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RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLSBasil A. Yeaxlee aa Mansfield College, Oxford; Sometime Reader in thePsychology of Education , the University of OxfordPublished online: 10 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Basil A. Yeaxlee (1961) RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS, ReligiousEducation: The official journal of the Religious Education Association, 56:2, 118-124, DOI:10.1080/0034408610560208

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118 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

But the Christian religion is basically nota set of principles or statements held to bevalid nor a series of moral judgments —but a personal relationship with God to befound and learnt, ultimately, only by expe-rience. English education as a whole tendsto be highly verbalized. As the CrowtherCommission (Report para. 543) points out"as between two persons of equal basic in-telligence one may be much more adeptthan another in those forms of expressionthat involve the use of words: some respondmuch better to non-verbal methods." Thisis especially true of the communication ofreligious understanding. School worship istherefore more important than Religious In-struction. But in county schools there canbe virtually no link between the worshipof the school and the whole worship of thechurch. The better the school worship, thegreater the risk of frustration when a pupilleaves school at 15+ with no connectionwith a worshipping Christian community.Many teachers feel this strongly and muchthought is being given, by teachers andclergy together, to means of bridging thegap between school and church.

IN SPITE of many serious weaknesses andthe absence of strong indications of im-mediate results from much devoted workin recent years, the present position of Chris-tian education in England is encouragingand the future is full of promise. Above all,Christians engaged in education are begin-ning to realize, as never before, that educa-tion is an activity of the whole church, notjust a specialized and optional concern of afew. The churches' direct educational re-sponsibilities must always be seen againstthe background of society's concern for edu-cation, and because the church has the con-tinuing responsibility for carrying out theimplications of the Incarnation, her concernmust be with the whole of education fromthe cradle to the grave, and with stateschools no less than church schools, withuniversities and technical colleges no lessthan with formal schooling. In the increas-ing recognition of this within and withoutthe churches lies the hope that the trainingof God's people will be so effective that theFaith will be communicated through themto society as a whole.

II

RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLSBasil A. Yeaxlee

Mansfield College, Oxford; Sometime Reader in the Psychology of Education, the University of Oxford

EVERY NATIONAL system of education hashad to face the question of the place of

religion in it. The answer has been influ-enced by various considerations — political,social, ideological — as well as those arisingfrom religious beliefs and controversies inthe sphere of religion itself. The spread ofCommunism in the last fifty years has re-sulted in the exclusion of religion from edu-cation in the countries dominated by Marx-ist theories but it has been replaced thereby compulsory indoctrination of school chil-dren and college students with a secularist

and materialist set of dogmas. Many coun-tries have divorced religion and publicly-provided education for quite other reasons— insistence on the complete separation ofchurch and state, fear of increasing the po-litical power of a church, quarrels betweenthe churches about the content of the teach-ing and the place of the parson in theschool, mutual suspicion between clergy andteachers. For over a century the nationalprovision of education in England andWales was bedevilled and impeded by con-flicts due to strongly held opinions of either

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a religious or a political character. Thus in1843 some Free Churchmen were opposedto the establishment of state schools at all,even on a secular basis, because they sawin these a threat to political and religiousfreedom. When in 1870 Parliament at lastdecided that school boards should be set upto provide elementary education paid forand controlled entirely by the state the pur-pose was to supplement the efforts of thechurches, in view of the fact that voluntaryorganizations and funds could no longerhope to meet the needs of a rapidly growingpopulation, and even then a secular statesystem was advocated by some outstandingministers and laymen for fear of sectarianteaching in the state schools. The problemwas then solved by the Cowper-Templeclause forbidding the teaching of any formu-lary or catechism distinctive of a particulardenomination, but whether any religiousteaching should be given at all, or if sowhat, was left to the local School Board,and later the local education authority,which superseded it, to say: the Govern-ment steered clear of it.

EDUCATION ACT OF 1944The complete reorganization of the Eng-

lish system in 19441 raised the issue again,but this time there was no controversy. TheEducation Act emerged from consultationbetween the Ministry of Education, theteachers, the churches and the political par-ties. The outcome was the making of re-ligious instruction and daily corporate wor-ship compulsory in all schools maintainedor aided from public funds, with freedomfor teachers to teach or not to teach re-ligion as they wish and for parents to with-draw their children from instruction or wor-ship or both. The dual system was con-tinued. This means that all the educationalcosts of voluntary (i.e. denominational)schools are met by the state, but thatchurches desiring to possess schools in whichtheir distinctive tenets are taught by teach-

1The Scottish Education Act of 1945 differs insome respects from the Education Act, Englandand Wales, 1944, and the Scottish system has char-acteristics of its own such that to include referencesto it in this article might be misleading.

ers whom they have a predominant voice inappointing must pay for their buildings.The key to the satisfaction of churches andteachers with this system was the require-ment that in all Council schools (i.e. thoseprovided and maintained by the state in co-operation with the hundred and sixty-threelocal education authorities) the instructionmust be in accordance with an Agreed Syl-labus adopted by the local education author-ity and formulated by a special "confer-ence" composed of official representativesof the Church of England, other churchesin the area, the teachers and the authorityitself, each group with one vote. The teach-ing must not be sectarian, but the confer-ences have found that unanimity wasreached on the inclusion of doctrine (inthe sense of Biblical theology and the es-sential truths of the Apostles' Creed),church history and the expression of theChristian faith in individual and corporatelife. In other words the Syllabuses areguides to the teaching of the Bible, theChristian faith and the Christian way.

As PRINCIPAL John Huxtable has recent-ly said, "We can now ask different ques-tions about religious education."2 Theseconcern its quality and effectiveness. TheSyllabuses make full use of the work ofBiblical scholars. The latest Syllabus (Cityand County of Bristol) in entitled, not"Syllabus of Religious Instruction," but"Syllabus of Religious Education." "By thegrace of God" it says, the pupil "is capableof knowing and loving God, and of know-ing himself. The awakening of this spirit-ual apprehension is the aim of the Scripturelesson: to help the child to know and tolove God, and to respond to him. Thusthe task of the Scripture teacher is not tomake a theologian, a Biblical scholar, amoralist, or a Church historian, but to openthe way for the Holy Spirit to touch theheart and mind of the pupil." Moreover"founded securely on the Bible, it reachesout to the needs of young people in everypart of their lives, not hesitating to relatethe teaching of Jesus Christ to the problems

^Church and State in Education. London: Re-ligious Education Press, 16 pages, I960.

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of the world as the child sees them andwill see them" — the problems of war andpeace, of work and leisure, of money, ofgambling, of sex, of science and religion, ofthe great world religions and the secularideologies, all of which can be discussedwith maturing adolescents. The task isviewed as a partnership between school,home and church, none of which can fulfillthe function of the others. The old contro-versies and suspicions have vanished. Thereis a new spirit of cooperation, a clearer,richer purpose, a realization that such atask demands the best that all can give andin particular the facilities for teachers toequip and prepare themselves and to carryon their work.

THE PICTURE

Is this an idealized picture? It wouldbe as foolish as it would be untrue to sug-gest that teachers are aowding to take partin religious instruction, that adequate timeis given to it in all schools, that the Sylla-buses are perfect, that daily worship is in-variably reverent and inspiring, that thenew generation of school-leavers are all well-informed, devout, animated in their conductby Christian principles and ready to seekfull membership of the church. Prospec-tive teachers come up to training collegesand university departments of education ap-pallingly ignorant of Biblical facts and withamazing ideas of what a Christian believes.Some headmasters and headmistresses findthat they have not enough convinced andcompetent members on their staffs to makeone or two Scripture periods a week pos-sible for all their pupils. Some teachersare indifferent, superficial or even insincere.It is always possible for even a friendly andsympathetic observer, after visiting two orthree schools or chatting with young peo-ple who have not long left the sixth form,to ask "What does it all really amount to?Have you after all only laid down a fewlegal requirements which are simply notimplemented, save in a few exceptionalcases?" The reply might be to quote ex-periences of the opposite kind. Thus onegoes into a London County Council compre-

hensive school with two thousand pupilsand finds that there are no fewer than sixfully-qualified, whole-time Scripture spe-cialists on the staff. Or again, at a gram-mar school prize-giving it is noticeable thatevery pupil who comes up for a prize re-ceives also a G.C.E. certificate in ReligiousKnowledge at Ordinary level, and that mariypupils who are not prize winners receivethat certificate — in fact that all pupils sitfor that subject. Yet again, a primaryschool headmaster, when asked how manyof his teachers take part in religious in-struction, says "All, and every one of themis keen about it."

MORE IMPORTANT than outstanding casesof either sort, however, is the general trend.Beyond doubt, as careful investigation ofthe facts has made clear, there is a great ad-vance in the quantity, quality and vitality ofreligious instruction and worship in theschools generally. In 1944 a new freedom,limitless opportunity and at the same timea great responsibility were conferred uponteachers. Doors which for long had beencreaking, obstructed or closed were flungwide open. But it takes time to achieve thepossibilities thus presented and it demandsan immense increase of resources in teach-ing power. The Agreed Syllabuses, thoughintended for the guidance of all teachers,specialist, semi-specialist or non-specialist(and each of these has a distinctive contri-bution to make), call for more biblical andrelated knowledge on the part of the teacherthan did the old and often unsystematic,superficial, scrappy "syllabuses." The rais-ing of the minimum school-leaving age tofifteen in 1944 and the provision of a sec-ondary stage of education for all puplis, ofwhatever type, means that there are in theschools a great many more adolescent boysand girls capable of critical and constructivethinking than there were when the majorityleft the old "Elementary" schools at four-teen. A rapidly increasing number of boysand girls in secondary modern schools nowstay on, voluntarily, for a further year andtake the General Certificate of Education atOrdinary Level, not infrequently includingReligious Knowledge in their choice of sub-

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jects. Teaching divinity to a grammarschool sixth form demands as high a degreeof scholarship and as mature an experienceas teaching history or mathematics, especial-ly if pupils take the G.CE. in ReligiousKnowledge at Advanced or Scholarshiplevel. The specialist teacher, moreover, mustpossess more than enthusiasm for and com-petence in the subject, for who but com-mitted Christians can fulfill the aim setforth in the Bristol Syllabus, which istypical?

RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING

It becomes evident that the primary con-dition of progress is the recruitment andtraining of a sufficient number of teachers,specialist, semi-specialist and non-specialist,willing and able to teach "Scripture" in gen-eral accordance with Agreed Syllabuses(though formulating their own "schemes ofwork") at all levels in all the varied typesof school. The strategic centers are the uni-versity departments of education and thethree-year training colleges, all of which arenow grouped with the departments in uni-versity Institutes of Education.

The task of the departments is perhapsthe more difficult because they have theirgraduate students only for one year, intowhich must be compressed all the studiesrequired for the Diploma or Certificate inEducation and out of which a term is takenfor school practice. There is the furtherconsideration that in the case of all othersubjects students have spent three or fouryears on an honors degree course, and thedepartment can assume that they have mas-tered the subject-matter which they will usein their future work. But this assumptioncannot be made in the case of those whohope to teach religion. Practically all ofthem have taken degrees in other subjectsthan divinity. Few have made any systema-tic study of the biblical and other contentof religious knowledge since they leftschool, and many, if they did not take it atAdvanced level in G.C.E., did no seriouswork on it in the sixth form. Somehow orother in the short time available they mustbe started on the acquirement of the knowl-

edge out of which they will teach, as well astrained in the art of communicating it.Here the schools could help more than theydo by encouraging boys and girls to takeReligious Knowledge as one of their op-tions at A level, thus laying a sound foun-dation upon which they can build whenthey come to the departments. The numberof G.CE. candidates who do this is increas-ing, though the total is still regrettably low.Practically all the departments have on theirstaffs tutors fully qualified to train studentsin both the material and the methods ofreligious education. They provide for thesubject to be taken in the diploma or cer-tificate course, and some enable students tomake it a special part of their year's work.Many of the universities, through their In-stitutes of Education, offer a further year'scourse for a certificate or diploma in re-ligious education, but it is very difficult fora student to add yet another year to thefour or five already spent at the university.Such courses are generally taken by teacherswho have obtained secondment from theirschools, with pay, but again the number ofteachers who can be spared for this purposeis obviously limited, especially in this periodof teacher shortage. Some university insti-tutes provide part-time two-year courses forteachers near enough to attend the lecturesand classes. An increasing number of teach-ers work in their spare time for certificatesand diplomas which do not require residen-tial study.

TRAINING COLLEGES

IN THE three-year training colleges, towhich students come practically straightfrom school (the men no longer having toput in two years of service with the armedforces), there is much greater opportunityfor equipping the prospective teacher toplay a part in religious education. As inother subjects he will have time and facili-ties for the study of what he is to teach aswell as how.

Training colleges, whether local educa-tional authority or church, commonly havea general weekly course attended by all stu-dents who do not claim exemption on

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grounds of conscience. Those who wish cantake religious education as one of their twomain subjects, attending lectures and classestwo or three times a week and paying spe-cial attention to the religious knowledgelesson and worship in their school practice.Most training colleges have a full-time di-vinity lecturer: some have more. These lec-turers are usually graduates in theology, orhave equivalent qualifications. Some areministers and clergy, often with experienceas schoolmasters, who have found here afull-time ministry not less demanding andfruitful than the pastoral — perhaps fromsome points of view more strategic, sincethe schools contain all the children of thenation but the churches attract and holdonly a relatively small proportion of thesechildren and a still smaller proportion ofadolescents.

For several years now the two-year train-ing colleges have provided "supplementary"or third-year courses in Divinity, as in othersubjects, for students staying on or forteachers seconded from their schools on fullsalary. It is possible that these third yearcourses will now be absorbed into the regu-lar program of the training colleges sincethis will in future provide for three yearsin college, not two. One college — West-hill Training College, Selly Oak, newly rec-ognized by the Ministry as a voluntarythree-year training college for primary andsecondary teachers — proposes to use itsprevious experience and equipment by mak-ing Religious Knowledge and Youth Workthe main subjects in which its students willbe able to specialize.

Short residential courses for teachers inthe holidays or weekly courses of lecturesduring term are organized by many bodies— the Ministry of Education, University In-stitutes of Education, the Institute of Chris-tian Education, local education authorities,the teachers' own professional organizations,and others. These are well-attended. Well-known Biblical scholars are very ready toundertake the lectures. In the case of Min-istry courses it is often found that five orsix of Her Majesty's Inspectors are takingactive part: in a recent course for Princi-

pals and Divinity Lecturers in training col-leges, for which applications were so nu-merous that another will have to be held,there were nine.

TEACHING AS A CALLING

THERE ARE still far too few teachersequipped and available to participate in giv-ing religious instruction — the more so ifwe remember that there are far too manyschools, especially grammar schools, whichdo not take it seriously enough to devotemore than one period per class each weekto it. At this point a great responsibilityfalls upon the churches to set before theiryoung people the high calling of teaching— as outstanding a Christian vocation asthe ministry or medicine. The stream ofstudents entering the training colleges anddepartments of education must be enrichedwith more young men and women who seetheir profession in all its aspects, and espe-cially in the opportunity it offers of teachingthe Christian religion, in this light. Onlythus will the facilities for training, whetheras non-specialists, semi-specialists or special-ists, be fully utilized. In no other way canthe number and quality of teachers dedi-cated to this form of Christian service bemade adequate.

Whereas in earlier days the churches con-tended for control of the schools, now theyshould be rivalling each other in recruitingand inspiring teachers ready to serve ineither Council (i.e. "State") or voluntary(i.e. "church") schools — that is, in eitherbranch of the dual system. It is an ecumeni-cal task. The need is so great and so urgentthat the full energies of all the churches arerequired to meet it. In a world of growingmaterialism, pleasure-seeking, and indiffer-ence to religion the schools are for manyboys and girls the only place in which evenethical, moral, social and personal standardsof decent living are presented to them, andit need scarcely be added that love of Godand neighbor are the only secure founda-tions upon which these can be built. Thatis the ultimate concern of the churches withthe schools just as, on the other hand, thechurches have the opportunity and respon-

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sibility which the schools as such do notpossess, of so influencing parents that thechildren's home background will be Chris-tian and not semi-pagan. All too often thework of the school is largely undone by theatmosphere and the attitudes prevalent inthe home.

EVALUATION

Such then is the picture. But how isprogress really to be measured? In matterseducational and religious the only test is theproduct of what is being done. Here thereis ground for misgiving if not anxiety. Thesystem, as we have seen, has been so recon-structed that the way to Christian educationin the widest and fullest sense is open. In-struction and daily worship are obviouslythe core of such education, and these mustbe made a living part of every school by asufficient number of teachers prepared toplay their part in them, though, as we haveseen, there is room for many more than theschools at present can muster. The factmust not be overlooked that there are, andthere always have been, a great many Chris-tian teachers who do not feel competent toteach religion but who exercise their Chris-tian vocation in education by teaching math-ematics, science, history in the light ofChristian values, not, of course, moralizingor making religious propaganda, but recog-nizing that truth is all, as it were, of onepiece, and instilling into the whole life ofthe school those aims and principles whichthey have found in the Christian faith andthe Christian way. If religion is to be realto boys and girls they must feel the impactof it not only intellectually and emotionallybut in their day-to-day experience of Chris-tian men and women, whatever these maybe teaching them. This of course is a truismbut it is well to remind ourselves, when weare considering the necessity of multiplyingthe number of those who specifically teachreligion, that the business of religious edu-cation can never depend wholly upon theirwork and their character.

TAKING ALL the Christian forces and ac-tivities into account, however, the progressthat has been made and the developments

that may be hoped for, we are confrontedby the stark fact that thousands of school-leavers appear to be little if any the betterfor all the efforts that their teachers havemade to impart at least a knowledge of themost important Biblical facts and truths, theelements of Christian belief and the princi-ples of Christian conduct. It may be truethat the percentage of middle adolescentswho become delinquents or exhibit unsocialbehavior, seek crude pleasures or have noclear aim in either their work or their lei-sure is relatively small, and that their ac-tivities and attitudes are unduly publicized.Nevertheless, it is beyond question that amuch greater proportion lack interest in re-ligion and do not come in any way withinreach of the churches or entertain any ideaof church membership. This is not the faultof the Syllabuses nor can it be put down tofailure of teachers of religion to do theirwork as well as they know how. Enquiriesshow that home and neighborhood influ-ences tend to outweigh, when they do notreinforce, the teaching and life of the school.There is also the degeneracy of recreationalagencies and of a certain section of the presswhich most certainly brings about a loosen-ing of moral fibre among young people, tosay nothing of religious conviction and prac-tice. Materialism and fear work deep mis-chief, and particularly create insecurity andthe reactions to it in our prosperous butarmaments-minded civilization.

It would seem, however, that the problemof communication in religious education ismore vital than any other. More now thanat any time, perhaps, children — and olderpeople — have ears but do not hear, eyesbut they do not see, hearts but they do notunderstand, in the sphere of religion. It isnot a matter of teaching techniques, towhich as much attention is paid in religiousinstruction as in other subjects. Teacherand taught do not speak the same language.This again is not a question of archaicwords and phrases in the Authorized Ver-sion, or theological expressions and formu-lations which ordinary people no longer findintelligible or significant. The problem is topresent the Gospel in terms of these boys'

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and girls' everyday experience of life andto reckon with their presuppositions. Todigress upon this would not serve the pur-pose of the present article, but, in thewriter's view, it is a major issue.

FREE CHURCHMEN

What do Free Churchmen think about itall? In response to the editor's suggestionone or two things may be said.

IT WAS never true that Free Churchmenin 1870 were satisfied with "undenomina-tional religion" such as the Cowper-Templeclause permitted in Board Schools. They be-lieved that religious teaching paid for outof public funds should not exceed what iscommon to the churches and that if, as theydid, they wished their children to be taught,for example, the Congregational or Presby-terian tenets regarding the church and theministry, or the Baptist interpretation ofbaptism, they should do this in theirchurches and at their own expense. Logi-cally therefore they held that specificallyAnglican or Roman doctrines should not betaught at the expense of public funds. Whenit was discovered in practice, as churchesand teachers got together to formulate

Agreed Syllabuses, that the common groundwas far wider and deeper than had beensupposed, none were happier than FreeChurchmen, and they have played their fullpart not only in the compiling of the Sylla-buses but in the manifold ways of helpingteachers to use them. There has been achange for the better in the Free Churchattitude in so far as they have accepted thedual system and have recognized the rightof Anglicans and Roman Catholics to main-tain their convictions and to receive frompublic funds certain considerations to whichFree Churchmen lay no claim. There ismore than the spirit of compromise in this.There is a principal of equity, since peopleof all denominations contribute alike to thepublic funds and should have a proportion-ate voice in establishing the principle uponwhich they are administered. Of still greaterimportance is the advance in ecumenicityand the realization of a Christian partner-ship — a unity in difference where theunity is more important than the differences.There are regimental loyalties but there isone army. It is the battle of the kingdomin which we are all engaged. It demandseverything that all of us can give.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN ENGLANDF. H. Drinkwater1

Lower Gornal, Dudley, England

THE STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH SCHOOLINGis not easy for people abroad to under-

stand, because for reasons connected withclass feeling the official terminology ischanged every few years. The main factis that there are two parallel school-systems,roughly the state schools (free) and the in-dependent schools (fee-paying). Theyboth lead to the universities, which are fee-

1Canon Drinkwater has for years been a con-tributor to both the theory and practice of religiouseducation in England. Formerly editor of TheSower and inspector of schools, he is the author ofmany books, the most recent being Telling theGood News (St. Martin's Press).

paying but to which anyone with goodbrains can obtain free scholarships. On thewhole the independent schools, at any ratethose with high fees, are better than the"state" schools, because of smaller classesand better teachers. (The charitable readerwill understand that all this is slap-dashgeneralizing, of course).

The Catholic body in England (about onein ten of the general population) possessesschools of every kind of both "state" andindependent variety, except that there arepractically no Catholic technical schools. Weare rather short of boys' grammar schools,

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