Collective Worship:
Advice to Schools
Table of Contents
Why must we have Collective Worship?
What does 'wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character' mean?
Positive purposes of Collective Worship
What is the relationship between Collective Worshipand religious education?
Festivals and celebrations in school and their link to Collective Worship
Some ideas for ways to mark religious festivals
Collective Worship and Special Schools
Introduction
Every Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) has a legal responsibility to advise its Local Authority on issues relating to Collective Worship.
Collective Worship can contribute strongly to the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of pupils. It can also promote inclusivity, core values as well as Fundamental British Values (FBV). It also offers a space where pupils can together develop awareness of the universal moral principles of right and wrong, justice and fairness, and concern for the fate of others and the world. At its heart, Collective Worship allows a school community to share thoughtand reflection.
Sometimes, families can be anxious about collective worship – and on occasion teachers too. Some may feel that collective worship promotes Christian values and beliefs, and that other faiths and beliefs will not be recognised or celebrated. Others may worry that their child will have to 'pretend' to have a faith that is not their own or to say words or perform actions that are contrary to their beliefs.
East Sussex SACRE with the help of Lewisham SACRE has produced this guidance to support community schools as they seek to improve their delivery.
SACRE intends this to be a simple, useful document, which gives helpful advice and which particularly, supports schools when they wish to mark festivals celebrated by members of the schools and the local community in an inclusive and positive way.
Why must we have Collective Worship?
It has been a legal requirement to provide Collective Worship in schools since 1944. The 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) affirmed its statutory position, facilitating what had already become widespread practice in schools. The 1996 Education Act further confirmed the requirements, since when there has been no change to this primary legislation, by which duty schools remain bound.
The basic requirement is that all registered pupils shall take part in an act of collective worship every day. (ERA 6.1)
There are only two exceptions to this: parents have the right to withdraw their child from collective worship and pupils in school sixth forms are permitted to decide for themselves whether to attend or not.
Schools have a legal duty as set out in the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) to:
a) Promote the spiritual, moral,cultural, mental, and physical development of pupils at the school and of society; and,
b) Prepare such pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of adult life.
Collective Worship can make an importantcontribution towards discharging this duty. Itis the responsibility governors and the head teacher to ensure that Collective Worshipis implemented in schools.
What is Collective Worship?
The law has never provideda precise definition of collective worship but above all else it must be an educational experience. We know that Collective Worship is not the same as faith community worship (corporate worship) because:
· A community school is not a faith community.
· A community schoolcontains pupils and staff from many different faith backgrounds as well as those who have no religious beliefs or no faith background; and
· A school community contains a wide range of people with different views on what 'worship' might mean and what or whom may be worthy of worship.
· Collective worship is not the same as Assembly because staff and pupils do not have the right to withdraw from Assembly. Assembly is usually the time when members of the school come together to pass on information and move forward matters of secular school business.
The Law on Collective Worship
Although the law has not givenan all-embracing definition of Collective Worship,it does have something to say on the matter.
In 1994 the Government issued Guidance which dealt with both ReligiousEducation and Collective Worshipin the form of Circular 1/94 published from the then Department of Education.
The unequivocal ‘advice’ contained in Circular1/94 was controversial from the start, and in 2010 the sections of the Circulardealing with Religious Education were revised.However, the sections dealing with collective worship remain the official Government guidance.
The delivery of Collective Worship is guidedby the law and government guidance which states:
· Collective Worship must be provided daily (separate arrangements may be made for nurseries and special schools).
· Collective Worship may take place at any time of the school day.
· Schools may decide on the age/grouping of pupils, and these may vary from day to day.
· The time decidedfor the delivery of Collective Worship may vary for differentgroups from day to day.
· Generally, Collective Worship shouldtake place on school premises(clearly this is not possible when pupils are away on school journeys for example when the venue for the Collective Worship for those pupils will be changed).
· Thecontent of most acts of Collective Worshipin a term should be "wholly or mainly of a broadlyChristian character, reflecting the broad traditions of the Christian belief".
· The content shouldhave regard for the familybackgrounds, ages, and aptitudes of pupils.
· Parents may withdrawtheir children from Collective Worship.
· Teachers may withdraw from Collective Worship.
· In a community school the responsibility for managing the provision for Collective Worship lies with the headteacher after consultation with the governing body.
· Everymaintained school is required to provide information about the Collective Worship provided by the school and how parents may withdraw their children from it.
What does 'wholly or mainly of a broadly Christiancharacter' mean?
All relevant legislation consistently avoids describing school worship as Christian and this fact has been taken to mean that Collective Worship is not expected to be Christian worship in any conventional sense. The lack of a precise legal definition of Collective Worship allows freedom of interpretation.
· It can be 'wholly or mainly...', therefore collective worship does not have to be all 'of a broadly Christian character. Indeed, the Act specifies that 'every act of collective worship required by section 6 ... need not comply' with this description.
· Collective Worship must 'reflect the broad traditions of Christian belief; that isto say, it is broad rather than specificor exclusive, reflecting plurality and focusing,not on doctrine or traditions of worship, but on belief that is broadly but not exclusively, Christian.
· The law does not say 'of a broadly Christian content or style'.
· It does not mean creatingpretence of Christian worship.
· It does not need to contain any elements of Christian ritualor liturgy.
· It can mean incorporating elementsthat Christians mightrecognise from their worship, e.g. songs, music, stories, learningfrom the good example of others, readingsfrom holy books.
· It does mean promoting valuesthat Christians believeto be important.
· Thesemay be, and often are, values held to be important by other faithsas well.
Positive purposesof Collective Worship
SACRE believes that Collective Worship can beprovided in accordance with the law to the benefit of the whole school community. It can add value to the education process, for example by providing an opportunity to:
· Contribute strongly to the spiritual, moral,social, and culturaldevelopment of pupils.It also is a place to promote inclusivity, values, and Fundamental British Values.
· Encourage pupils to developawareness of the universal moral principles of right and wrong, justice and fairness and concern for the fate of others and the world.
· Affirmand celebrate the values and ethos of the school.
· Add to the pupils' development of an awarenessof, and a sense of belonging to, the many different dimensions of the schools' community.
· Gatherfor a special purpose.
· Sharean experience which promotes thoughtand reflection.
· Consider their own beliefsand values, both religious and secular.
· Promote pupils' spiritual, moral,social, and culturaldevelopment.
· Consider and reflect upon a varietyof situations and issues and make a personal response.
· Reflect quietly and make an internal response in the light of personal beliefs and background: this may includeworship of God within each participant's own faith understanding.
To ensure that a quality experience is provided, we believethat Collective Worshipmust be well planned and effectively led, resourced, and managed.
The integrity of all those presentshould be recognised and safeguarded throughout all Collective Worship experiences.
What is the relationship betweenCollective Worship and religious education?
Collective Worship is a means wherebythe school community comes together to celebrate and reflect upon those values that it considers important to promote; it is not Assembly.
Whilst Collective Worship shouldbe a quality experience, and pupils shouldlearn from it; an act of Collective Worship is not a lesson.
Religious Education is a subject of the curriculum and as such cannot be taught through Collective Worship.
Religious Education could not be delivered in a broad,balanced and differentiated way to all pupils through Collective Worship.
It would not be possible to allocate sufficient time to Religious Education to teach it appropriately through Collective Worship.
Collective Worship provides opportunities to reflect on how many of the beliefs that pupils learn about through plannededucational experiences in religious education, have influenced people's life choices or actions.
Festivals and celebrations in school and their link to Collective Worship
Belonging to a community involves sharing good and bad times experienced by members of that community. In schools, this includes markingthe celebration of festivals that are important to members of the school and local community. This often takes place in the school's Collective Worship programme as Collective Worship is a community experience.
It is important to be aware of the cultures and faiths represented within the school and to help pupils to develop an awareness of, and respect for, holy days and times of reflection from faiths and beliefs different from their own.
In schools it is important for pupils to feel free to share the place of religious or spiritual experience in their lives. In order that this can happen effectively, it is necessary to foster an environment wherepupils can appreciate that everyone is of equal importance, where diversity is celebrated and where pupils can develop an understanding that the needs of everyoneshould be treated fairly and equally. Within such a learning environment, cultural and religious diversity is regarded as positive, and pupils can express their viewpoints and beliefs in safety.
Schools are multicultural and multifaith communities where several religious and secular festivals will be of importance to different members of the community during the year. Whilst it is important to mark these times, it is also important to appreciate that the level of involvement of non-believers in any festival must not compromise the beliefs of that individual, e.g. by acting a part in a drama that they find conflicts with their own religious beliefs.
Festivals celebrated by members of the school community, or the class, will provide many opportunities to help pupils to begin to develop connections between faiths, festivals, key figures, places, stories, and symbols. As they talk about the story associated with afestival and the way in which the festival is celebrated, pupils connect festivals to their faith context and begin to understand each other better.
For example, it is important that pupils learn that Christmas is a Christian festival celebrated by Christians and begin to appreciate what the festival means to those children in the community whowill be celebrating it.
Here aresome principles which should be considered when selecting festivals toinclude inthe school's planning calendar:
· Plan festival focuses forthe appropriate time of year to helppupils to make sense oftheir experiences.
· Help pupils to be clear about thefaith to which each festival belongs.
· Introduce the story attachedto the festival at an appropriate level for the pupils.
· Enable pupils to appreciate that a festival is a celebration whilst ensuring thatyou do not give them or theircarers the impression that they are being asked to participate at the levelof a member of a faith community.
· If you intend inviting pupils to share foods related to festivals take the opportunity to talk about those food restrictions and laws which relate to the faith concernedand ensure that you are aware of the food laws adhered to by members of the group so that you do not offend or confuse. For example,eating apples dipped into honey to mark Jewish New Year, is not worship and pupils can gain greaterappreciation of the symbolism of wishing for a sweet new year ahead.
· The waysin whichpeople celebrate the festival should beclearly referenced to thefaith and cultural tradition, e.g.examining Diwali cards couldalso bean opportunity to discuss Indian or Hindu art and symbols.
· Be alertto theneed toavoid racial, cultural andgender stereotyping.
· Where possible, involve members of therelevant community so that pupils realise the festival is really celebrated by real people. For example, members of the school community can visit your Collective Worship to tell the pupilshow they prepareand celebrate in their home.
Practitioners and faith community representatives should be careful that they are clear aboutthe level at which they should approach these areas with young pupils. They should appreciate that their involvement is not an opportunity to convert or engage pupilsin activities more appropriate to members of their faith community. It is also important to not use language that implies that everyone celebrates the festival in the same way or that impliesthat the school has a religious character.
Some ideas for ways to mark religious festivals
Members of faith communities spend time preparingfor festivals. You could have a large festival calendar in school and leading up to a festival, attention could be paid to how members of the relevant community are preparing both practically and spiritually.
Taking inspiration from Christian Adventcalendars, you could, if localcommunities feel it is appropriate, produce calendars relevant to some of the festivals you intend to mark. For example, you could produce an Eid Calendar, a Diwali calendar, a Guru Nanak's Birthday Calendar or a Hannukah calendar. Include within them images, facts, and quotations appropriate to the faith concerned.
Within faith and belief communities, festivals are celebrated in different ways according to family or cultural traditions. You could ask a member of the school or wider community to come into school to share their particular way of marking a festival, taking time to explore what is held in common with others, particularly the inner meaning of the festival, and what is different or personal to their family.
Music
Make links with the school's musicprogramme by selecting music for Collective Worship that comes from relevant faiths or cultural backgrounds.
Music is integral to Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish worship and in Collective Worship pupils can be introduced to recordings of some of these in appropriate contexts. However, members of some Christian groups consider music to be indulgent and sensual unless forming part of their worship experiences.
The legality of music and singing in the Shariah (Islamic Law) is a topic hotly debated amongst individuals and Muslim scholars of the present day. Much has been written both for and against the religious legality of music and singing, clouding the issue, and creating confusion.
The sources of Islam, the Qur'an and Sunnah, as well as the rulings of the Sahaba (Companions of the Prophet [saws]),and Imams Abu Hanifa, Malik, Shafi'i, and Ibn Hanbalare unanimous in their verdicts, that music and singing, with certain limited exceptions, is haram (forbidden).
Some Muslims do not agree with this and there are many Muslim religious and secular forms of music available in the world today. What this clearly demonstrates is that schools in East Sussex could contain a range ofpupils whose familiesare somewhere on the continuumbetween being comfortable with music or being vehemently opposed to it.
As pupils may not be withdrawn from the music element of the curriculum, schools need to accommodate this range of belief with great care, particularly being sensitive to pupils' concerns or distress in being required to sing songs which contain words opposed to their religious beliefsor values. There ishowever no requirement for them to be withdrawnfrom being in the space where others are singing. They may be withdrawn from this element of Collective Worship and parents do have the right to do this.
Collective Worship and Special Schools
Circular 1/94 Annex B expressesthe law in relation to the involvement of special schoolpupils in Collective Worship.
The law is often misunderstood to mean that special schools do not have to provide Collective Worship. In fact, the possible disapplication of special school pupils from Collective Worship was included referring to a narrow interpretation of their needs and was aimed at reducing the difficulty for gathering large numbers of non-ambulant pupils.
In terms of equality of opportunity for pupils in special schools, unless there are reasonsrelating to space or equipment that cannot be overcome, then special schools should follow the law in the same way as mainstream schools.
What happens if you feel that you cannot provide Collective Worship in accordance with the law?
If a schoolfeels that the provision of Collective Worshipwithin the broadest interpretation of the law is still not suitable for theircontext then the headteacher needs to investigate whether it might be appropriate to ask the SACRE to grant a "Determination" in accordance with the law. (See DFE Circular 1/94).
If this is the case, then contactthe SACRE for the local determinations form.
Appendix
Sample letter to visitorsinvited to take part in Collective Worship
Dear XXX
Thank you for agreeing to come to our school on XXX to talk to XXX class/year in assembly/collective worship about XXX.
Assembly/collective worship begins at XXX and generally lasts for XXX minutes. It will take place in (location) and approximately (number of) children will be presentfrom years XXX (aged).
Please arrive by (time) and report to the school’s Visitor Reception, where you will be required to sign our visitors' book. For the duration of your stay at our school you will be required to wear a visitor's badge; this ensures that everyone understands that you are in the buildingon school business.
Our school community is not a faith community and collective worship is provided for all pupils. Therefore,your input should be planned to be comfortable, inclusive, and sensitive to the needs of all.
As part of your presentation, you may wish to shareyour beliefs with the children. This is perfectly acceptable if these are put into context. For example, you might say “as I am … I believe …”
But please remember it is not the place of a school to provide opportunities to convert or indoctrinate pupils. The pupils and their families need to be reassured that all their faith or cultural backgrounds are of equal status and validity.
In our school we do not expect or invite children to pray as though they were all members of the same faith. As part of collective worship our pupils are used to having a quiet thinking/reflection time when they can consider the meaning of what they have heard and seen to their own lives. We hope that those who are religious believers use this time to relate the focus or theme to their personal religious beliefs, and some may indeed pray or worship internally.
Exemplar ‘Inclusive Homily’ for use in Collective Worship
This is the time, when we spend a few moments in quiet reflection, according to our own personal beliefs, God or Gods, thinking about the individual contribution we can make to our school.
We ask for the strength and courage to be good citizens, to practice courtesy, consideration and cooperation so that we may all share equally, in the benefits of our community.