SDHTA Annual Conference 2014:

“Lead, Enable, Serve”

The Rt Revd Dr Richard CheethamBishop of Kingston

Chair of Southwark Diocesan Board of Education

SDHTA Annual Conference 2014

Lead, Enable, Serve

What’s beneath the iceberg?

Collective Worshipand School Ethos

Rt Revd Dr Richard CheethamBishop of Kingston

and Chair of SDBE

Southwark Diocesan Board of Education

Our Vision

To promote Christian education and enable church schools and education chaplaincy to

be at the heart of the mission and ministry of the Diocese of Southwark in the 21st Century

Some current challenges in Education

• Funding and control of education Academies, Free Schools, LEAs, DBEs, DfES

• Aim of good education• British values• C of E / Muslim / Jewish etc schools in the

state system• RE for a plural world / National Society report• Place of collective worship

SDHTA Annual Conference 2014:

“Lead, Enable, Serve”

The Rt Revd Dr Richard CheethamBishop of Kingston

Chair of Southwark Diocesan Board of Education

Collective worship - the tip of the iceberg?

Common values

Philosophy of education

Beliefs

Plural society

Individualism

Church & Education in 21st Century UK

Sociological perspectives: the changing place of religion

• Religion as private, individual choice• Religion as contested (multiple world views)• Religion as controversial (especially post 9/11)

• Pervasive vague spirituality• Young people – Generation Y

Church & Education in 21st Century UK

Philosophy of Education

• Traditional – education as induction into “truth” / transmission of tradition

• Liberal – education to produce free thinking people. Knowledge based entirely on experience and reason

• Post-Liberal – challenges ideas of an overarching rationality, and exclusion of religion to a private,

subjective domain

Church & Education in 21st Century UK

Theological issues

• Knowledge and belief distinction• Relativism and absolutism

• “Truth” claims• Common moral values – source?

Pluralism

Religious “Truth”

Freedom of the individual

Nature of education

Individualism & community

Multi-faith society

Common values

TolerancePrivatisationof belief

Collective worship

• Inclusivity: “that unity thing”

• Freedom of choice and personal integrity:“this individual thing”

• The heart of an act of collective worship:moral, spiritual or religious

• Influence of the teacher: “an awesome responsibility”

4 major themes in the data

The understanding of religious belief which underlies collective worship

• Individual• Freely chosen• Relative• Pragmatic

• Religious belief as “an individually chosen, private, practical guide

to living”

What’s beneath your iceberg?

What is your collective worship

saying about the deep beliefs, values

and ethos of your School?

Explicitly? Implicitly?