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The Way ahead: Church of England schools in the new millennium (published June 2001) is the first major report into Church of England schools for over fifteen years. It celebrates the achievement of Church schools, sets out a vision for their future, and gives the Church a coherent national policy in relation to its schools, embracing the three strands of distinctiveness, strategic development and vocation. The report sets out the full implications of the 1998 General Synod Resolution, "Believing that Church schools stand at the centre of the Church's mission to the nation".
The report's main recommendations are outlined below:
The Way ahead states that Church schools should be distinctively Christian and inclusive institutions fully integrated into the life of parishes. The report argues for a growing unity of purpose within the whole Church community working in a more effective partnership with Church schools.
The Way ahead recommends developing the provision of Church of England schools, and specifically the expansion of secondary provision equivalent to 100 additional Church of England secondary schools over the next seven to eight years. It also recommends enhanced primary provision in areas where this is sparse. It recommends that any new Church schools must be distinctively Christian and inclusive communities, seeking to bring children from different backgrounds together as a distinctive expression of Christ's commandment to love one another and of Christian service. The report makes clear that the purpose of Church of England schools is not to proselytize children, but rather to give children from many walks of life the opportunity to learn within a Christian environment. The Way ahead gives an explicit welcome to ecumenical initiatives, and emphasizes the importance of working in partnership with LEAs and the local community. It says the Church of England, in considering new provision, should have an especial care for areas of social and economic disadvantage and for those who have least in life.
The Way ahead challenges the Church at every level to encourage the vocation to teach, and to support Christian teachers and leaders in all schools. It urges the whole Church to be proactive in caring for Christian teachers and in helping to recover the esteem of the teaching profession.
The Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams (then Archbishop of Wales)
wrote an article on vocation which is published as an
appendix to the report.
Appendix 5: Vocation
wa-ap5.pdf (PDF file, 230 KB)
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