ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY THE NATURE OF THE MINISTRY OF SCHOOL CHAPLAINS IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS JOHN PHILIP CAPERON A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Anglia Ruskin University for the Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology Submitted: August 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been written without the help of many people. I should particularly like to thank the following for their advice, assistance and encouragement: My supervisors, Helen Cameron and Zoe Bennett. The many dedicated school chaplains with whom I have discussed school chaplaincy, especially those who agreed to be interviewed, and those who responded to the on-line survey. The Trustees of the Bloxham Project, who supported the research initiative with their encouragement and resources. The Trustees of the Dulverton Trust, the Haberdashers’ Company, the Mercers’ Company, Woodard Schools and the St Gabriel’s Trust, all of whose organisations financially resourced the research project. The members of the research reference group, Dr Helen Cameron, the Revd Professor Mark Chapman, Mr Nick McKemey, Ms Samantha Stayte, and Professor Geoffrey Walford, all of whom offered valued guidance. The recent Chair and Secretary of the School Chaplains’ Association, the Revd Jan Goodair and the Revd Lindsay Collins, and the current Chair, the Revd John Thackray, all of whom have taken a strong interest in the research. The Senior Provost of Woodard Schools, the Revd Canon Brendan Clover. The Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, the Revd Canon Professor Martyn Percy, the College Librarian, and colleagues in OxCEPT. The Principal and Librarian of Regent’s Park College, Oxford. And lastly, but most importantly, my wife Felicity, without whose understanding, patience and generous encouragement the research and writing could not have taken place. i Abstract: This thesis argues that since in our increasingly secularised culture one of the very few direct points of contact between the Church of England and the young is the ministry of school chaplains, theirs is a vital ministry for the Church and its future. The study described in the thesis researched school chaplaincy in Church of England secondary schools to establish what chaplains do, how they understand their ministry and how school students themselves respond to chaplaincy. Originating in the researcher’s professional role in support of school chaplains, the research was undertaken on a multi-method basis. Initial scoping interviews were undertaken with school chaplains and headteachers in a range of schools. A full literature review located school chaplaincy within the conceptual contexts of missiology, ministry and chaplaincy. In-depth interviews with school chaplains explored their self-understanding as ministers. A national, internet-based survey of all contactable school chaplains was undertaken to explore issues identified earlier in the study, and a series of focus-group interviews was undertaken with senior school students. The research revealed that chaplains perceive little awareness within the Church of England of the missional significance of their ministry, although individual chaplains emerged as highly-motivated spiritual professionals committed to the pastoral welfare of their communities, and with a strong sense of their mission as ‘God people’. From a wide variety of ecclesial and personal backgrounds and working in very different school contexts, chaplains have multiple, significant functions which are well understood by school students, and exercise a ‘ministry of presence’. The research evidence highlights the need for greater recognition of the ministry of school chaplains and for structures of support and development to resource this vital ministry. The thesis concludes with an outline of policy proposals for the Church in the light of the recent development of a new ‘para-chaplaincy’. Keywords: mission, ministry, chaplaincy, schools ii CONTENTS Acknowledgements p.i Abstract p.ii Contents p.iii Copyright notice p.v Chapter 1: School chaplaincy: the professional context and the research imperative p.1 Chapter 2: Contextualising school chaplaincy: theological perspectives from the literature on mission, ministry and chaplaincy p.21 Chapter 3: Contextualising school chaplaincy: Church of England policy and the wider context of secularity p.49 Chapter 4: Researching school chaplaincy: philosophy, rationale and methodology p.73 Chapter 5: Being a school chaplain: the shared vision of a ‘ministry of presence’ p.97 Chapter 6: Being a school chaplain: role, accountability, development and support p.119 Chapter 7: School chaplaincy and the wider Church’s mission: perspectives from the survey, interviews and focus groups p.142 Chapter 8: Challenges for Anglican school chaplaincy: identity, purpose and strategy p.162 Chapter 9: Conclusions – the outcomes of the research and their implications for policy p.181 References p.191 Appendix A: Stage 1 Unit 1: Literature Review p.202 Appendix B: Stage 1 Unit 2: Publishable Paper p.227 Appendix C: Stage 1 Unit 3: Research Proposal p.250 Appendix D: The Interim Research Report 2011 p.271 iii Appendix E: Scoping interview question schedules p.297 Appendix F: School chaplain interviews: information and consent forms, interview schedule p.298 Appendix G: The national survey questionnaire p.302 Appendix H: Student focus groups: information and consent forms, interview schedule p.310 iv THE NATURE OF THE MINISTRY OF SCHOOL CHAPLAINS IN CHURCH OF ENGLAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS by JOHN PHILIP CAPERON A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Anglia Ruskin University for the Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with (i) Anglia Ruskin University for one year and thereafter with (ii) The Reverend John Caperon This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is bound by copyright. v Chapter 1: School chaplaincy: the professional context and the research imperative This thesis argues for the strategic significance of school chaplaincy in all types of Church school as a vital ministry of the Church of England. Rooting my argument in the first-ever empirical research carried out into school chaplaincy, I describe the nature of this ministry as its practitioners understand it, and demonstrate the urgent need for the Church to recognise and support school chaplaincy as a key part of its mission to the nation. This narrative-reflective opening chapter sets out my professional involvement in education; my vocation as an Anglican priest; my work with the Bloxham Project, which in partnership with the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology (OxCEPT) commissioned the school chaplaincy research project; the gap in knowledge identified for research; and the process of the research project. I also argue for the particular suitability of the professional doctorate as an academically-disciplined vehicle for structuring the research and reporting its outcomes here. In subsequent chapters, I shall contextualise school chaplaincy in its theological, policy and social milieus; describe the rationale and methodology of the research; present the research outcomes; and set out my conclusions, and the implications of the research for Church of England policy. A personal history: vocation to teaching As a Sixth-form pupil in the early 1960s, I became deeply absorbed in the study of English Literature. The world of the imagination was being opened up for me through the works of Shakespeare and the Romantic poets; and a further influence was David Holbrook, whose passion for the teaching of English affected me profoundly ( Holbrook, 1961 p.107). I was also living within the context of the Church of England, in an evangelical parish where it was assumed that any intelligent young man should study theology and consider ordination. I was aware of two possible directions for my future life – as a teacher of English or as an Anglican clergyman. 1 Both directions had a common root in literary texts. For evangelical Anglicans, the centrality of the Bible was fundamental, and preaching was about detailed exposition of the divine text. For students of literature, under the influence of the Cambridge critic F R Leavis (Leavis, 1962), close attention to the potentially transformative literary text was at the heart of the critical endeavour; and Leavis had also inspired the work of Holbrook and other luminaries of English teaching (See: O'Malley and Thompson, 1957). So my dilemma was, in effect, a choice between texts: the Bible or English literature; and it was D H Lawrence who was instrumental in determining my future direction. Reading the recently published and (then) controversial Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Lawrence, 1960), I was challenged by our young curate about my Christian allegiance: would I stay with the Lord, or go with Lawrence? Leavis and the English teaching world of the time saw in Lawrence a spiritual integrity which the conventional and religious worlds lacked (Leavis, 1955); and he represented personal liberation at a time when the restraints of the past were being set aside. My decision to read English rather than theology at university, and to become an English teacher, stemmed from that conversation with the curate. This was the early 1960s, a time of intense theological ferment, with John Robinson, Bishop of Woolwich, a leading voice among those exploring new images of God and new understandings of faith (Robinson, 1963). My identity had been formed within evangelical culture with its prohibitions and intensely literalistic approach, and Robinson and the liberal movement he inspired enabled me to find a way of remaining Christian while emerging from evangelicalism and pursuing my English degree. A key figure for me was my university chaplain: a warm, generous Anglican priest who hosted sherry parties and led groups of students on retreat, opening up areas of Christian experience and understanding entirely new and unexpected to me. I began teaching English in 1967, with religious education as my second subject, and the textual focus and critical approach remained at the heart of my work.