This Saturday, Christian educators, pastors and fogeys can be coming together in Edinburgh for a one-day conference about Christians can positively influence education in an increasingly secular Scotland.
Niel Deepnarain, founding father of Unite for Education and conference organiser, speaks to Christian Today about why it’s so necessary that Christians work together for Christ-centred education.
CT: Your aim is to support Christ-centred education. What does that seem like in practical terms?
Niel: We need to help all Christian schools, and Christian education normally, to grow. We can talk concerning the challenges with things like culture and what’s happening in state schools and so forth, but actually the exertions lies with the Church and getting the Church in Scotland to support and discuss education.
There are some churches working with Christian schools, like The Tron Church in Glasgow which supports the Melville-Knox Christian school, and the Providence School in Stornoway, which is supported by the Free Church of Scotland. Other churches are getting involved in Christ-centred education initiatives like education hubs. These things are great but we also have to make Christians more aware normally of the importance of Christian education, especially within the society we live in today.
It’s so hard to consider what’s happening in Scotland, and to know which schools are literally doing proper Christian worship anymore. There are plenty of Christian organisations working in schools but it surely tends to be limited to giving talks on certain issues, somewhat than leading children in worship. So things are very hard at once.
But if we train up the youngsters now, then we will make an enormous difference for them. We actually need to assist the young people and plant the seeds of religion in order that even in the event that they go the fallacious way for a time, those spiritual roots will bring them back to the fitting path.
CT: What’s your primary concern in the intervening time?
Niel: Since founding Unite for Education a couple of years ago, I’ve discovered that so many colleges in Scotland – each state and personal – were began by churches or Christians, and God was in it. But things have modified a lot and so quickly, and now there’s no God in the faculties in any respect, even on the subject of assemblies.
That’s why the theme of this conference is igniting passion and renewing purpose. We need to ignite that zeal again for Christian education and to handle the challenges and opportunities facing education today, strategise together, raise awareness of different resources which might be on the market, and be encouraged by the Christians who’re successfully getting into the college space and talking to young people today.
CT: It looks like somewhat than things recovering in Scotland, they proceed to worsen. For example, in the intervening time there’s a push in Scotland to offer children the fitting to opt out of spiritual observance in schools, which comes across as one other attack on any form of Christian presence in schools. What are your thoughts on that?
Niel: The climate may be very hard in the intervening time, and this push around religious worship is indeed an attack on Christianity. But really, Christians are being attacked in so some ways. Furthermore, they’re within the minority, so the few who do arise and speak often get ridiculed or persecuted for doing so. That includes Christian children within the classroom in the event that they openly query something that’s being taught. It all the time looks like it’s Christians who get attacked but not those of other faiths, even in the event that they share the identical views.
CT: Has Labour’s private school VAT raid made things harder for Christian schools?
Niel: Yes, it has. We lost one in all the most important Christian schools in Scotland due to that – Cedars in Greenock. They were being subsidised by the Church, but adding VAT onto their costs would still have had an enormous impact due to the final financial pressures of running an independent Christian school, and the truth that not every parent can afford a rise in fees. Kilgraston, a Catholic girls’ school in Perthshire, was also forced to shut, but secular schools have been affected too.
Thankfully, most of the other Christian schools which might be still in operation are sufficiently small to be below the VAT threshold – for now. However, in the event that they grow, then they stand to be affected. It is gloomy for a majority of these smaller school because lots of them are really attempting to make a positive impact on the lives of youngsters, and in the event that they close, then the youngsters themselves have to go away and go to latest schools, which is just not easy for them.
CT: So the VAT change almost looks like a disincentive to grow?
Niel: Yes, it’s.
CT: How can churches support Christian schools?
Niel: There are all types of the way that churches might help them to grow and resource them. For example, I volunteer with an area Christian school once per week just helping out with whatever is required. Christians may support parents by helping them to seek out out what’s available because plenty of Christian parents don’t know what’s on the market and that there are literally Christian schools that their children can go to, and so that they find yourself just sending them to state schools. Many of those Christian schools offer bursaries, too, if there are financial barriers.
Churches may support home educators around areas just like the law or by running homeschooling co-ops that allow homeschooled children to fulfill up with one another usually.
CT: Do you sense that homeschooling is growing in Scotland?
Niel: Yes I do. One parent contacted Unite for Education recently because their young children were in state school and were coming home and talking concerning the very graphic sex education that they were learning at school, but she didn’t know the right way to take her children out of state school. So we were in a position to help with that.
She is just not alone. There are literally many parents on the market who aren’t glad with what’s occurring in our schools lately. And I do know of individuals moving to Scotland from overseas who selected homeschooling somewhat than putting their children into state schools because they’d read online about what’s happening and were horrified.
I used to be recently invited to talk to at least one homeschooling co-op in Falkirk and I used to be shocked to seek out that there have been 70 children there! Their social skills were amazing, they were great friends with one another, there was a way of community, they usually were lively of their local churches and doing amazing things there. So plenty of parents are selecting this selection.
CT: It is gloomy that educational standards have fallen in Scotland and teachers are even reporting a rise in classroom violence.
Niel: Yes it is absolutely sad, because Scotland was known for having the most effective education systems within the developed world and now it’s declining a lot. Violence in the school rooms is growing and it’s unbelievable to see how children are treating not only other children but additionally their teachers.
One Catholic teacher contacted me and said they were being bullied by the youngsters and didn’t know what to do about it. Teachers attempt to speak up but they’ll’t because the youngsters have more say than the teachers, and even their parents are available and shout on the teachers.
Kids nowadays appear to have more rights than the teachers, to the purpose where it’s not only children who’re being bullied in class however the teachers too. And not surprisingly, many children don’t even need to go to high school now.
CT: What is your hope for the conference?
Niel: Unite for Education stands for Christ-centred education in Scotland and next week is all about getting as many church leaders as possible, and all those concerned concerning the state of education in Scotland, to fulfill, network and strategise together. That includes people running Christian schools, Christian education initiatives, and homeschooling.
There are good things happening but it’ll take time to bring about some form of long-term positive change to this example, and that’s the reason it’s so necessary that Christians attempt to have as much influence as possible within the education sector and state schools, and that we go in and take a look at to assist these kids now before it’s too late.
For more information concerning the Unite for Education conference, click here
