Assessing student attitude toward Christianity in Church in Wales primary schools: does aided status make a difference?

Abstract

As a consequence of the 1944 Education Act church schools were given the choice of opting for voluntary controlled status or for voluntary aided status. In voluntary aided status the Church had more control but carried greater costs. Within England and Wales this distinction is still maintained. This study measures the attitude toward Christianity of 4581 year 4, 5 and 6 students (8- to 11-years of age) attending 87 Church in Wales primary schools, and compares the responses of 1678 students attending controlled schools with the responses of 2903 students attending aided schools. After controlling for sex, age and frequency of church attendance, voluntary aided status is associated with a more positive attitude toward Christianity. In other words, aided status does make a difference to the attitudinal dimension of students’ religiosity.

Keywords:

• Church schools
• Wales
• student attitudes
• Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity