The Triumph of Religious Education for Citizenship in English Schools, 1935–1949¹

¹ The author would like to thank Professor William Richardson of the University of Exeter for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this article.

Abstract

The failure of the Association for Education in Citizenship to gain official support for the secular and pedagogically progressive forms of education for citizenship that its founder members endorsed has previously been explained by the political impotence of the association's founder members and the professional conservatism of the educational establishment. However, this paper proposes that, as part of a wider cultural conservatism in England between 1935 and 1949, citizenship was recast in a Christian mould in response to foreign ‘secular’ political ideologies and that this enabled religious education to gain official endorsement as an essential form of education for citizenship.

¹ The author would like to thank Professor William Richardson of the University of Exeter for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

¹ The author would like to thank Professor William Richardson of the University of Exeter for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this article.

² Board of Education Consultative Committee. Secondary Education With Special Reference to Grammar Schools and Technical High Schools. London: HMSO, 1938; Board of Education. Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools. Report of the Committee of the Secondary School Examinations Council. London: HMSO, 1943.

³ For example, Copley, T. D. Teaching Religion: Fifty Years of Religious Education in England and Wales. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1997 and Wedderspoon, A. G., ed. Religious Education 1944–1988. London: Allen & Unwin, 1966.

⁴ Lambert, D., and L. Machon. Citizenship Through Secondary Geography. London: Routledge/Falmer, 2001.

⁵ Bates, D. J. “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944 with Special Reference to Conceptions of the Relations of Religion to Education and the Development of Christian Education c1920–c1944.” Ph.D. diss., University of Lancaster, 1976; Bates, D. J. “Ecumenism and Religious Education between the Wars: The Work of J. H. Oldham.” British Journal of Religious Education 8, no. 3 (1986): 130–39; Michell, C. E. “Christian Education and the Christian Nation: A Study of the Role Envisaged for Religious Education in British State Schools. c1920–1965.” M.Litt. diss., University of Cambridge, 1985; Michell, C. E. “Some Themes in Christian Education c.1935–60.” British Journal of Religious Education 6, no. 2 (1984): 82–87; Copley, T. D. “Rediscovering the Past: Writings on Religious Education in Religion in Education Quarterly, 1934–39, Raise Some Questions for Today's Religious Educators.” British Journal of Religious Education 20, no. 2 (1998): 80–89.

⁶ Whitmarsh, G. “Society and the School Curriculum: The Association for Education in Citizenship 1935–57.” M.Ed. diss., University of Birmingham, 1972. Whitmarsh, G. “The Politics of Political Education.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 6, no. 2 (1974): 133–42; Heater, D. Citizenship: The Civic Ideal in World History, Politics and Education. London: Longman, 1990; Heater, D. “The History of Citizenship Education in England.” Curriculum Journal 12, no. 1 (2001): 103–23; Heater, D. A History of Education for Citizenship. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2004; Wong, Y. Y. J. “Continuity and Change in Citizenship Education in England in the Twentieth Century.” Ph.D. diss., University of Liverpool, 1991.

⁷ Heater, Citizenship, 31 and 170; Gordon, P., and D. Lawton. Curriculum Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1978: 99–100 and 101–02; Gordon, P., and J. White. Philosophers as Educational Reformers: The Influence of Idealism on British Educational Thought and Practice. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979: 115; Hilliard, F. H. “The Moral Instruction League 1897–1919.” Durham Research Review 3, no. 12 (1961): 53–63; Smith, J. T. “The Beginnings of Citizenship Education in England.” History of Education Society Bulletin, no. 69 (May 2002): 6–16, see 10–12; Batho, G. “The History of the Teaching of Civics and Citizenship in English Schools.” Curriculum Journal 1, no. 1 (1990): 91–100.

⁸ Lawton, D., and P. Gordon. A History of Western Educational Ideas. London: Woburn Press, 2002: 124–26; Heater, “The History of Citizenship Education in England”, 118; Kerr, D. Re‐examining Citizenship Education: The Case of England. Slough: National Foundation for Education Research, 1999: 4; Marsden, B. “Citizenship Education: Permeation or Pervasion? Some Historical Pointers.” In Citizenship Through Secondary Geography, edited by D. Lambert and L. Machon. London: Routledge/Falmer, 2001: 11–30, see 12–13; Batho, “The History of the Teaching of Civics and Citizenship in English Schools”, 94.

⁹ Whitmarsh, “Society and the School Curriculum”, 19.

¹⁰ b.1795–d.1842, Headmaster of Rugby School, 1827–42.

¹¹ Copley, T. Black Tom Arnold of Rugby: The Man and The Myth. London: Continuum, 2002: 120; Copley, T. D. Spiritual Development in the State School: A Perspective on Worship and Spirituality in the Education System of England and Wales. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000: 32.

¹² Brindle, P., and M. Arnot. “‘England Expects Every Man to Do His Duty’: The Gendering of the Citizenship Textbook, 1940–1966.” Oxford Review of Education 25, nos 1/2 (1999): 103–23, see 103 and 119.

¹³ Wong, “Continuity and Change in Citizenship Education in England in the Twentieth Century”, 43–58; Heater, “The History of Citizenship Education in England”, 115; Smith, “The Beginnings of Citizenship Education in England”, 12–13; Watkins, C. “Inventing International Citizenship: Badminton School and the Progressive Tradition between the Wars.” History of Education (forthcoming).

¹⁴ b.1836–d.1882, Whyte's Professor of Moral Philosophy, Oxford, 1878–1882. Green, T. H. Prolegomena to Ethics, edited by David. O. Brink. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004; Dimova‐Cookson, M., and W. J. Mander, eds. T. H. Green: Ethics, Metaphysics, and Political Philosophy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006; British Idealist Studies Series 3: Thomas Hill Green, 4 vols, edited by Peter Nicholson. Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2003–2005.

¹⁵ Myers, K. “National Identity, Citizenship and Education for Displacement: Spanish Refugee Children in Cambridge, 1937.” History of Education 28, no. 3 (1999): 313–25, see 320–23.

¹⁶ b.1879–d.1960.

¹⁷ Stocks, M. Ernest Simon of Manchester. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1963: 91–94; Whitmarsh, “Society and the School Curriculum”, 28, 35; Taylor, A. J. P. English History 1914–1945. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, [1965] (1981): 337.

¹⁸ Whitmarsh, “Society and the School Curriculum”, 35.

¹⁹ b.1886–d.1949, Principal of Morley College for Working Men and Women. Hopkinson, D. Family Inheritance: A Life of Eva Hubback. London–New York: Staples Press, 1954.

²⁰ b.1883–d.1972, member of the Manchester Education Committee and the Board of Education Consultative Committee. Martin, J. “Shena Simon (1883–1972) and the ‘Religion of Humanity’.” In Women and Education, 1800–1980: Educational Change and Personal Identities, by J. Martin and J. Goodman. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004: 118–40; Martin, J. “Shena D. Simon and English Education Policy: Inside/out?” History of Education 32, no. 5 (2003): 477–84.

²¹ Stocks, Ernest Simon of Manchester, 2–3, 18, 20–21, 78.

²² Simon, E. “The Faith of a Democrat.” The Citizen. 4. (1937): 5–13, see 6.

²³ Ibid., 6 and 11.

²⁴ Simon, E., and E. M. Hubback. Training for Citizenship. London: Oxford University Press, 1935: 13.

²⁵ Stocks, Ernest Simon of Manchester, 106.

²⁶ Simon and Hubback, Training for Citizenship, 2, 20–21 and 44; Hubback, E. M. “New Ideas For Training in Citizenship.” In The Year Book of Education 1936, edited by H. V. Usill. London: Evans Bros, 1936: 528–39, see 528; Pink, M. A. “The Problem of the School Curriculum.” The Citizen 2 (1936): 10–11, see 11; Whitmarsh, “Society and the School Curriculum”, 47; Wong, “Continuity and Change in Citizenship Education in England in the Twentieth Century”, 51–52.

²⁷ Whitmarsh, “The Politics of Political Education”, 135; Board of Education Consultative Committee. Secondary Education with Special Reference to Grammar Schools and Technical High Schools, xxxvii–xxxviii, 160, 163 and 189.

²⁸ b.1882–d.1962, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1927–1952.

²⁹ b.1867–d.1947, Prime Minister 1923, 1924–1929 and 1935–1937 and President of the AEC, 1938–1941.

³⁰ b.1875–d.1956, President of St John's College, Oxford, 1934–1946.

³¹ Board of Education. Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools, 58–59 and 100–01.

³² Myers, “National Identity, Citizenship and Education for Displacement”, 323–25.

³³ Tinkler, P. “Youth's Opportunity? The Education Act of 1944 and Proposals for Part‐time Continuation Education.” History of Education 30, no. 1 (2001): 77–94, see 78.

³⁴ Grimley, M. “Citizenship, Community and the Church of England: Anglican Theories of the State c1926–1939.” Ph.D. diss., University of Oxford, 1998.

³⁵ Williamson, P. Stanley Baldwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999: 56.

³⁶ Hastings, A. A History of English Christianity 1920–1985. London: Collins, 1986: 290; Lowndes, G. A. N. The Silent Social Revolution. London: Oxford University Press, 1970: 259; Baker, A. E. William Temple and His Message. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1946: 202; Reeves, M., ed. Christian Thinking and Social Order. London: Cassell, 1999.

³⁷ b.1881–d.1944, Archbishop of York, 1929–1942 and Archbishop of Canterbury, 1942–1944.

³⁸ The Moot was a private discussion group founded by J. H. Oldham (b.1874–d.1969, Secretary of the International Missionary Council, 1921–1938). Between 1938 and 1947 it promoted the involvement of Christian intellectuals in planning postwar reconstruction. Participants included T. S. Eliot (b.1888–d.1965, poet, dramatist, critic and publisher), Karl Mannheim (b.1893–d.1947, Lecturer in Sociology, London School of Economics, 1933–45), Fred Clarke (b.1880–d.1952, Director of the Institute of Education, London, 1936–45) and R. H. Tawney (b.1880–d.1962, Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics, 1931–49).

³⁹ Chadwick, P. Shifting Alliances: Church and State in English Education. London: Cassell, 1997: 26.

⁴⁰ Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944”.

⁴¹ Copley, Spiritual Development in the State School, 61.

⁴² Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944”, 34.

⁴³ Michell, “Christian Education and the Christian Nation”, 50–51, 81–82, 85, 115 and 263; Michell, “Some Themes in Christian Education c.1935–60”, 85.

⁴⁴ Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944.”

⁴⁵ Bates, “Ecumenism and Religious Education between the Wars”, 136–37.

⁴⁶ Oldham was referring to the Internationalism of the League of Nations as promoted by the English writer H. G. Wells (b.1866–d.1946).

⁴⁷ Oldham, J. H. “Education for an International World.” Religion in Education 1, no. 3 (1934): 123–36, see 135–36.

⁴⁸ Bates, “Ecumenism and Religious Education between the Wars”, 135–36.

⁴⁹ Oldham, J. H. Religious Education: A Preliminary Paper to Serve as a Starting Point for Discussion by Groups. London: International Missionary Council. 1927: 24.

⁵⁰ Reeves, Christian Thinking and Social Order, 69.

⁵¹ b.1881–d.1959, President of the Board of Education, 1932–1935.

⁵² Irwin, Lord. “Education and Religion.” Religion in Education 1, no. 1 (1934): 4–7, see 5.

⁵³ b.1883–d.1967, Reader in Educational Psychology, Oxford University, 1935–1949.

⁵⁴ Yeaxlee, B. “Liberties and Values.” Religion in Education 7, no. 2 (1940): 62.

⁵⁵ Mitchell, W. F. “The New German Religion and its Implications for Religious Education.” Religion in Education 4, no. 1 (1937): 22–29 and Handford, B. W. T. “‘Revolutionising’ our New Testament Teaching.” Religion in Education 4, no. 2 (1937): 88–94.

⁵⁶ Brindle and Arnot, “‘England Expects Every Man to Do His Duty’: The Gendering of the Citizenship Textbook, 1940–1966”, 103.

⁵⁷ b.1896–d.1963.

⁵⁸ Happold, F. C., W. F. Hoyland, B. L. Deed, C. H. C. Sharp, C. H. Dobinson, R. Frampton, and K. Hahn. Experiments in Practical Training for Citizenship. No. 5. London: AEC, c.1937: 3–4.

⁵⁹ Ibid., 3–4.

⁶⁰ b.1874–d.1952, Headmistress of Clifton High School, 1908–1933 and President of the Association of Headmistresses, 1929–1931.

⁶¹ Phillips, A. E. “Training for Citizenship Through Religious Instruction.” The Citizen, no. 5 (1937): 8–9, see 8.

⁶² Ibid., 8–9.

⁶³ b.1904–d.1974, local authority education officer for Kent and the Isle of Wight.

⁶⁴ Hutchinson, A. L. “The Aims for Education in Citizenship.” In Education for Citizenship in Elementary Schools, Association for Education in Citizenship. London: Oxford University Press, 1939: 3–4.

⁶⁵ b.1880–d.1975, Principal of Hull Municipal Training College, 1919–1939.

⁶⁶ Cumberbirch, C. T. “Moral and Religious Education for Citizenship.” In Education for Citizenship in Elementary Schools, Association for Education in Citizenship. London: Oxford University Press, 1939, 40–56, see 47.

⁶⁷ Ibid., 51.

⁷¹ Leeson, S. Education in Citizenship. London: Association for Education in Citizenship, 1935: 4–5 and 11.

⁶⁸ b.1892–d.1956, Headmaster of Winchester College, 1935–1946, and Chairman of the Headmasters' Conference, 1939–1945.

⁶⁹ Whitmarsh, “Society and the School Curriculum”, 102.

⁷⁰ Leeson, S. “Christianity and Citizenship.” Religion in Education 4, no. 1 (1937): 9–13, 9.

⁷² Leeson, “Christianity and Citizenship”, 10.

⁷³ Leeson, S. Christian Education. London: Longmans, 1948: 47.

⁷⁴ Leeson, “Christianity and Citizenship”, 12; and Leeson, Christian Education, 49.

⁷⁵ Leeson, “Christianity and Citizenship”, 13.

⁷⁶ Leeson, S. The Public Schools Question and Other Essays on Subjects Connected with Secondary Education. London: Longmans, 1948: 80–83 and 94.

⁷⁷ Leeson, Christian Education, 137–38.

⁸¹ Ibid., 193–94.

⁷⁸ Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944”, 113.

⁷⁹ b.1900–d.1985, Professor of Education at the University of Durham, 1939–1945.

⁸⁰ Jeffreys, M. V. C. “Some Suggestions Towards a Modern Christian View of Education.” Religion in Education 7, no. 4 (1940): 185–94, see 191 and 193–94.

⁸² Jeffreys, M. V. C. “Some Suggestions Towards a Modern Christian View of Education.” Religion in Education 8, no. 1 (1941): 29–35, see 31 and 33–35.

⁸³ b.1907–d.2003, Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford, 1938–1974.

⁸⁴ Reeves, Christian Thinking and Social Order, 120.

⁸⁵ Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944”, 234.

⁸⁶ b.1894–d.1964, Director of the Department of Education, Oxford University, 1937–1957.

⁸⁷ Jacks, M. L. “Total Education.” Hibbert Journal 42, no. 1 (1943): 26–30, see 27.

⁸⁸ b.1868–d.1955, Minister of the Old Meeting Church, Birmingham.

⁸⁹ Lloyd Thomas, J. M. “Compulsory Christianity.” Hibbert Journal 42, no. 3 (1944): 220–26, see 223.

⁹⁰ Ibid., 225.

⁹¹ b.1894–d.1961. Head of Department of Divinity, King's College, University of Durham.

⁹² Allen, E. L. “The Roots of Democracy in the Old Testament.” Religion in Education 7, no. 3 (1940): 146–51, see 146.

⁹³ b.1880–d.1956, examining chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury, 1932–1946.

⁹⁴ Prideaux, S. P. T. “The Bible as a Handbook of Citizenship.” Religion in Education 7, no. 4 (1940): 203–09, see 204 and 208.

⁹⁵ b.1871–d.1957, Fellow and tutor of Balliol College, Oxford.

⁹⁶ Bailey, C. “The Schools and Christian Democracy.” Religion in Education 7, no. 2 (1940): 80–83, see 81 and 83.

⁹⁷ b.1893–d.1986, Headmaster of Rugby, 1931–1948.

⁹⁸ Lyon, H. “The Spiritual Basis of World Citizenship.” Religion in Education 7, no. 3 (1940): 126–32, see 126, 129 and 131–32.

⁹⁹ b.1880–d.1958, General Secretary of the League of Nations Union, 1920–1938.

¹⁰⁰ Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944”, 134–35.

¹⁰¹ Garnett, M. “Religion as the Unifying Principle in Education and Citizenship.” Hibbert Journal 41, no. 2 (1943): 241–49, see 242.

¹⁰² Garnett, M. “Nazis or Christians: a Problem of Education.” Religion in Education 8, no. 1 (1941): 9–16, see 14.

¹⁰³ b.1824–d.1903, Chief Inspector of Training Colleges.

¹⁰⁴ Copley, Black Tom Arnold of Rugby, 2.

¹⁰⁵ b.1822–d.1896.

¹⁰⁶ Bates, “The Nature and Place of Religion in English State Education c1900–c1944”, 84.

¹⁰⁷ Michell, “Christian Education and the Christian Nation”, 277.

¹⁰⁸ Board of Education Consultative Committee. A Conference held at the Board of Education on November 30^th 1933 and March 20^th 1934 on the Provision of Improved Opportunities for Teachers to Equip themselves for giving Religious Instruction. London: HMSO, 1934.

¹⁰⁹ Board of Education. Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools, 208.

¹¹⁰ Board of Education. Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools, 84–5 and 87–89.

¹¹¹ Cannon, C. “The Influence of Religion on Educational Policy, 1902–1944.” British Journal of Educational Studies 12, no. 2 (1964): 143–60, see 150.

¹¹² Behenna, M. “The Significance of Canon E. F. Hall as General Secretary of the National Society in the Negotiations between the Church of England and the Government on the Clauses of the 1944 Education Act Concerning Denominational Religious Education and Church Schools.” M.Phil. diss., University of Exeter, 2001: 125.

¹¹³ Michell, “Christian Education and the Christian Nation”, 48.

¹¹⁴ Copley, Teaching Religion, 33–35; Michell, “Christian Education and the Christian Nation”, 163–64.

¹¹⁵ Myers, “National Identity, Citizenship and Education for Displacement”, 323–24.

¹¹⁶ Brindle and Arnot, “‘England Expects Every Man to Do His Duty’: The Gendering of the Citizenship Textbook, 1940–1966”, 120.

¹¹⁷ Lowe, R. Education in the Post‐war Years: A Social History. London: Routledge, 1988: 18.

¹¹⁸ Ministry of Education. Pamphlet No. 16: Citizens Growing Up. London: HMSO, 1949: 7.

¹¹⁹ Whitmarsh, “Society and the School Curriculum”, 150.

¹²⁰ Ministry of Education, Citizens Growing Up, 10 and 18–19.

¹²¹ Ibid., 11.

¹²² Myers, “National Identity, Citizenship and Education for Displacement”, 325.

¹²³ Ministry of Education, Citizens Growing Up, 11–13, 15–16, 37 and 45.

¹²⁴ Ibid., 52.

¹²⁵ Brindle and Arnot, “‘England Expects Every Man to Do His Duty’: The Gendering of the Citizenship Textbook, 1940–1966”, 105.

¹²⁶ Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Citizenship: The National Curriculum for England and Wales. London: Qualification and Curriculum Authority, 1999; and Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Citizenship at Key Stage 3 and 4. London: Qualification and Curriculum Authority, 2000.

¹²⁷ Kerr, Re‐examining Citizenship Education, 4.

¹²⁸ Ibid., 10–11.