CHURCH AIDED SECONDARY SCHOOLS, RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AS AN EXAMINATION SUBJECT AND PUPIL ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION

Abstract

S ummary . Attitudes towards religion of 802 fifth‐year secondary pupils were studied in relationship to whether they attended a church voluntary aided or Local Education Authority school and whether they belonged to a CSE/GCE examination group in religious education. Comparisons were made between pupils in Local Education Authority schools taking RE as an examination subject, pupils in Local Education Authority schools not taking RE, pupils in Church of England voluntary aided schools taking RE, pupils of Church of England voluntary aided schools not taking RE and pupils in Roman Catholic voluntary aided schools taking RE. It was found that there was no difference in pupil attitude in the Church of England RE and non‐RE groups, the Roman Catholic group and the Local Education Authority non‐RE group. The Local Education Authority RE group scored significantly higher on the attitude scale. These findings provide no support for the notion that church voluntary aided secondary schools exert a positive influence on their pupils' attitudes towards religion.