The DfE [Department for Education] data, summarized in appendix 4 of the 2011 Digest, revealed that 19% of pupils at Catholic primary schools lived in the 10% most deprived areas, compared to 14% of pupils at primary schools across England. At secondary level, 17% of pupils at Catholic schools lived in the 10% most deprived areas against 12% of pupils nationally.
A super blog post and ‘must read’ for any student, written by a lovely professor.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed a new revision of the model funding agreement for Free Schools by the Government in order to preclude ‘the teaching, as an evidence-based view or theory, of any view or theory that is contrary to established scientific and/or historical evidence and explanations.’ This highly significant change has been made in order to ban creationism from being taught in Free Schools, and prevent creationist groups from opening schools. The change follows the BHA coordinating the ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’ campaign, which called for this precise change.
In September, the BHA came together with thirty leading scientists and science educators including Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins and Professor Michael Reiss, and five national organisations to launch ‘Teach evolution, not creationism!’, which called on the government to introduce statutory guidance against the teaching of creationism and garnered significant press coverage. The BHA also launched a government e-petition making the same call, which has now garnered over 20,000 signatures.
The proposed “creationist” free school – Everyday Champions School – sponsored by Everyday Champions Church in Newark, Nottinghamshire, has been rejected by the Department for Education (DfE).
You can see my previous guest blog post written by Michael Roberts - M.A. (Oxon), Vicar in the Diocese of Blackburn – here.
British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) have an interesting post looking at the Catholicity of Catholic schools in the UK.
Here’s a few stats relating to Catholic schools; but do hop over to BRIN for further comment and analysis:
…..the number of students educated in Catholic schools rose from 781,400 in 2009 to 784,800 in 2010, while these schools attracted around 4% more students from ethnic minority backgrounds than did maintained schools as a whole.
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Overall, 71% of pupils in maintained Catholic schools in England and Wales in 2010 were Catholic, defined as having been ‘baptised or received into the Catholic Church’.
The figure for Catholic sixth form colleges was only 50% and for Catholic independent schools 41%. The diocesan low was in Plymouth, where 46% of primary and 43% of secondary pupils were Catholics.
Nationally, 19% of maintained Catholic schools had more than one-half non-Catholic pupils in 2010 compared with 14% in 2009. A sign of the times was that, in respect of school uniform policy, 61% of schools made allowances for pupils of other faiths (against just 24% in 2009).
The proportion of teachers in maintained Catholic schools and colleges identifying themselves as Catholics was 56% (against 58% in 2007), falling to 45% in secondary schools, with 43% in Catholic independent schools.
In diocesan terms, the highest number of Catholic teachers was in Liverpool (67%) and the lowest in East Anglia (36%). 18% of teachers in maintained Catholic schools held the Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies. 52% of education support staff in maintained Catholic schools were Catholic (37% in secondary schools alone).
Under the 1944 Education Act, schools must provide “broadly Christian worship” every day. New research has revealed that of the 1700+ parents surveyed by ComRes, some 64% said their children did not attend a daily act of collective worship at school.
Although most primary schools abide by the law, some 80% of secondary schools do not.
Many will view this as further evidence of the march of secularism; however, it should also be noted that 60% of parents want the law abolished.
There’s much talk online of teachers feeling pressured and coerced to perform the daily act of worship; which begs the question as to the quality of worship.
In view of this, I find myself broadly in agreement with Archdruid Eileen:
And I know that some school assemblies are led by dedicated, Christian teachers (or teachers of other faiths) who can give high-grade instruction and inspiration based on their beliefs. But I likewise question whether that is what we should be sending children to school for either? In my opinion it may be time to scrap the whole misguided state-inculcated religion campaign in non-faith schools. It’s unfair to teachers, who could gain an extra fifteen minutes scanning the Guardian job ads and eating biscuits. It merely inoculates children, who come to see low-grade drivel of a broadly deistic nature as what “religion” is all about. And I’m not sure what God gets out of it either.
[....] In many ways, he found exactly what you would expect: that educated people are less religious. For example, they are less likely to say that any one religion has ‘the Truth’, they’re less likely to think that the Bible is the actual word of a god. They’re less likely to think that you should follow religious teachings, and more likely to oppose praying and Bible reading in school.
On the other hand, educated people are more likely to read the Bible and to pray frequently. They’re more likely to go to Church and do voluntary religious work, and less likely to say that religious leaders should stay out of politics. And although they switch among religious affiliations, they are no more likely to switch out of a religious affiliation altogether. They still say they belong.
What this tells is is that educated Americans are more liberal and open-minded in their religious beliefs, but more dutiful and community oriented. That’s pretty much what you would expect.
But what about the nub of the matter – actual belief in God? Well, here’s where it gets a little bit more complicated – and where I start to disagree with Schwadel’s conclusions.
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we can’t really be sure that educated people aren’t less likely to believe. It may simply be that the sample of non-believers was not big enough for us to tell.
Now, this doesn’t mean that education is linked to disbelief, but it does suggest that any link is complicated. That’s not too surprising because there’s an awful lot of variability in what you get when you sign up for ‘education’, after all.
Some colleges are overtly religious, of course. But more important than the nature of the college is the nature of the subject and the nature of the experiences. Other studies have shown that the studying humanities is particularly likely to lead to loss of belief.
It ain’t that education leads to loss of belief. It’s more opening your mind to other perspectives that does it!
Against the backdrop of the news that the creationist Everyday Champions Church in Newark are pursuing an application to found a free school – Everyday Champions School – Michael Roberts - M.A. (Oxon), Vicar in the Diocese of Blackburn – agreed to put a few words together for me.
You can find the essay on the below PDF link:
I would encourage everyone to give a little time to read this, irrespective of your views on creationism.
Michael looks at the teaching of creationism within our schools and the dangers of “creeping creationism” within the education system. He covers the development of creationism, why it is wrong, and the challenge this presents to churches.
Michael’s writing has played no small part in my own development and understanding and it’s with this in my mind that I urge you to give this a read.
Ken Ham of the infamous Answers in Genesis outfit, has a blog post blathering on about the UK Church being in trouble and in a mess, because we’ve rejected a literal interpretation of Genesis.
Ham’s blog post was prompted by a superb article that appeared in the Christianity Magazine written by David Instone-Brewer – Baptist Minister and senior research fellow at Tyndale House, Cambridge.
As I feel in the mood to confront Ham directly – face to face – and inform him in no uncertain terms that our churches here in the UK are not in a mess, nor in trouble, I think I’ll take him up on his kind offer to attend an ‘appreciation dinner’ with him.
Unfortunately, it would appear from his website that this wondrous privilege would set me back tens of thousands of dollars and I would have to become a member of the Genesis Legacy Society.
Never fear however, I have a cunning plan. I shall simply send $1,000 to a high profile ‘faith and prosperity’ ministry, patiently await my 100-fold seed return and then stuff my face with Ham.
British Religion in Numbers have all the relevant stats which you can find here.
BRIN conclude with this important observation:
It will be interesting to see how the currently rising number of RS A and AS Level candidates will be impacted down the line by Government’s recent decision to exclude GCSE RS from the 2011 eBaccalaureate (eBacc), which faith communities fear will deter schools from offering GCSE RS and youngsters from sitting it.
