Education of our children is 'serious responsibility' says Bishop of Chichester

Addressing the Lords, the Rt Rev Dr Martin Warner, who was made Bishop in 2012, stressed the significant challenges faced by educational leaders today. Of special import, he said, is the effective use of resources for the education of ‘the whole child’, and to make sure every child – wherever they are educated – is taught comprehensively and well.

"The tone of the statement on the review certainly chimes with the "whole child" approach of the Church of England's vision set out in its 2016 vision for education which outlines wisdom, knowledge and skills as the framework for nurturing capacity for decision-making, ethical considerations and social and environmental responsibility,” Dr Warner said.

The Diocese of Chichester runs 155 schools, eight of which are secondary, totalling some 37,000 students. Dr Warner made a point of paying tribute to volunteers who act as governors, working closely with local school leadership teams and stressed the importance of religious literacy as ‘an important strand of education for understanding the complexity of national and global society’.

Finally, Dr Warner stressed that all children were given every opportunity possible and every resource necessary to learn, particularly, he said, given the effects of digitalisation on learning and the implementation of technology for the rolling out of the curriculum.

The Bishop’s speech comes after the release of the Committee Report on Education for 11-16 year olds in December last year, which stressed the need for ‘urgent change’ in secondary school education.

"We were told that the Government’s focus on a ‘knowledge-rich’ approach has resulted in an overburdened curriculum that necessitates narrow teaching methods such as rote learning and ‘cramming’ subject knowledge, particularly when pupils are studying for their GCSEs,” the report said. “There is also little scope to engage with topics beyond the curriculum or apply learning to real-world issues such as climate change, with pupil engagement suffering as a result.”

As a result, the report urges the new government to revise the 11-16 curriculum, create new pathways to support pupils’ digital skills, and offer schools greater flexibility to offer the qualifications that will best serve pupils.