Ethos is a funny word. Most of us have no problem using it and understanding it, but don’t ask us to define it. We often add it after another word to make sense of what we’re trying to say - ‘academic’, ‘professional’, ‘inclusive’, ‘Christian’ - or confuse it with other concepts such as culture, or environment, and most often values. For me, at its simplest, ethos is who we are, what we do, why we do it that way, where we are going and how we plan to get there.
Ethos, values and education are inextricably linked, as it is impossible to have a value-neutral schooling system. Education is so much more than books, formula and exams; teaching and learning is about life and how to inhabit our world with all of its differences. This must be done within a framework of values, enshrined within an ethos.
Discussions around ethos and values in schools, and in particular the place of churches in education, raise many questions for some. There have also been some quite vocal opponents of anything to do with faith or religion in schools, but little in the way of their unpacking this clearly to say why it might a problem.
Next year will see the 100th anniversary of churches beginning to hand over control of their schools to the state, heralding a century of involvement at a range of levels within our education system. Most notable among these is their role in maintaining an ethos built on Christian values.
It would be wrong, and indeed arrogant, to suggest that Christians have the monopoly on values. The churches acknowledge that everyone has a worldview and a value system. However, the primary purpose at the very core of the churches’ involvement in schools – their raison d’être - is to bring that value-base to education. No other organisation, governor, or staff member has that remit. Without the churches, no one has the stated responsibility to highlight and promote values and without them, schools become places beset with competing values or, God forbid, none at all.
Of course, their role in education is much more than this, a point that a recent university report and subsequent media commentary around it ignored, or were seemingly unaware. Deep offence is caused by implying that schools in Northern Ireland are bastions of intolerance and disrespect, governed by inept and bigoted bumbling amateurs, which is, of course total nonsense. At the heart of local communities are local churches serving those communities. This includes spending many hours in schools, faithfully supporting pupils, parents and staff in very real and tangible ways.
What the recent ‘debate’ hasn’t done is outline what is wrong with an ethos based upon the values of a Christian faith - the cornerstone values of honesty, truthfulness, kindness, consideration, concern for others, compassion, obedience, responsibility, respect and duty. Neither has it demonstrated that the majority of those who don’t share a Christian worldview have an antipathy towards those values.
It is a common sight to see children dropped off at Sunday school, or Christian youth organisations, by parents or carers who actually have no church affiliation. Could this be because, while not wishing to practice a Christian faith themselves, they want their children to be surrounded and influenced by its values? The same is true in schools. The Controlled, Maintained and Integrated sectors were all founded upon a Christian ethos, and the majority of parents seem to acknowledge and welcome these values as being preferable to those that appear to permeate the rest of our rather self-centred and self-absorbed society.
Perhaps I’m just an idealist, but so far no one has presented me with substantive evidence to the contrary. What is being presented however, in some areas of the media and academia, is mostly subjective opinion that seems to be based on personal (or corporate) suspicion of, and antipathy towards, anything to do with faith and religion.
In the same way that the churches in education have learned to embrace different points of view and foster an ethos of tolerance, inclusion and respect within schools, I hope that those who lambast their work will become more knowledgeable, tolerant and respectful of what they actually do, learning themselves to embrace a more informed ethos.
Photo: Dr Andrew Brown, who is a principal lecturer in education. He is also the vice chair of the Transferor Representatives’ Council and vice chair of the Controlled Schools’ Support Council.