The Church is in danger of being driven out of public education by Government reforms and a generation of teachers ignorant of even the basic tenets of Christianity, a senior cleric has warned. A rush to introduce new academies and changes to the curriculum could threaten the very ‘survival’ of the church schools system unless urgent action is taken, according to the head of the Church of England’s Board of Education. The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, also warned that a tide of secularisation had undermined the standard of teaching of the Christian faith. Even in schools run by the church itself many teachers now lack a ‘default understanding’ of Christianity, he said. The warnings are contained in a hard hitting report about the state of faith schools and religious education to be debated by the Church of England’s General Synod next month.
Pray: that the Church would take up the challenge to bring faith back to the centre of church school life – see also previous story. (Dt.4:9)