Ecumenical Education'
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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN `ECUMENICAL EDUCATION' IN ENGLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND: models of joint Church secondary schools PRISCILLA CHADWICK Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1993 University of London Institute of Education ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With gratitude to all who made this research project possible: particularly friends and colleagues who provided data for the two case-studies; my tutors at the Institute of Education, Dr Paddy Walsh, the late Edwin Cox, and Michael Totterdell; South Bank University, Pauline Lionel and 'Academic Typing Services'. CONTENTS Abstract Personal Preface 2 CHAPTER 1 THE MAIN RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY 1. Ecumenism and the Church School in secular Britain 5 2. Sources and Methodology 10 CHAPTER 11 AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE CHURCHES AND EDUCATION IN ENGLAND 1. Introduction 23 2. Prior to 1944 26 a) Early Developments in Education 26 b) The 1870 Education Act 31 c) The 1902 Education Act and its aftermath 38 3. The 1944 Education Act 46 CHAPTER III THE PARTNERSHIP OF CHURCH AND STATE IN EDUCATION SINCE 1944 AND THE CONSEQUENCES FOR ECUMENICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION 1. Introduction 63 2. Partnership with Central Government 67 3. Partnership with the Local Education Authority 73 4. Partnership with the Diocesan Board of Education 79 5. The 1988 Debate on Religious Education and its 88 consequences. the Churches' common cause 6. The implications for ecumenical schools 98 CHAPTER IV THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL 1. Introduction 101 2. The distinctive role of the Christian School 104 3. Admissions Policies and Parental Choice 119 4. Religious Education and Christian Nurture 135 5. Christian ethos, values and culture 161 6. Conclusion 181 CHAPTER V ST BEDE'S JOINT ANGLICAN/ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, REDHILL Preface 189 1. Creating a Joint School 1972-82 a) Planning and Consultation 191 b) Establishing Ecumenical Religious Education 216 c) School Chaplaincy and Ethos 242 2. St. Bede's School: Ten Years On, 1991-92 a) New developments in Ecumenism 257 b) Curriculum development and Religious Education 269 c) School Chaplaincy and Ethos 279 3. Looking to the Future 291 CHAPTER VI LAGAN COLLEGE, BELFAST: 'EXPERIMENT' IN ULSTER Preface 296 1. Historical Background 298 2. A Question of Identity 309 3. The Lagan College story: The early years 316 a) Political issues 317 b) The Churches' response 327 c) Initial academic issues 338 d) The Curriculum 341 e) Religious Education and Chaplaincy 345 f) Community Relations 351 4. Lagan College: in its tenth year, 1991-92 357 a) Political issues 359 b) The Churches' response 366 c) Academic issues 375 d) The Curriculum 378 e) Religious Education and Chaplaincy 383 f) Community Relations 395 5. Looking to the Future 413 CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION 422 BIBLIOGRAPHY 434 ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on three main areas of interest in ecumenical education. First, there is the historical and political context, without which the whole discussion would lack anchorage in the real situation. The evolution of Church schools within the national system of education in Britain has a direct relevance to the story. Secondly, questions concerning the nature and purpose of Church schools, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, in this country have concentrated the minds of Church leaders and educationists, particularly against the background of new curriculum developments and of financial stringency. Out of this discussion arise questions concerning the real possibilities for closer ecumenical cooperation in education between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in Britain, in the light of ecclesiastical directives to do together whatever is possible and permitted. The atmosphere has been changed following the Second Vatican Council and the exchange of visits between Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Runcie of Canterbury in 1982 and 1989. The third area for consideration is the possibility of ecumenical schools in which cooperation is more than amicable coexistence but takes a concrete institutional form: how do the converging discussions within the two communions on matters of theology, religious education, and the essential purpose of having Church schools at all, relate to the realities of educational practice at the 'chalk-face'? To try to illuminate these problems, two case studies have been selected from the various joint Anglican/Roman Catholic schools across the country, each evolving in its own peculiar environment. One was created by the amalgamation of an Anglican girls' and a Roman Catholic mixed secondary school in suburban Surrey; the other was integrated from its conception in the polarised community of Belfast. The contrasts reflect different historical, cultural, educational and ecclesiastical traditions between England and Northern Ireland. The similarities arise in that Lagan at Belfast adopted ideas implemented at Redhill where relevant to the Irish situation. The aim of the thesis has been to identify the key processes by which ecumenical education became more than just a hypothetical dream but rather a viable option for the future. PERSONAL PREFACE My interest in ecumenical education began in Raffles Hotel, Singapore in 1978. Travelling overland in Asia, I received a letter from the chairman of governors of St. Bede's joint Church School, Redhill, inviting me to apply for the post of Head of Religious Education. My experiences over the next few years were incorporated in an M.A. dissertation (1983) which proved the stimulus for further research into the area of ecumenical education. At the same time my involvement in the national Anglican/Roman Catholic Committee on ecumenical relations prompted further reflection on and dissemination of the St. Bede's experience.1 The visit of two colleagues from Belfast to Redhill in preparation for the founding of Lagan College in 1981 marked the beginning of my interest in integrated education in Northern Ireland. It was suggested to me that the first-hand material collected for the M.A. dissertation would make a good starting-point for further research. Professional constraints, however, were considerable. I moved into secondary school senior management in 1982 and, for the next ten years as deputy and as head, found myself wholly absorbed by major developments in curriculum change (e.g. GCSE, National Curriculum) and in management (e.g. industrial action, LMS), the pace and scope of which could not have been realistically anticipated. Many researchers feel that their experience in writing theses comes to feel like painting the Forth Bridge. As each new chapter was drafted, it was quickly overtaken by new initiatives. The 1 Chadwick P. and Gladwell M. (1987) Joint Schools, Canterbury Press and Fowler Wright. 2 necessity of revising previous drafts and writing up the new material all during the school holidays led to frustration at the inevitably snail-like progress. Back in 1983 there was, and even now is, very little published material on ecumenical education. Therefore the data on St Bede's came mainly from interviews, diocesan and school documents, and personal experience. Similarly the initial studies on Lagan College, some first drafted in 1985, had to be based on personal interviews and professional judgements, since university researchers had not considered one (then independent) integrated school worth detailed review, and seemed preoccupied with analyzing the effects of segregated education, even to the point of dismissing integrated education as not being a valid way forward.2 It was not until 1992 that my appointment to South Bank University allowed legitimate and appropriate research time to revise, update, and significantly reconstruct the pattern of data collected over the previous twelve years, as well as follow up new issues in the case studies in 1991-2. Further analysis and evaluation of the wide-ranging developments in educational politics and ecumenical theology were also central to the research. Rather than be discouraged by the enforced breaks in the research , I decided to make a virtue out of necessity: what started as snapshot case studies in the early 1980s became a longitudinal survey of the development of two secondary schools over a decade, as they evolved from hesitant pioneers in an educational experiment to well-established, oversubscribed school 2Gallagher B. and Worrall S. (1981). Christians in Ulster 1968-80 Oxford University Press p.171. 3 communities providing examplars of good practice in ecumenical education. Neither would claim that they had 'got it right', and each school is in the process of developing major new initiatives as it moves forward to the twenty- first century. But both of them in different ways point a way forward for the Churches and for educationists who believe (reflecting the declaration of the 1952 Faith and Order Conference of the World Council of Churches at Lund) that Christians should not do separately what can be done together. 4 CHAPTER 1 THE MAIN RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY 1. Ecumenism and the Church School in secular Britain The ecumenical movement in this country has made more progress this century than anyone could have dared to expect. The anti-Roman Catholic feelings stirred by the burning of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer during Mary's brief counter-reformation were no less influential than the execution of Thomas More and John Fisher in generating resentment and rivalry between two Christian communions. The popular celebration of Guy Fawkes' night has now probably lost its overtones of anti-Roman prejudice,