conducting an inquiry into the teaching of RE in this country – and I can tell you that our report will be hard-hitting, because RE needs to be properly taught.

Rosemary Rivett, National Association of Teachers of RE

RE is meaningful in any society where beliefs and values are important: it's about getting pupils to engage with the big questions of life. Over the last few decades, RE has been built up into an important and rigorous subject – and what is shocking is how quickly it has been marginalised, because of all the changes going on in education. We've got to ensure that it continues to be taught in all schools, and also that it is taught by specialist teachers.

Lesley Prior, senior lecturer in religious education at the University of Roehampton

When you ask children what they think about RE, they say they like it because it's the one lesson that's about what they think, rather than what they know. I don't think it should be about filling children with facts and figures – it should give them a chance to engage with the big questions of life, such as 'how did the world begin, and what happens after we die'? I think we're moving towards this inquiry-based approach to RE – and the Ofsted report on the subject, which is out soon, is likely to advocate that.

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By Denyse O'Leary, MercatorNet

American universities are discouraging students from expressing controversial views.

considered bastions of intellectual liberty. No more. In Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate liberal atheist Greg Lukianoff, a founder and the current president of the influential Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), says those days are over. The new reality is:

By Cristina Odone, Telegraph

By John Bingham, Telegraph

THE Roman Catholic Church has attacked Michael Gove’s flagship free schools policy describing admissions rules restricting the number of pupils from churchgoing families as “perverse”.

Senior officials in the Catholic Education Service, responsible for the schooling of more than 800,000 children in England and Wales, issued a public snub to the Government’s favoured schools programme, effectively ruling out future involvement in the scheme.

Greg Pope, deputy director of the service, said that the cap would force schools to turn pupils away because they were Catholics – while admitting others because they were not.

He said he was “intrigued” by the idea of free schools and would be interested in pursuing it were it not for the “barriers” to the Church’s involvement.

He was speaking as the service published its annual “census”, showing that number are up on last year, particularly in primary schools.

There are 838,756 children being taught in 2,257 Catholic schools in England and Wales – one in 10 of all schools.

The survey showed that Catholic schools outperform the national average for exam results while teaching more children from deprived areas than the sector as a whole.

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Daily Express

SCHOOLCHILDREN need to be taught Christianity so they can understand British history and culture, a poll of parents has revealed.

Almost two-thirds believe Christianity is key to our history and over half think it is important to help children understand British culture.

Nearly half say more attention should be given to teaching Christianity in RE lessons – but a third say many teachers do not know enough about it themselves.

The Oxford University poll of nearly 2,000 adults found most wanted children to be taught the history of the religion, major festivals like Easter and Christmas and Christian morality.

The survey is part of a university project to help RE teachers following concerns among inspectors about how it is being taught.

There has been concern about RE in schools after it was excluded from the English Baccalaureate qualification.

By Graeme Paton, Telegraph

Some teachers are nervous about tackling issues related to the faith for fear of being seen “evangelising”, it is claimed.

Researchers insisted that drastic improvements to lessons were needed to make sure pupils properly understood about the traditions and fundamental beliefs of Christianity.

The comments came as Oxford’s department of education launched a new project aimed at supporting teachers in the presentation of Britain's principal religion in RE lessons.

Under the plan, a series of online materials will be made available free of charge to primary school teachers – and non-specialist staff in secondary education – from next September.

Dr Nigel Fancourt, a lecturer on the university’s RE programme, said Christianity was the only religion that was consistently taught to pupils of all ages throughout the education system.

He said the subject was “challenging and vibrant in some schools”, but added: “The fact that the basics are often already vaguely familiar to some teachers and pupils means it can present problems.

“For instance, the presentation of Christianity can be incoherent, lacking in intellectual development, or too stereotypical.

“Teaching about Christianity should engage pupils with the depth and breadth of the Christian tradition, present the subtlety of diversity, and provide an academic challenge.”

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