The debate on whether schools should include worship has opened after a report issued by the education inspectorate Ofsted, which found that too many schools are failing to meet the Government requirement for school worship.
Schools in Britain are obligated to meet the required 51% of daily collective worship, a legal requirement set by the Government. The remaining 49% is allocated to worship by other faiths.
But according to the Ofsted report only one quarter of all secondary schools actually hold collective worship, normally a 10-minute session at the start of the day.
The Christian aspect is currently optional if the school feels it does not meet the spiritual background of the majority of the pupils, and parents are free to take their children out of the collective worship without giving a reason.
The discussion on the topic has drawn more attention after London’s successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and, moreover, the wake of the London terrorist bombings which killed more than 50 people. Both were put forward by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge as topics of focus for collective worship in schools.
The Society suggested guidelines for conducting collective worship which would alleviate pupils’ fears, worries or misunderstandings about the terrorist attacks. It suggested that pupils be reassured by highlighting the professional response of emergency workers and also the calm of the public.
The Society’s recommendations also avoided anything overtly Christian, saying it better promoted the inclusion of non-Christian schools and pupils in giving and participating in collective worship.
Joanna Moriarty, the society’s editorial director, said: "Schools want material that they can use as a focus, particularly events that effect children.
"One reason we do this is to make it easier for teachers and those leading the assemblies to provide good quality material.
"In some schools they are clued up and happy to do it, but others see it as a chore, and it can be just landed on the newly-qualified teachers."
Instead it advised teachers and worship leaders to "explain that although we don’t know exactly who did this, it was caused by terrorists – people who can’t get what they want by normal means so they seek to hurt and kill people."
