The Public Face of God

Chaplaincy in Anglican Voluntary and Academy Secondary schools in the

state maintained sector

Hopes for this enquiry

• An indication of the extent of Chaplaincy ministry in Anglican Schools in England and Wales.

• An indication of the many different ways in which Chaplaincy is provided, funded, organised and supported in schools.

• An account of experience and reflection concerning some specific issues in School Chaplaincy.

• Some pointers towards the development of guidance on what constitutes good practice.

Basic numbers

• 198 schools (4 in Wales)• 72 responses to an online survey• 17 schools across 12 Dioceses visited• 10 schools across 10 Dioceses spoken to on

the phone

How many Chaplains?• 58 of the 72 responding schools say they have

a Chaplain (or a team of Chaplains)• Of the 14 who say they have no Chaplain– 6 in vacancy (some having real trouble appointing)– 3 now want a Chaplain– 3 content to be served by a team of local Clergy– 2 say they don’t have a Chaplain because there is

no funding for such posts

Health warning – it’s not possible to extrapolate a figure for all Anglican schools from these figures.

Who are they?

• 34 Clergy• 22 Lay• 1 Elim Pastor• 1 joint Anglican/RC team

How much time?

• 26 full time appointments (15 Clergy; 10 lay; 1 pastor of a different denomination)

• 23 part time (12 clergy; 11 lay)• 8 voluntary (7 clergy; 1 lay)• 1 team of 3 together comprising one fte post

How much time?

• Most part timers work between 10 and 25 hrs per week

• Some as little as 3 / 4 hours• Most volunteers offer around 3 /4 hrs per week

(One volunteer says she does 16 hrs per week!)• Some give very little time indeed, maybe an

hour or 2 per week (or per month!) • 11 of the 58 schools that do have chaplains have

less than 4hrs per week.

Why have a Chaplain?• “Because we’re a Church School, that’s what you do”• Embodying (or ‘grabbing’) the ethos• ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’• Placing the ethos into a spiritual context – a theological

task – from ‘a deeper place’• Representative – of God - of the Church• School as part of something greater – organisation –

purpose• Someone distinctive• Someone prayerful

Paying for Chaplaincy

• Teachers paid as appropriate. Non teaching Chaplains mostly as Associate Staff, in some cases at a level determined by Incumbent’s stipend + housing.

• Almost all funding of Chaplaincy posts comes out of school budgets.

• One Diocese pays for first five years of a Chaplain’s ministry, then asks school to take over.

• In some places Chaplaincy is included in Parish Priests’ job description at the Church’s expense.

Paying for Chaplaincy

“To set the remuneration at a

realistic level shows that the

school is not just playing at it.”

“We can’t afford it, we do what

we can”

To whom are Chaplains Ministering?Students All 58 schools (100%)

Staff 57 schools (98.3%)

Headteacher 49 schools (84.5%)

Governors 40 schools (55.5%)

Parents 45 schools (62.5%)

School’s Neighbours 25 schools (34.7%

All categories 24 schools (33.3%)

Part time and voluntary Chaplains tend to prioritise particular constituencies (principally students) though some schools with a very small amount of Chaplaincy

time still insist that their Chaplain is there for ‘the whole school community’

How many students?

Chaplains minister to all the schools’ students but they also encounter some students

individually or in small groups.• Numbers vary widely (12 to 900) but typically

between 100 and 400.• 13,000 in total• Average of 230 per Chaplain

What do Chaplains do?Worship

Leading non-Eucharistic worship 55 (94.8%)Presiding at celebrations of the Eucharist 41 (70.7%)Supporting and resourcing colleagues in leading school worship 59 (101.7%)

Co-ordinating visitors who lead worship 42 (72.4%)Worship co-ordinator (Chaplain is the lead person in drafting worship policy and determining programmes and themes for worship)

34 (58.6%)

NB some figures look rather strange (e.g. over 100%). Some schools said they didn’t have a Chaplain but then went on to set out the things the local Priest did when he came in e.g.

Presiding at the Eucharist.

What do Chaplains do?Teaching

Teaching RE / RS 11 (19%)Teaching philosophy 3 (5.2%)Teaching another subject 5 (8.6%)Form tutor or year group / house tutor 2 (3.4%)Extra-curricular teaching (eg Confirmation classes) 21 (36.2%)

What do Chaplains do?Pastoral

Pastoral care for students 61 (105.2%)Pastoral care for staff 60 (103.4%)Pastoral care for Headteacher 50 (86.2%)Pastoral care for others involved in the life of the school 47 (81%)

NB some figures look rather strange (e.g. over 100%). Some schools said they didn’t have a Chaplain but then went on to set out the things the local Priest did when he came in.

What do Chaplains do?Spiritual / Theological

Leading the spiritual life of the school community 45 (77.5%)

Embodies the school’s commitment to its Christian ethos in some way, perhaps by carrying a specific responsibility in respect of promoting the ethos.

56 (96.6%)

Commending the Christian faith 60 (103.4%)Prophetic challenge to the school leadership 32 (55.2%)

Prophetic challenge to the school generally 31 (53.4%)

NB some figures look rather strange (e.g. over 100%). Some schools said they didn’t have a Chaplain but then went on to set out the things the local Priest did when he came in.

Other things Chaplains do?• Maintaining relationships with local community• Maintaining relationships with local Church• Forging relationships with feeder primaries and participating in

transition processes.• Running breakfast and lunchtime clubs and ‘drop-ins’.• Managing a reflection room.• Organising charity collections.• Operating a ‘phone or text the Chaplain’ scheme. This was in a school

where the Chaplaincy was shared between a local Priest and a parish youth worker, neither of whom were in school very much. It has proved surprisingly popular.

• Developing Christian distinctiveness. In one school the person who performs the Chaplaincy tasks is actually termed “Christian Distinctiveness Leader.”

Where do Chaplains put their energy?

High energy1. Pastoral 2. Liturgical 3. Spiritual

Low energy1. Missional2. Pedagogic3. Prophetic

Support and Accountability• Employed Chaplains usually have good in-school evaluation of their work.• BUT most in-school reviewers are not experienced in reviewing ministry.• Reviews by Diocesan Officers can lack credibility because of their distance

from the work place.• Where Chaplaincy is offered voluntarily or as a small part of Parish

ministry there is unlikely to be any evaluation taking place.• Chaplains value peer reflection highly but this must be rigorous and not be

too informal• Some Chaplains have arranged their own support structures, sometimes

at their own expense• What’s needed is a self evaluation based MDR which incudes theological

reflection on ministry• Part time and voluntary Chaplains must take the initiative in including

their school ministry in their MDR

Relationship with HeadteacherCRUCIAL

• Christian ethos depends on the Head• Access• Pastoral care of Head• Praying together• Head’s care for other staff

Ordained or Lay(Good to have a Priest because…)

• Sacraments• Clarity of role • Authority of and representative of the Church • The formation, commitment and life of a Priest • A certain level of confidentiality.• Eucharist gathers and offers the life of the community. Best if

President ‘part’ of the community• Regular contact with Clergy will help to challenge stereotypes in the

minds of young people and make the Church and her Clergy more approachable.

• Chaplaincy is a demanding theological task. Requires someone equipped to engage in that theological reflection.

• Gravitas

Ordained or Lay(Good to have a lay person because…)

• Necessity of forming a positive web of relationships outside the school.

• A lay minister embodies and exemplifies a response to God’s call to ministry to all His people.

• Appointment of a lay person opens up the possibility of finding someone who is a specialist.

• Openness to a lay appointment is likely to offer greater choice.

• Sometimes it can be hard to get a Priest.

Teacher or not?Good to be a teacher because…

• Teacher understands the pressures from the inside so recognised by staff as as ‘one of us’.

• Day to day contact with students in the context of learning can give Chaplain credibility with students.

• Enables effective use of sparse resources and provides for some Chaplaincy rather than none.

Teacher or not?Good not to be a teacher because…

• Role confusion both for the Chaplain and for the students (eg regarding behaviour management )

• Best if Chaplain has flexibility to roam • Being a teacher can compromise the Chaplain’s ability to offer

pastoral care to colleagues because she is too close or too implicated in teachers’ personal issues.

• Importance of Chaplain being someone who is distinctive and clearly different from those of other members of staff.

• Chaplain released from accountability for progress. Chaplain can hold the commitment to the ethos and raise the school’s vision above what can sometimes feel like a very ‘driven’ culture.

Full time in school or notHaving Chaplain in school is good because

• Visible expression of the school’s ethos and the Church’s ministry etc

• Worship more engaged with day to day life of School• More available when needed• Closer relationship with Head• Relationship with local Clergy is precarious

depending on their willingness• Organisational task for Head or other staff member• Evaluation expected

Full time in school or notHaving a Chaplain not based in school is good because

• It’s helpful to know that the Chaplain is ‘a real Vicar’ with a real life and ministry in Church and world

• Better promotes Church / School relationship• Genuinely distinctive• Wide scope to involve more people and

deploy a variety of skills

Team Work

• Many schools have Chaplaincy teams of one sort or another, there are many different models.

• All agree that collaborative ministry, making use of a wider variety of talents and experiences is thoroughly desirable.

Frustrations

• Working within ‘given’ context– Timetabling– Target culture

• Time• Space• Relationships with local Clergy• Exclusion from the circle of confidentiality

Relationship with the Wider Church• Mixed picture• Some Dioceses support Chaplaincy very strongly.• Licensing is important and liturgical inauguration of

Chaplaincy ministry is warmly welcomed (NB neither of these is universal)

• Often depends on interest of this Archdeacon or that Suffragan.

• Some Chaplains feel like ‘a lonely outpost’• Local support equally mixed – Parish Clergy not always

positive. Joined up care (school/parish) not common.• Some Churches desperate to get people into schools to get

involved.

Challenges to the Church• Affirmation of this ministry to large numbers of young people.• Resourcing of Chaplaincy ministry.• Advice for schools on how to structure, recruit to and evaluate

posts.• Policy for Chaplaincy ministry in schools.• Training for Clergy to develop both skills and confidence. • Appropriate and ‘light touch’ review of Chaplaincy as

‘ministry’ along with robust theological reflection.• Prayer, personal engagement, support and co-operation from

local Clergy colleagues

Challenges to Chaplains

• More effort to be part of the local Church, Manage time so as to facilitate this

• Be pro-active in making Chaplaincy part of MDR

Lessons Schools wish to share• Anglicans are too apologetic.• Each school is unique and needs to work out its own pattern of

Chaplaincy.• The Church needs to make decisions about how it wants school

Chaplaincy to be formulated. • The Church at Diocesan and National level needs to be more

affirmative; more involved; more helpful, in some cases more directive even.

• Many Clergy are woefully underprepared for work in schools, needing development of both skills and confidence. Schools willing to assist.

• The Church must recognise much more explicitly and actively the value of the ministry of school Chaplains to young people.

Lessons Schools wish to share• Some Headteachers report difficulty in

understanding how to employ Clergy. Woodard and Bloxham valuable sources of advice.

• Team work is crucial.• Some involvement in the classroom is important as is

some knowledge of the curriculum. • A holy space of some sort is essential.• Starting Chaplaincy off in a school which hasn’t

experienced it before is a very different task from building on an established ministry.

• Ministry takes time to build.

Lessons Schools wish to share

• Being part of the school in the sense that the Chaplain is employed within the school as a member of the staff is a very different ministry from that of someone who is based outside the school. Both are valuable in their different ways but they are very different.

• The bottom line is that the Christian ethos of the school depends on the Headteacher. If the Head isn’t promoting it, it will not happen and sometimes the Head has to force the issue if the desired ethos is to be firmly embedded. It is the Chaplain’s task to be the ‘executive’ face of that promotion

The Public Face of God

Chaplaincy in Anglican Voluntary and Academy Secondary schools in the

state maintained sector