The Anglican Church Expressed Through Its Schools
When Christopher Ellis was the Headmaster of Anglican Church Grammar School in Queensland, he put together a paper about Anglican Schools that holds up really well. This is reproduced as part of the series that invites us to reflect on the ministry and practice of our work as chaplains in Anglican schools.
An important contention with which I begin is that a Christian School must express its Christian faith and commitment in all aspects of its operations, its philosophies, policies and practices. In this way, it will be internally consistent, will have its integrity and imprint itself on the spirit of the students at the same time as they are involved in the day-to-day routines and instruction. While the immediate outcomes of education at a Christian school may be measured in terms of the qualifications and qualities of its graduates, the longer term and more profound effects must be seen in the spiritual growth of its students. These effects are seldom strongly evident immediately upon completion of school, but should at least be in their first stages of development by this time.
A scriptural passage which I believe expresses a summary of the Christian approach to education is from St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 10, Verse 10: I have come in order that you might have life – life in all its fullness.
This statement by Christ was an expression of the importance of the individual and a suggestion that each person has the potential and the opportunity to experience fullness of life in spiritual as well as other senses. It has always struck me as referring not so much to fullness in terms of worldly success and status as fullness in terms of selfawareness, insight, richness of relationships and ·depth of spiritual awareness. Such things should be the aims and outcomes of the curriculum of a Christian school.
When speaking of curriculum, I use an inclusive definition to incorporate not only the formal, organised structure of academic subjects and lessons which is offered by a school to its students, but also the hidden curriculum expressed through co-curricular activities, as well as the structures of management and relationships which influence, subtly but profoundly, the life and experience of students.
Thus, ‘fullness’ applies both to individuals and to a school as a whole. Most schools expound a broad set of aims which encompass the spiritual, the academic, the personal growth of students and their service to others.
The life and work of a school will seek to present a broad array of programmes expressing these aims – programmes of quality which are kept in balance with one another. That balance and intermingling of experiences ultimately contributes to and expresses the spirit of a school and provides for the realisation of its spiritual aim. While for each student the prime aim is usually understood to be the academic one, it is an underlying intention that self-awareness, self-confidence and self-motivation, all of which contribute to academic success, are engendered by participation and success in the wider aspects of the life of a school.
Breadth provides for the range of individuals within the school group as well as for the full expression of the complete array of qualities within each student. Balance speaks of the need to keep the requirements of each student in perspective as the requirements and rights of the whole group are taken into account.
Similarly, each student should be encouraged to maintain balance in the exercise of his or her talents and abilities.
These fairly conventional views about a Christian approach to curriculum expressed in the aims and programmes of a school lead us on to see how they are expressed in a particularly Anglican way.
The history of the Anglican or English church some will claim has a direct, unbroken link from the missionary work at Glastonbury in the first century of Joseph of Arimathea, who brought to England not only the Christian faith but also the Holy Grail and the thorn bush used for Christ’s crucifixion. For my purposes, the origin of the Anglican Church is the English reformation during the reign of Henry VIII. Its nature was shaped from the blending of old and new elements and there are some significant events which gave it formal expression. The first, the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 brought a compromise between the conflicting forces of predominantly traditional Catholic, episcopal groups, the legacy of the Church of old, and the new Protestant, Calvinistic forces. The second, a century later, was the adoption of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer which resolved the ecclesiastical conflicts which had been expressed during the English Civil War with a similar compromise between the Catholic and Puritan elements within the English Church.
The authority behind both these compromises in the Church of England lay with the Crown and parliament. A similar expression in the political context of compromise is the English constitutional monarchy, which dates from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 – blending the autocratic powers of the monarchy with the democratic powers of parliament.
The continuation of tension and interaction between the two opposing threads within the Anglican Church has been seen in such things as the development of the Wesleyan and Oxford movements during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and remains as a feature of our Church now. Interestingly, the recent debate over the ordination of women has seen these two threads in an alliance as they opposed the reform. Another significant movement within the Anglican Church, especially since the nineteenth century has been that of the search for social justice. It has been expressed through such groups as the Christian Socialists, among whom Kingsley was a leading figure, the antislave movement led by William Wilberforce, social reforms and factory legislation of the Earl of Shaftesbury and others. The linking of the Anglican Church with welfare activity has become a major part of its identity in the last hundred years.
The great exposition of Anglicanism in the time of Queen Elizabeth I was given by Richard Hooker and he is the person to whom reference is still made for a summary of the nature of the Anglican Church. He lived from 1554 to 1660. He was an apologist for the Elizabethan settlement of 1559 and in his “Treatise on the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity” provided a justification of the tradition of the episcopacy in the Anglican Church. He also drew upon scripture as an important origin of the authority of the Church. His opposition to the puritan literalist approach to scripture was linked with the expression of a view of church and civil government based on natural law and the expression of God’s supreme reason in worldly affairs.
Summed up, his exposition saw the Anglican Church as drawing upon tradition, scripture and reason. This in itself is an inclusive approach, taking all the main elements which were alive in the debates of the church in his time. The authoritarian, the episcopal, the catholic on the one hand and the scripture-inspired, the calvinistic, puritan and egalitarian on the other and blending and balancing them through reason and rationality. His attitude to the use of scriptures was to take a liberal, interpretative approach as opposed to the literalist, fundamentalist stance of the Calvanists and Puritans.
The example of Hooker as a leader of analytical thought and academic and reasoned argument has been followed by generations of leaders in the Anglican Church. My experience of synods of our Church at their best has been for the style of debate to be elegant, cool and rational, frequently drawing upon scripture and showing respect and care for all people of differing views. The concept of tradition within the Anglican Church has been linked with the. authoritarian, Catholic strand going back before the Reformation and maintaining the link of apostolic succession. The appeal to a conservative, traditionalist approach has a broader reference than a theological, ecclesiastical one and has been linked with respect for the monarch, forms and customs of the past and the Tory side of politics.
These characteristics when expressed in the philosophies, structures and practices of Anglican Schools have been manifested in such ways as curriculum, which is broad and inclusive.
The notion of the education of the whole person has been the cliche and catch cry of independent schools, but particularly Church and Anglican schools.
Enrolment policies which are open and inclusive have been embraced.
Recent moves to establish low-fee Anglican schools and the policies of well-established schools to offer scholarships and bursaries are an indication that Anglican schools seek to be accessible to all comers, both in terms of their socio-economic background as well as their race and religion. The expression of openness to people of all creeds has usually been qualified by the expectation that such people once they enter the school will accept the religious education and worship which is part of the programme.
The extension of their openness and inclusiveness to provision for students with special needs has a been long-standing aspect of Anglican schools. Special Education Units, scholarship schemes for groups with special needs and employment of remedial and support staff have been typical of our schools over the years.
The seeking of the middle way – working with compromise between extremes – has been seen as both a strength and weakness of Anglicanism. When expressed in schools, it is often given a more positive emphasis in valuing tolerance and encouraging in students open-minded attitudes opposed to parochialism and prejudice.
Compromise can be seen as the rational and aware balancing of conflicting forces rather than simply “agreeing to differ”. The recognition that life frequently presents us with paradoxes is an element of insight and maturity which young adults need to gain. The blending and balancing of two different responsibilities of respect for authority as well as respect for the individual, is an approach which we seek in our schools.
This extends to the patterns of authority in our schools. The Anglican Church is traditional and hierarchical. With episcopal leadership through the authority of Bishops and Archbishops, we have a respect for centralised leadership and traditional values. Most of our School Councils have in some form or another a delegated authority to operate not only in the name of the Anglican Church but under its authority.
It is customary therefore to accept the rigorous requirement that Heads of Anglican schools be communicant Anglicans, rather that Anglicans in name only.
Within our schools, our models of management and leadership are hierarchical, expressing a downward, authoritarian thrust of control but at the same time they echo the pastoral role of Bishops, the compassionate caring and nurturing side of leadership that is also strongly valued. The role of prefect within the student body is seldom nowadays exercised in schools as being the Head’s vigilante group or semi-official police force meting out summary justice.
The Anglican Church is, however, democratic or synodical in its self-government and uses a parliamentary, representative method of deciding its plans and policies. The tempering of simple authoritarian structures in schools has been a trend in recent decades, represented by movement beyond the establishment of parents and friends’ groups to parent involvement in the governance of schools. The sharing with teaching staff of decision making has become a recognised and commonly-adopted practice in recent times. It is simply not sensible for a Head these days to operate in the authoritarian modes of twenty or thirty years ago. The emergence of student representative councils and the sharing with student bodies of aspects of decision making in schools is no longer regarded as dangerously modern or irresponsible. The democratic element is also shown in the respect that is given to individuals and individual differences.
The traditionalist element in the Anglican Church causes it to tend to be formal in worship and to convey the mysterious and inexpressible aspects of faith through liturgy, music and symbols. Our schools use badges which incorporate symbols of a Christian, ecclesiastical and biblical nature. An Anglican school will often identify itself simply by having a mitre within its badge. The forms of worship we use tend to be priest-centred, structured and ceremonial, using symbolism with the support of art, drama, dance and music. Rituals are also part of the wider life of schools, with use of prefect inductions, confirmations, speech days, ceremonial parades and so on. The enrichment of the curriculum and wider life of schools through art, music, theatre, drama and fine utterance are well accepted. While these are frequently corporate, unifying, affirming events, the recognition within them of the contributions of individual excellence is another example of the paradox to which I have referred earlier.
Social justice has become a strongly-expressed part of Anglican Church life.
I have already referred to curriculum offerings and enrolment policies which reflect this aspect of Anglicanism as inclusiveness, but it is another feature of our schools that they strongly encourage and idealise service. School cadet corps and military service have been an obvious expression of this theme, but participation in and support for welfare work have become a major part of life in Anglican schools.
Adolescents and young children may not immediately or easily find themselves articulating or understanding their experience of the ‘mystery at the centre of things’, the ineffable, unknowable God, the creator of the universe. They can and should easily see how the Church and God expresses in a practical way its mission of care for the sick and underprivileged. The link between what a Christian or Church organisation says and does ( or in other words, practising what it preaches) enables students at a Church school to respect that school’s integrity and sincerity. Hospital visiting, care for old people, work in special schools, fund raising for charities are all commonplace.
Scholarship, respect for intellectual inquiry and reasoned debate, as I have said, have been a main strength of Anglicanism.
Our theologians and religious leaders have contributed much to the development and deepening of our understanding of our relationship with God in a scholarly, reasoned and analytical way.
Book learning, simple accumulation of facts in the model of Mr Gradgrind has not been the style of scholarship admired in Anglican schools, but the broader, more liberal approach with admiration of students with a diverse array of gifts has seemed to me to be the ideal. One of the chief reasons for parents making use of our schools has been academic achievement for children as a pathway to success in adult life. A purpose behind the Church’s sponsorship of schools and their academic emphasis has been seen as a provision for representation of people of sound Christian and Anglican faith in the Church, the business, professional and political life of the nation.
Education in the English tradition has seen itself as standing above immediate worldly concerns, as having a timeless quality, seeking for the individual a habit of mind which loves learning for its own sake and seeking for the nation as a whole the forward movement of intellectual inquiry for the enhancement of mankind, for the deepening of our understanding of our relationship with God and the bringing in of His Kingdom. For these reasons, scholarship has been pre-eminent in Anglican schools and is likely to remain so.
The Anglican Church has been criticised for being inclusive, for seeking the middle way and for its tendency to accept compromise and to avoid taking extreme positions. On the other hand, this characteristic can be recognized as a strength because it fosters tolerance and promotes the encouragement of respect for other people of different views. These qualities may well be a way of summarising the weakness and strengths of Anglican Schools. Whatever the case, we cannot really cast off the history and traditions of our schools which come, I claim, from the very nature of our Church. But just as our Church is needing to reconsider its identity and relevance in a changing national environment, the same can be said of our schools.
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