Abstract
The Church of England has a large stake in education in England, having over 4500 church schools with a population of about 1 million children. Historically, the dual system allowed church schools to be largely funded by local authorities, who had a minority or controlling stake in governing bodies. The Church Times surveys included items related to the funding of church schools and to the place of religion in schools generally. This chapter first briefly outlines the history of Church of England schools, the changes in education funding from the 1980s to the present day and way in which attitudes towards faith schools were shaped by events in the period between the two surveys. It then reports the results of the surveys, noting that an apparent erosion in support for funding church schools between 2001 and 2013 coincided with a period when the Church was investing more heavily in this aspect of mission.
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Notes
- 1.
According to the Church of England website (accessed 16 July 2018), the Church has around 2000 voluntary controlled schools, of which 20 are secondary, and around 1700 voluntary aided schools, of which 53 are secondary.
- 2.
Schools under LEA control must deliver an ‘agreed syllabus’ on RE, which is monitored by the Standing Advisory Council of Religious Education (SACRE). Free Schools and academies are required in law to provide RE and collective worship. Academies with a faith designation must provide RE in accordance with their designated faith, but could use the agreed syllabus. Voluntary controlled schools that convert to academies must use the agreed syllabus, but could switch to RE based on their faith designation if parents agree to this.
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Village, A. (2018). Church Schools. In: The Church of England in the First Decade of the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04528-9_10
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