The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of some of the myths surrounding Church of England schools, referencing inclusivity and their achievements.  He reported that statistical evidence shows that the proportion of Church of England schools with significantly high numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds is much the same as the average within the community sector.  He robustly argued against any notion of faith schools being indoctrinating.  He also addressed the Church of England’s approach to admissions to their schools, referring to the need for objective criteria, applicable across the country, and his wish for clear public commitment in the whole sector to guarantee places for local children and for children of other faith backgrounds.  He suggested that such criteria could be embodied in advice from the Church of England’s diocesan boards of education to its VA governing bodies.  The Archbishop of Canterbury’s speech can be accessed through

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/sermons_speeches/060314.htm

Jacqui Smith, the Minister for Schools Standards, also spoke at the conference. Her speech is available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/speeches/search_detail.cfm?ID=324.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols also gave a brief presentation at the start of the afternoon’s activities. 

“I am very grateful for this opportunity to speak briefly to you today. There is so much to say, not least about the links between school, parish and the wider community. But I would like simply to underline some of the points that Archbishop Williams has made and add a comment of my own.

1          I thoroughly endorse his emphasis on the importance of RE in every school in this country. I believe that this is a perspective to which the Government is increasingly sensitive. We must continue to press this point.

The National Framework for RE was an important step. So too is the recent joint statement, of DfES and Faith Leaders, on some of the key characteristics needed in RE. I think we ought to use this statement as an illustration of the Government’s commitment to RE, too.

My I express the importance of RE in this unambiguous manner:

A religiously illiterate population will never be able to establish or sustain the tolerance and mutual respect which is so desired in our society today.

Or, in the approach taken by the Archbishop: an appreciation of the religious beliefs and traditions and a willingness to feel them, learn from them, is a crucial contribution to a harmonious society. This is a contribution that all schools must strive to make. Church schools are well placed not only to do so but also to demonstrate this task.

2          As a society we are struggling to know what multi-culturalism means in practice.

May I make just one point here. Culture is an expression of a people’s hopes, fears, desires for the future, struggles with dread, and ways of coping with each other; culture is an important part of our moral environment.  These are essentially matters of the spirit.  They are spiritual rather than material or economic.

So our efforts to appreciate other cultures - and our own – depend upon our spiritual sensitivity.

Again we, as providers of Church schools, are well placed – with all our resources – to demonstrate the practical dimensions of the spiritual quest insisting that education is holistic, embracing the whole person.

Multi-culturalism only makes sense in this perspective, when a culture is allowed to speak out of its spiritual depth, and not reduced to a set of practices, habits or customs. Only then will cultures enrich one another.

Incidentally we need to reflect much more on the relationship between the spiritual and the religious, recognising that they are not interchangeable terms.

My view would be that our spiritual selves, our spiritual quest, is tutored, shaped, deepened by our religious practice, and particularly by the specifics of that practice, of each religious observance.  This shaping of the spiritual by the religious is an important dynamic in our life our faith. 

The development of this thought is for another day, although it emphasises why, for me, the specifically religious nature of a school – as well as its spiritual qualities – is very important.

3          For us, gathered today as Christian educators, there is the most precious gift.  We know that our spiritual quest, our religious endeavour is fulfilled not in a book, or a prophecy but in an eternal and living person: in Christ, our Lord.  He is always at the centre of our schools and, of course, He is our ‘faith in the future’.  Here today we rejoice in Him, and in our shared effort to the glory of His name”

XVincent Nichols

Archbishop of Birmingham