The Revd Canon Professor Leslie Francis and Dr Sylvia Baker of Warwick University’s Religions and Education Research Unit say, “Yes, they do!”

Leslie Francis is an esteemed academic whose research has made him an authority on the Faith, Values and Worldview of young people in the UK. Dr Sylvia Baker, author of ‘Bone of Contention’ has been awarded a PhD for her analysis of the national statistical data gathered by the Research Unit.

Over the last fifteen years pupils from Christian schools have been included in national surveys about faith, values, attitudes and worldview. They have produced a significant statistical blip which shows that they are out of line with their contemporaries. They are much more optimistic about making a difference to the world. Also, the research provided clear evidence that Christian schools have been able to give the sound moral values that our society craves, but which the secular schools, despite huge investment and great efforts, have been largely powerless to pass on to recent generations. The statistics are surprising and should cause the churches and the ‘authorities’ to reflect on the detrimental effect of driving biblical values towards the margins of education.

What kind of citizens are they producing?

The survey investigated a very wide range of religious beliefs, moral values and general attitudes and concerns.

VALUES and ATTITUDES RESEARCH

(Sources: Silvia Baker PhD thesis, 2009; Leslie J Francis, The Values Debate, 2001)

EXTRACTS:

• I am happy in my school. 76% (72%)
• I am worried about being bullied. 11% (28%)
• There is nothing I can do to solve the world’s problems. 13% (25%)
• I believe in God. 87% (41%)
• I believe in evolution creating all things over millions of years. 7%
• I believe in Jesus as my personal Saviour. 76%
• The church seems irrelevant to life today. 9% (28%)
• The Bible seems irrelevant to life today. 14% (31%)
• It is wrong to have sex before you are married. 63% (14%)
• Abortion is wrong. 69% (36%)
• It is wrong to get drunk. 51% (19%)
• I have sometimes considered taking my own life. 19% (27%)
• I find life really worth living. 75% (69%)
• I feel my life has a sense of purpose. 83% (56%)

DATA: Christian Schools, 2006: 695 responses (Other Schools -inc. denominational and non-denominational, 1990’s: 34,000 responses)

In July 2011 Dr Sylvia Baker writes:

‘The findings of this survey should be a great encouragement to those parents who send their children to the (new christian) schools. Not only do the great majority of the pupils profess to believe in God (85%) and in Jesus Christ (85%) but in the main they go further; 76% of them speak of a personal faith which affects their lives  and attend church regularly.

A very significant research finding was that these beliefs do not decline as children move through their teens; the 16 year-olds were just as likely to believe as the 13 year-olds. This is in stark contrast to a number of other surveys all of which have found that religious belief goes into sharp decline as young people move through childhood and especially as they approach adulthood. Just as significant was the finding that boys attending the schools profess the same kind of faith and the same level of faith as the girls. This, again, is very unusual. Surveys held in other kinds of UK settings have all found that women and girls are much more “religious” than men and boys. The survey found that the  great majority of the teenagers, boys and girls, older and younger, held to orthodox Christian beliefs and high moral standards.

The research project continues by following up former pupils as they progress through life. Of these respondents, 87% state that they are Christians, 80% believe in Jesus as their personal Saviour and about 70% attend church regularly. Only 6% of them consider the Bible to be out-of-date and the great majority, around 80%, are glad they went to a Christian school’.

The research programme continues but the trends are becoming clear. Most Christian schools have a significant proportion of pupils that have no church connections. Their responses often reflect their own family norms, but Christian schools do have an effect on their values and attitudes. Conversely, the evidence indicates that children with a Christian background educated in secular or denominational schools do not significantly affect the data. The research indicates that if the dominant ethos within a school is Christian then it is more likely that pupils will learn the values and attitudes that our society needs.

Challenge

Dr Arthur Jones, science and education consultant, often uses this challenging statistic in his lectures:

Unbelieving parents succeed in passing on their unbelief to almost 100% of their children.

Believing parents pass on their faith to barely 50% of their children (one believing parent, 25%)