Collective Worship in a Catholic School - Coursework Example

What are the principles that need to underpin the planning and delivery of Collective worship in a Catholic School? Religion in education has been widely accepted and encouraged in Britain for centuries. The national government even considers the religious sector as a partner in educating students that is why the Church of England and a number of other principal religious faiths are involved in the creation of the national curriculum as well as the legislations and development of policies related to it. An important aspect of this theme is the collective worship in schools. Collective Worship in Education Back in 1944 the terms “religious instruction” and “collective worship” are considered synonymous in the eyes of the law. But recently these concepts had been redefined under the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA), which provided the legal framework behind the collective worship principle in schools in Great Britain today. This law is responsible for most of the reforms that took place in British schools in the past decades. In the context of collective worship, the ERA sought to modify the 1944 statute by mandating that collective worship is a “broadly Christian character if it reflects the broad traditions of Christian belief without being distinctive of any particular Christian denomination.” (Edge 2002, p. 305) According to the DFE religious education in schools should seek: to develop pupil’s knowledge, understanding and awareness of Christianity, as the predominant religion in Great Britain, and the other principal religions represented in the country; to encourage respect for those holding different beliefs; and to help pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. (cited in Wright and Brandom 2000, p. 15) And collective worship is an integral part of this initiative as it is believed that it will be able to achieve for students an understanding of how to live in the modern society. In addition, collective worship is seen as a tool that is available to teachers to complement educational purposes. Wright and Brandom summed up six key aims of collective worship in school: The first is a moral one because collective worship analyses contemporary issues affecting young people and presents varying responses to them; the second seeks to help students identify and think about themselves, of the mysterious universe in which their lives are set and of the strangeness of modern living; the third is about helping student develop their values further; the fourth focuses and celebrates the shared values manifested by respective school communities; the fifth pertains to the encouragement of community spirit, interaction and relationship with others and a sense of obligation as human beings; finally, there’s the final aim of reflecting on God, Faith and the Utterly Mysterious through silence, music, self-reflection, artistic creation, scripture, poetry and hymnody. (p. 206) Collective Worship in Catholic Schools Catholic education or the Catholic school emphasizes the importance of religion and that education, under its auspices, is an extension and a continuation of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Education Service stated, “the process of education is holy, and since the world in which we live belongs to God, all teaching and learning are related to God in some way.” (p. 7) With this in mind, Deferrari wrote that the Catholic school “recognizes in its teaching program the fundamental value of Catholic philosophy and ethics” and that all Catholic schools across the globe are guided by this general principle including the specific aim of offering of adequate professional training, elevated and enriched instruction with Catholic values and morality. (p. 302) The Education Reform Act as emphasized by a circular issued by the DFE declared that “taking part in Collective Worship implies more than simply passive attendance. It follows that an act of Collective Worship should be capable of eliciting a response from pupils, even though on a particular occasion some of the pupils may not feel able to actively to identify with the act of worship. ” (DFE 1994) This legal position goes in consonance with the Catholic education ethos and demonstrated in the way collective worship is practiced and instructed. Further on, according to Grace (2002), the explicit and strict adherence of the Catholic school to its traditional mandate is reinforced by three documents from the institutional Church: 1. The Catholic School (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education 1977) reasserted the role of education as part of the saving mission of the Church to reveal to all ages the transcendent goal which alone gives life its full meaning; 2. The Lay Catholics in Schools: Witness to Faith – a document that provided the theorization of the vocation of the lay Catholic educator and of the concept of an educational profession as a form of vocation; 3. The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, which sought to address the impact of secularization in the wider world and within the Catholic communities. (p. 18-20) Catholic Principles and Collective Worship The previous section underscore how collective worship and the legal framework that supports it are very well suited to the Catholic school, its traditions, aims, values and practices. In fact, it is easy to say that Catholic schools’ administrators welcome collective worship and its encouragement by the law. Sullivan found that many Catholic diocesan authorities in Britain, including the many heads of Catholic schools favor the requirement for teachers in all school to promote spiritual and moral development and to be subjected under inspection for such purpose. (p. 56) This makes sense because the Catholic Church maintain the spiritual development must be the heart of the curriculum of the school and that faith, belief and value systems have to be integrated in other subjects not just religion education. It must be highlighted again that Catholic schools promote the importance and the part played that education play in readying individuals for the wider society. In using this in the context of collective worship, Sullivan suggested that the “kinds of successes which are to be striven for, the means used to achieve school aims, the allocation of resources to priorities, all need to be guided, ordered and brought into harmony by references to core principles which articulate the mission of the school.” (p. 151) That is why it is not uncommon for students at Catholic schools to take part in collective worship not as passive participants but as engaged learners actively taking part and identifying with the act of worship as part of their education. Collective worship at school reflects the tradition of the Church and has a Trinitarian character, wherein prayers, hymns and other activities are addressed to the Father, the Son and the Spirit. In order to ensure that the current religious content and collective worship initiatives are provided, there many options that Catholic school administrators could opt to take. For example, an intensive training and (re)orientation of teachers as well as other stakeholders on the principles and aims that govern the existence of Catholic schools. What this initiative could achieve is the effective practice of collective worship wherein: 1) the involvement of all stakeholders – not just the pupils and teachers - are emphasized; 2) the school environment is enhanced to be more attuned to the worship; and, 3) appropriate and strategic tools and methodologies are employed so that collective worship is not monotonous but interesting and characterized by variety and, hence, more effective. Also, the Catholic Education Service and the dioceses in Britain have drawn up guidelines to be used in the rigorous inspections that have to be undertaken frequently. These inspections are important in maintaining not just fidelity to Catholic standards but also consistency in such fidelity and, of course, the quality of collective worship initiatives. Even school administrators could evaluate the quality of the collective worship. Such localized evaluation is anchored on three important variables: the frequency and the quality of the practice, including the liturgical life of the school; the students’ response; and, the extent of the positive contribution in the spiritual and moral development of the learners. All in all, whatever the collective worship educational strategies and instructions adopted by school administrators, they should not dilute the ideal Catholic ethos in education as outlined by the Church. The reason for this is simple: if a collective worship activity as well as other related principles adopted is incompatible with the Catholic “core” values, then there is a tremendous possibility that they may eventually end up being corrosive to the mission of the Catholic school. Conclusion With all the arguments raised by this paper, it is important to highlight that the collective worship is important and relevant in today’s Catholic schools because it is an occasion where students are immersed in value-laden as well as topical issues. There are specific and measurable benefits. They cover the educational and social as much as the spiritual offering a more holistic approach to education that eventually help individuals to be better equipped in navigating an increasingly complex modern world. Understanding the significance of this argument will be easy if one considers again the ethos and principles behind the Catholic schools and education. Collective worship, in this respect, is invaluable tool and resource in order to realize all the Catholic Church’s aims and objectives in educating young minds. The gestures, the ministry, hymns, prayer, silence and other symbolic actions and practices involved are all crucial in encouraging spiritual and moral developments. The fact that religious education and, as in the case of this paper, collective worship, has pervaded for years, just means that the educational model is working and is effective in the eyes of the law, education authorities, parents and educators as experienced by the students. References Catholic Education Service. Evaluating the Distinctive Nature of a Catholic School. CES, 1999. Cunnington, H. "A New Era of Headaches," 1990. Third Way. Vol. 13: 2. Deferrari, R. Essays on Catholic education in the United States. Ayer Publishing, 1969. Department for Education (DFE). “Religious Education and Collective Worship.” London: DFE, Circular no. 1/94. Grace, R. Catholic schools: mission, markets and morality. London: Routledge, 2002. Sullivan, J. Catholic education: distinctive and inclusive. Berlin: Springer, 2001. Read More