Pupils find Christian privilege in schools “unfair”, research suggests

Children at both community schools and faith schools are critical of the dominance of Christianity in education, new research suggests.

An article published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education has examined how Christianity has "remained privileged" in both religious education (RE) and collective worship in schools in England. It says current practices relating to religion in schools "fail to mirror growing non/religious diversity".

The study, led by Dr Anna Strhan at the University of York, noted how locally agreed RE syllabuses must "reflect the fact that religious traditions are in the main Christian", while all schools are legally obliged to provide 'broadly Christian' collective worship every day.

The study was welcomed by the National Secular Society, which campaigns for an end to collective worship laws and reformed education around religion and worldviews.

Recent polling has found 70% of senior teachers "disagree" or "strongly disagree" with the law mandating collective worship, while RE is consistently considered one of the least useful subjects.

Christian privilege "in tension" with celebrating diversity at community school

The research included interviews with pupils and staff at two primary schools in England: a community school (given the pseudonym 'Faircroft') and a faith school ('St Jude's' Church of England School').

The article said Faircroft had an atmosphere of "celebrating 'diversity" which "shaped how teachers and pupils engaged with RE". The RE curriculum "included teaching about a range of religions, with teachers encouraging children to share their experiences as an important resource for developing understanding".

This engendered an interest in religion among pupils which "extended beyond RE", with several children commenting they discussed religion with friends outside class.

Despite this, there was also "an ongoing privileging of Christianity" at Faircroft, due to the 'broadly Christian' collective worship requirement. Children experienced this as "in tension" with this ethic of respect for religious diversity.

One pupil said "nearly all the songs" they sing were "Christian related", which meant some children were "getting upset" because "they feel like they don't fit in". She added that the focus on Christian festivals in assemblies was "unfair for the Muslim kids".

One pupil from a Muslim background said she felt "unwelcomed" because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not feature in assemblies. When pupils were asked to pray, she said she would cover her ears "because I don't want to hear it, because I don't want my God to think I'm going to join in with them".

Most teachers did not seem "especially conscious or concerned" that hymns or prayers might make some children uncomfortable, the researchers said, although one teacher acknowledged that "the privileged place given to Christianity did not mirror the children's religious diversity".

The article said: "Thus, we see how despite the atmosphere of celebrating religious diversity, in practice, Christianity was privileged – and pupils felt this as unfair".

"Few children" at CofE school liked RE

Christianity was "very tangibly present" at St Jude's, with 'prayer corners' in every classroom, daily Christian collective worship, frequent RE lessons, and regular school services in the local church. Collective worship was led by the headteacher or local clergy, who "sought to create a distinctively Christian atmosphere".

Unlike Faircroft, St Jude's had "little focus on religious diversity" and teachers were "often unaware" of children's religious identities or beliefs. When asked about respect for religious minorities at the school, the headteacher, who was relatively new, said: "I'm not sure there's even minority…What ones? Do you know if there is?"

Despite the school's overt Christianity, most pupils "expressed little sense of religion as something that mattered to them". "Few children" liked RE, with some criticising "the repetitive focus on Christianity". One commented: "I don't like it because it's kind of like collective worship, once you've done something there's nothing else to do on it.

"You just learn about God over, and over, and over, again, doing the same things."

Another said he found learning about Hinduism "quite interesting" but added: "I don't like learning about…Christianity, because it's a Christian school, we learn about it all the time".

Additionally, nonreligious children were "reluctant to talk about their own (non)belief, and some commented this was to avoid offending others".

During collective worship, some children were "disruptive". Pupils said some children would say prayers wrong on purpose.

The researchers said: "Overall, the ways in which Christianity was interwoven in the affective atmosphere at St Jude's meant that the children were being addressed as implicitly 'Christian' subjects, with Christianity presented as taken-for-granted and part of 'national' heritage and culture.

"However, at the same time, this Christianity was felt as boring and something that did not resonate with most of them".

The paper concluded pupils' responses in both schools "raise important questions about how current RE and collective worship policies might better mirror landscapes of growing non/religious plurality".

NSS: Children recognise how Christian privilege makes pupils "feel marginalised and 'othered'"

NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "This study underlines the importance of rethinking the place of religion in our increasingly diverse schools.

"Children can and do recognise the unfairness of privileging Christianity in their assemblies and RE lessons. As this research shows, they see how it makes non-Christian pupils feel marginalised and 'othered'.

"Moreover, a focus on Christianity actually puts many pupils off learning about religion altogether – they find it boring and monotonous.

"Ending unnecessary collective worship laws would ensure all assemblies can be truly inclusive for pupils from all religion and belief backgrounds.

"Meanwhile, replacing RE with an up-to-date, nationally-determined citizenship subject covering religion and worldviews would encourage pupils to think more critically about religion and society, and to see the relevance of basic literacy in religion and belief."