How to Unlock the Prison #1

At the start of a new academic year, Richard Coton, CVE Scotland Trustee and former headteacher, writes in a series of four blogs on the way in which CVE Scotland is helping schools and churches in Scotland work together:-

Are most pupils in our schools imprisoned by stereotypes like “Science has disproved religion”, “Only old people now believe in God” or “Christians are all bigots”? Is it inevitable? Or can we help them make real choices about whom to believe and what to value?

At CVE Scotland we’ve found three keys we can use legitimately and effectively in schools to unlock that prison. Here’s the first key:

Key #1: School Chaplains need support. The fantastic ideas of some Chaplains need to be shouted from the rooftops. And the brilliant resources they use need to be readily available to everyone.

Scotland-wide PhD research by our Chaplaincy Support Worker, Rev. Steve Younger (published as “Time for Reflection: A Guide to School Chaplaincy and Spiritual Development”^[1]) has revealed major inconsistencies in the quality and impact of School Chaplains across the country. There is a major need for training, networking and the spreading of best practice.

Our School Chaplaincy Support Project, launched in Summer 2018, is led by Steve Younger (described by Education Scotland as “the leading authority on Religious Observance and Curriculum for Excellence”). Over the last 12 months, training events for school chaplains and teachers have been held in Perth & Kinross, West Lothian, Fife, Angus, Aberdeenshire, Moray, and South Lanarkshire, Borders, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Organisation has been supported by the Church of Scotland Education Committee, whose efforts have been invaluable. Events attract chaplains from all denominations. More conferences and other major developments in the project are scheduled for 2019-20. The aim is not simply to encourage school chaplains and equip them with excellent new resources, but also to reframe the role of the chaplain as the key bridge-builder between the school and the local Christian community, in order to encourage multi-faceted partnerships and involvement.

A School Chaplaincy Training Module has been designed for the Scottish Baptist College/University of the West of Scotland and will be taught by Steve for the first time in 2019-20. This is a significant step forward in the equipping of new and existing school chaplains.

Impact: Nearly 500 School Chaplains and senior school staff have attended to date and several hundred church volunteers have also attended the shorter presentations. Responses (via evaluation forms) indicate that the way that school chaplains operate in schools is being directly influenced and improved in a number of areas:

Communication with schools: “Really helpful on how to communicate meaningfully with schools”; “The importance of education language and the opportunities it brings”.

Widening the ministry of churches in schools: “Learned more about other ways to build relationships outside of assemblies”; “Learned about the big picture about Chaplains in Scottish Schools”; “I’ve realised that Chaplaincy teams work better than solo ‘God Spot’ visits”. “A highlight was Rev Allan Wilson reporting on the innovation of Pupil Chaplains at Perth Academy: twenty-five senior pupils have volunteered for this.”

Senior school staff value the chance to plan alongside their Chaplains, setting a pattern for future joint working: “Opportunity to speak with my school chaplain to agree next steps for us to move things forward in our partnership”, “Working together with the Head Teacher to plan assembly programme and TFL. Great to speak to other professionals on this topic”.

Improved quality of Religious Observance (now called “Time for Reflection”) in schools: “Learnt a lot about assemblies and how to take them”; “Some great ideas and resourcing”; “I feel I’ve been really stimulated by today’s event”, “Challenges, questions, possibilities, attitudes and values of TfR in the local contexts. It was really worth to participate. Thank you!”

Resources distributed: About 300 copies each of “Words” and “Seasons” + 230 copies of “Reflections” have now been distributed (booklets with best practice exemplar materials for Time for Reflection), necessitating reprints of all 3 titles.

Demand for events: School Chaplains have travelled considerable distances to attend events, and invitations to run future events flow in. In September 2019, a residential training event will see a group of School Chaplains equipped as trainers so that they can share these invaluable approaches with colleagues.