Workshop on the Strategic Importance of School Chaplaincy
Steve Younger reports on a workshop held at the end of last month:
On 31st August I provided a workshop (repeated) at the United Free Chur
ch’s Day Conference in Dunblane High School on ‘Christian Values in Education’. Their chosen focus for the day was ‘Engaging Communities’ and several workshops were available for the 250 delegates. Over the course of two workshops, thirty people attended. I endeavoured to give them a vision for the strategic importance of working in partnership with local schools. Churches spend a great deal of time and effort trying to engage with children and young people and nationally reach about 5% of Scotland’s youth – a figure that diminishes year on year. In contrast over 95% of Scotland’s youth go through local schools. Where local faith communities can work in and with local schools to explore faith, values and beliefs, they can be far more effective.
Those who attended our ‘Christian Values’ workshop represented a mixture of teachers and retired teachers, parents, carers, and (most precious of all!) a real live Christian 5th year pupil. Their questions were ones such as how to challenge/counter LGBT teaching, how to start a chaplaincy in a school where the Headteacher sees no need for one, relationships between schools and faith communities, where prayer and scripture fit into ’Time for Reflection’, how to advise a Headteacher struggling with a very vociferous minority of parents objecting to RO/TfR, how Christian staff can find ways to sensitively and appropriately express their faith in school contexts, how to start an SU group, etc.
