Negotiating Religion and Non-religion in Childhood: Experiences of Worship in School (Studies in Childhood and Youth)

This book explores how and if the mandate for children to worship in schools can be justified within the context of declining church attendance and increasing nonreligious identification in British society. Shillitoe asks what place compulsory worship has in an increasingly diverse and plural society, and what the answer means for the relationship between religion, the secular, and education more broadly. Through in-depth ethnographic fieldwork from across three schools in southwest England, the book reveals how examining the significance of children’s experiences expands our understanding of both collective worship in schooling and religion in social life more broadly and demonstrates that adult-centric anxieties and assumptions in this area do not always reflect the experiences of children. Acknowledgements Contents Chapter 1: Introduction: The Contested Nature of Collective Worship Collective Worship: A History Pre-1944 Education Act 1944 Education Act The Changing Religious Landscape: The 1960s and 1970s The 1988 Education Reform Act Collective Worship and Religious Observance in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Recent Recommendations and Reports The Schools Collective Worship or Assembly? Book Overview Bibliography Chapter 2: Adult Anxieties and Generational Blind Spots: Re-centring Childhood in the Sociology of Religion The Scholarly and Cultural Context Religion, Education and Society Lived Religion Adult Anxieties and Theoretical Blind Spots Do You Do Collective Worship? On Positionality and Reflexivity Infantilisation of Religion Bibliography Chapter 3: On Concepts and Agency: Negotiating Religion and Non-religion in Collective Worship Rethinking Collective Worship in Light of Non-Religion Prayer at St Peter’s Prayers at Sacred Heart Prayer and Poems at Holly Oak Children’s Agency: Challenging Adult-Generated Categories Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 4: The School Family: Rituals of Solidarity, Belonging and Cooperation On Belonging On Techniques of the Body, Habitus and Body Pedagogics Childhood and Embodiment Embodying the School Family Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 5: ‘Doing Good’: Children’s Ethical Formation Through the Everyday Childhood, Education and Morality Exploring the Good and the Everyday ‘My Friend Jesus’ at Sacred Heart Ordinary Ethics Ethical Utterances Cultivating an Attitude for Gratitude Valuing Authenticity Emotion Work and Values Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 6: On Silence, Candles, Jelly Timers and Enya: Creating Sacred Spaces in Collective Worship Religion, Space and the School Sacred Soundscapes: Silence Sacred Soundscapes: Music Materiality, Religion and Non-religion Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 7: Conclusion Bibliography Bibliography Index