'There are nearly 21,000 primary schools and over 4,000 secondary schools in the UK, and they are all different.' Photo: Chris Liverani / Unsplash.
‘Whose responsibility is it to draw up a school’s ethos statement?’
School of thought: Chris Culpin has opportunities for all
True godliness don’t turn [people] out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it. (William Penn, 1682)
It would be easy to get a picture of education in our state schools as one of gloom and disillusion. Rapid change, under-funding, teachers quitting, unfair inspections, over- emphasis on testing, financial jiggery-pokery by leaders for personal gain, too many young people left in limbo by excessive use of exclusions… No wonder Quakers seeking to pick up William Penn’s injunction to endeavour to mend the world might look elsewhere.
There are nearly 21,000 primary schools and over 4,000 secondary schools in the UK, and they are all different. They may be similarly funded and staffed, often in very similar-looking buildings, but spend a few moments inside and you immediately sense contrasts, most of all in how the young people relate to each other and to adults. Dig deeper, ask a few questions, and further differences appear.
Schools are required to have a statement of their ‘ethos’. This well-meaning sentence will be repeated on the name- board outside, the website and the school notepaper. But whose responsibility is it to draw up this ethos statement? Even more to the point, who ensures that it doesn’t just head the notepaper but has real meaning and is applied through the daily life of the school? For example, if a school’s ethos statement proclaims, as most do, some variant of ‘opportunity for all’ how does this play out in the curriculum, in the rewards system, in the uniform, even the school assemblies?
The answer to my question is: the school governors. All state schools have governing boards, with some elected parents but a majority of local people willing to get involved. Of course, there is more to being a governor than poring over the words of the ethos statement. But schools are miniature communities and the satisfaction of working with others to instil good values – implicitly if not explicitly Quaker values – is immense.
There are other ways that Quakers can get involved in education. Our commitment to peace leads many to develop skills in the techniques of Restorative Justice. Many schools are committed to Restorative Justice as the foundation, not only of their behaviour policy but as the basis of all relations between young people and adults.
Quakers believe that there is good in every human being and this belief holds true for our work in education. Quaker Values in Education (QVinE) is committed to working towards schools where people matter, where they thrive through relationships and where the beauty of the whole person can be affirmed. This year at our conference in September we will welcome all who have an interest
in publicly-funded schools in Britain: parents, teachers, governors, and all who are concerned about the health and purpose of education. It’s never too late to learn.
You can get further conference info from qvineconference2019@gmail.com.
