Collective worship in schools
Tommy Curran Jones
ÂAll maintained schools must provide religious education and daily collective worship for all registered pupils. Collective worship must be wholly or mainly of a Christian character.Ê (Circular 1/94)
Since 1944 the UK government has instructed schools to provide a daily act of collective worship for all pupils in attendance. According to an Ofsted report of 1998 7 out of 10 schools failed to meet the requirements set for collective worship. Through this essay I will explore the viability of such legislation in a liberal and plural society which views religion as a private matter. I will also consider the views of pupils and teachers and attempt to understand why so many schools flaunt the governmentÊs policy. It would be useful to at first consider the purpose of collective worship. The Department for Education (DfE) describes its role as Âpromoting [pupils] spiritual, moral and cultural developmentÊ (Circular 1/94, 1994). The assemblies should serve as an opportunity for students to look beyond themselves and explore their own beliefs. As Britain is a country with a rich religious history, the act of worship also gives children the chance to learn about their nationÊs past and develop a community ethos based around faith. In recent years religion, often in the form of radicalism, has played a major role in world events. With this in mind an experience of religion seems pertinent to pupilÊs education and general life experience. This desire to have both an emphasis on one religion but maintain an inclusive environment is full of contradictions. In a multi-cultural society it is unlikely that a school will be made up of entirely one religious group (Although schools with 90% + of one religion are not unheard of, they are not the norm), rather schools are made up of
a diverse collection of ethnicities and religious beliefs. This means that a predominance of Christian teaching will result in an alienation of pupils, the opposite intention of ÂcollectiveÊ worship. While parents have the right to excuse their children from the assemblies on religious grounds and schools can apply for special allowances to conduct assemblies which are more suited to the demographics of the area in which they are taking place, this still results in children being separated (Education Reform Act 1998. (c.40)). According to Richard Cheetam, Â The 1944 Education Act had implicitly assumed that it was Christian beliefs which provided the uniting factor for the nationÊs schools Ê (Cheetam, 2000, p. 74),this serves to explain the law in its original context but also shows it to be outdated in a more plural and postmodern society. Teachers instead must attempt to find a different Âsocial cementÊ which provides common ground for all their students. A focus on the shared ground between faiths is one way which teachers have found to address the problem of inclusivity. The idea behind this is that all the major religions have a similar moral tone which can be utilized to educate children. While at first this appears to be an elegant solution it has several flaws. Firstly it flies in the face of the legislation as worship which covers all major religions cannot be wholly Christian. The other issue is that this is something that some religious groups would be unlikely to support. Attempts at a universal approach to religion have often been met with contempt by many faith groups. Furthermore there are fears that the perfunctory and superficial
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