crp.leeds.ac.uk · web viewleeds children’s charity (lcc), formerly known as leeds poor...

200718827External Placement THEO 3900

May 2016

Leeds Children’s Charity Placement

Connecting Children’s feedback to articulations of belief identities

External Placement THEO3900

200718827

Word Count: 3889

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May 2016

Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Context of the placement 3

Overview of Leeds Children’s Charity 3

My role on placement 4

3. Connecting belief identities and children’s feedback 5

Articulating belief identities through SMSC and religion 5

Literature review of religion and happiness 7

Research using Leeds Children’s Charity data 8

Discussing belief identities and children’s feedback 10

4. Impact of Theology and Religious Studies 12

5. Evaluation and Conclusion 13

6. Bibliography 13

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Responses to Application Question on Religious Identity 9

Figure 2: Belief Identities of children who did not enjoy their stay at Silverdale 10

Figure 3: Belief Identities of children who did not want to return to Silverdale 10

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May 20161. Introduction

This report serves as a reflection of my placement with Leeds Children’s Charity, and

the connections I have found between the organisation and my wider studies in

theology and religious studies. The report will begin by giving a brief overview of the

charity and my role on placement in developing a new impact monitoring system for

the charity’s services. Following on from this, the report will explore the

complimentary themes of the difficulties surrounding articulations of belief identity

and the possible implications of belief identity on children’s involvement and

enjoyment with the charity. The report will use a combination of wider literature and

discussions with Leeds Children’s charity to investigate these themes. There will also

be a discussion on the role of theology and religious studies in shaping my

reflections of the charity, before a final evaluation of my placement.

2. Context of the Placement

Overview of Leeds Children’s Charity

Leeds Children’s Charity (LCC), formerly known as Leeds Poor Children’s Holiday

Camp Association, was founded in 1904 by the then Lady Mayoress, Helen Briggs,

which makes it the oldest recorded local Leeds charity according to Leeds City

Council (Leeds City Council, 2013). Since its foundation, Leeds Children’s Charity

has taken disadvantaged children from the Leeds area on short respite activity

holidays at their Silverdale centre in North Lancashire. In the beginning the charity

took single gender groups of seven to thirteen year olds on a two week stay to

Silverdale, with clothing provided, and success at the camp was partially measured

by the accumulative weight gain of the children during their stay (McNeil, 2004,

p.13).

Over the past one hundred and twelve years the charity has changed names and

rebranded several times, yet continues to take takes around four hundred and fifty

disadvantaged Leeds children on a five day respite trip to the Silverdale centre. LCC

work alongside local primary schools to select the children each year, with the

teachers of the school putting forward children whom they feel would benefit from the

opportunity. Presently, the charity is also entering into a new stage in its history, with

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May 2016plans to move beyond the current Silverdale centre based services. LCC is also

eager to increase collaborations with other Children’s charities in the Leeds area to

work increasingly with young carers.

My role on Placement

During my time at the charity I provided general administration support and designed

a new impact monitoring system for the charity to help them monitor the

effectiveness of their services. The new impact monitoring system was designed to

highlight the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development of children

involved with the charity.1 SMSC development is a concept developed by the

Department of Education - it has become a requirement for schools to facilitate

cross-curricular SMSC development, which is not measured in Ofsted inspections.

As LCC use primary schools to select children, it was felt that articulating the

benefits of the charity’s work through this concept would be beneficial to both the

charity and the schools in allowing them to work more closely together.

The impact monitoring system which I developed tracks the SMSC development of a

child from their referral by a teacher to their return to school after Silverdale. The

child’s teacher is expected to complete the same form on their application and

return, and staff at the Silverdale centre complete a nearly identical form at the start

and end of their week at Silverdale. While the Department of Education’s definition of

SMSC development is extended and multi-layered, all four areas are closely

connected to confidence, personal and social responsibility, sensitivity and

behaviour, thus the monitoring forms are framed in terms of these latter measures. In

addition, I also extended the current children’s feedback questionnaire, to include

additional questions relating to their behaviour at Silverdale, and introduced a similar

questionnaire for children at the start of their stay. In developing these forms I

consulted a number of stakeholders of the charity, including centre staff, office staff,

trustees and a local primary head teacher.

1 A more detailed exploration of SMSC development can be found in the beginning of chapter three.

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May 20163. Connecting belief identities and Children’s Feedback

Articulating belief identity through SMSC development and religion

My work with the charity led me to be interested in the different ways that belief

identities were discussed, as articulated either through spirituality, as a part of SMSC

development, or through religion. While the charity were hoping to frame their work

through SMSC development, their application form asked about a child’s religion

rather than their spirituality. I found the shift in charity focus interesting, and my

numerous revisions of the new impact monitoring forms and questionnaires revealed

the internal concerns and external pressures on the organisation. One staff member

disclosed the increasing pressure was a product of the Government’s austerity

changes, which has cut back on funding for public welfare and for third sector grants,

yet has increased the pressure on third sector organisations to fill a welfare void on

less resources. In some ways, the adoption at LCC of the Department of Education’s

SMSC development concept is a way that they are trying to deal with the top down

pressure.

Language around spirituality and religion is notoriously difficult – definitions of either

are highly contested, often revealing the perspective from which one is working, and

typically rather vague (Drees, 2008, p.465). Increasingly spirituality and religion are

becoming dichotomised, with Douglas Hicks arguing that religion is viewed as

meaning dogmatic and rigid while spirituality refers to individual adaptability and

emotionality within the sphere of contemporary corporate management (2003, p.48).

Similar conclusions have been drawn by Ian Mitroff and Elizabeth Denton’s study on

religion and spirituality in the workplace drew similar conclusions, as their thirteen

point definition of spirituality based on interview with managers included the claims

that spirituality was non-denominational, timeless and universal (1999, pp.23-25).

Within education there has been a shift towards looking at spirituality rather than

religion, as showcased in the concept of SMSC development. Nevertheless, the

definition given for SMSC development given by the Department of Education in the

Ofsted school inspection handbook assumes an understanding of religion yet not

spirituality in the reader, as in the three hundred and sixty word long definition the

word ‘religious’ is used three times yet neither the words ‘spiritual’ or ‘spirituality’

appear directly (Department of Education, 2015, pp.36-37). This is ironic considering

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May 2016the fact that religion is not a direct component of SMSC development and highlights

the vagueness of how we understand and define spirituality. Nevertheless, the

school inspection handbook discusses spiritual development as a reflectiveness

‘about their [pupils] own beliefs, religious or otherwise’, a ‘sense of enjoyment and

fascination in learning’ and ‘imagination and creativity’ (Department of Education,

2015, p.36). It appears that SMSC development is being defined as universally

attainable in all children, as it is not confined to a specific religious belief systems. As

such, Hicks perception of a strict dichotomy of religion and spirituality does not apply

in the UK education system, but there is nevertheless a favouring in policy of

discussing belief identities through spirituality rather than religion.

However, assuming the universality of spirituality is problematic and creates

problems with using spirituality as a factor in measurements. Hicks argues that the

claim of timelessness and universality, as seen in Mitroff and Denton’s definition of

spiritualty, are theologically and philosophically debatable, which some people may

disagree with, which undermines the ideal of spirituality as a uniting concept (Hicks,

2003, p.55).

The universality of SMSC development can also be contested as the definition

frequently claims development is shown by a child’s compliance with UK law,

democracy and British values, the latter of which is left unexplained in the Ofsted

inspection handbook (Department of Education, 2015, p.36). Nevertheless, as the

UK’s national cultural values are much closer related to Judeo-Christian ideals due

to the historic and ongoing prominence of particularly the Church of England

(Ferriss, 2002, p.210), the appeal to British values in SMSC development

undermines its appeal to universality by favouring belief identities which are linked to

Judeo-Christian ideals.

To further explore the bias in the concept of SMSC development, it is worthwhile to

turn our attention from exploring bias in its definition towards analysing the outcomes

of the bias in the measures of SMSC development, to see whether certain belief

identity groups are more likely to show accelerated SMSC development through

being favoured in the concept’s definition. As a ‘sense of enjoyment and fascination

in learning about themselves, others and the world around them’ is a key aspect of

the definition of spiritual development, I decided to analyse the results of the

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May 2016feedback questionnaires completed by the 2015 children at the end of their stay at

Silverdale, which includes the question ‘Did you enjoy your stay at Silverdale?’. I

compared the questionnaire responses from the children to their religion as stated on

their application forms. I was interested to see whether the bias in SMSC

development would show a pattern between the children’s belief identity and their

enjoyment at Silverdale. This research would also link into the field of study looking

at the effects of religion on life satisfaction.

Literature on Religion and Life Satisfaction

Over the past fifty years there have been many studies into influences on happiness

and life satisfaction, but as Stark and Maier point out, few have paid attention to the

influence of religion, and within those which have, there has been little attention paid

to religious variables (2008, p.120). Nevertheless, the literature which has analysed

religion and life satisfaction have all claimed a link, albeit the studies differed in the

ways by which they measure ‘religion’ and in the ways they label life satisfaction. In

1978 the study by Hadaway and Roof using the 1971 Quality of American Life

Survey claimed that ‘religious commitment is associated with more positive feelings

about one’s life’, but also stated that religion is not the only factor affecting a

person’s feelings of worthwhileness in life (1978, p.306). The link is supported by

Witter, Stock, Okun and Haring in their 1985 study, but they claim that religion only

has a 2 to 6 percent positive variance on subjective well-being, making it as equally

influential as education but less influential than income (1985, p.335). Ferriss notes

that participation in a religious community specifically can offer a basis for happiness

and life satisfaction through the provision of social support (2002, p.212). The

hypothesis of the positive correlation between religion and happiness is again

affirmed by Stark and Maier in 2008, with the effect being stronger when measuring

religious participation rather than religious belief (2008, p.120).

Despite the similarities, the literature is also limited in a number of ways. The studies

mentioned above exclusively consider the responses from adults, which leaves open

the possibility than the correlation between life satisfaction and a religious identity

differs in children. Secondly, the studies also focus on the USA, which limits a simple

translation of their findings to a UK context. The studies have also shown a bias

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May 2016towards Christian dimensions of belief and religious identity through phrasing the

questions in a Christian understanding of religion, such as Stark and Maier’s analysis

of the nearness participants felt to God, a question which presumes a link between

theism and religion (Stark and Maier, 2008).

The studies also varied in how they phrased what the correlation of religion and life

satisfaction, with Stark and Maier calling it happiness but Witter, Stock, Okun and

Haring referring to subjective well-being (Stark and Maier, 2008; Witter, Stock, Okun

and Haring, 1985). The studies reflect an ambivalence to how to phrase the positive

effects of religion on a person’s life. There is a large range between how scholars

have understood happiness, with Ferguson viewing happiness as a product of one’s

connection to a transcendence, whether this be through a relationship with God or a

social relationship between people (1992, p.204). Contrasted to this, Eaude does not

discuss happiness in such meta-physical terms, choosing instead to distinguish

happiness between meaning short term immediate pleasure and long term

flourishing (2009).

While the literature on religion and life satisfaction affirm similar conclusions of a

positive correlation, the nuances of the studies language on satisfaction and the

biases within the studies and the lack of research on under eighteens nonetheless

limit the likelihood of the correlation occurring when considering the data on LCC’s

2015 children’s feedback and their religious identities.

Research using Leeds Children’s Charity data

According to LCC’s 2015 database, 438 children attended Silverdale in that year.

However, missing data from both the application question on religious identity and

missing feedback questionnaires limited the number of responses which could be

used in this study to 301. This was because only 354 had responses to the religious

identity question, with only 301 within that group who also had a completed feedback

sheet.

It cannot be assumed that the blank responses to the religious identity question

means that a child has a secular belief identity, as some may wish to keep their

religious identity private. Similarly, to assume the blank responses meant secular

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May 2016would still not show the possibly diversity of secular responses, such as from atheist

to none religious. It should also be noted that the question of religious identity

question is asked to the parent or guardian of a child, which immediately limits the

reliability of the results, as they may not know certainly the belief identity of their

child. Using the 354 responses to religious identity, there were 129 applications

which gave a religious tradition or denomination, meaning that out of the

respondents 36.4% children had a religious identity (with 108 holding a ‘Christian’

identity and 21 holding another religious identity). Fascinatingly, all the responses of

a religious identity named an established faith tradition rather than a New Age

movement or a non-established tradition. Yet all who responded in denial of a

religious identity said either ‘no’ or ‘none’, rather than giving a specific irreligious

discourse such as Humanism or Atheism.

Figure 1: Responses to the Application Question on Religious Identity

Turning our attention to the children’s feedback questionnaires, there were an

overwhelmingly positive number of responses to the questions ‘Did you enjoy your

stay at Silverdale?’ and ‘Would you like to return?’. Out of the 301 usable responses,

only 6 children, or 1.9%, did not enjoy their stay and only 14 children, or 4.6%, did

not want to return to Silverdale. Unfortunately, this makes the available response

unreliable because the sample size of negative responses is so small. Nevertheless,

breaking down the belief identities of the children who did not enjoy their stay, 3 were

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May 2016no or none religious, 2 were Christian, and one was Church of England. Looking at

the belief identities of the children who did not want to return, 8 were no or none

religious, 5 were Christian and one was Church of England.

Figure 2: Belief Identities of children who did not enjoy their stay at Silverdale

Figure 3: Belief Identities of children who did not want to return to Silverdale

Discussing Belief Identities and Children’s Feedback

The results of this study show some

inherent methodological issues and

challenges. As previously mentioned,

there were a number of feedback

questionnaire’s missing and not all

applications had responded to the question about religious identity. Furthermore, the

question was asked to the parents or guardians of a child which limits its reliability.

The results also show the limitations in the 2015 feedback questionnaire as the

children were only able to give a yes or no answer. Yet in other studies looking at

religion and life satisfaction respondents were given a spectrum on which they could

answer (see Stark and Maier, 2008). This supports the new children’s questionnaire

which gives children a choice between yes, maybe and no for each answer.

The wider literature also discusses the correlation between religion and life

satisfaction in through both religious identity and religious participation, with the latter

having a stronger affect than the former (Stark and Maier, 2008, p.120). While the

application form simply states ‘religion’, rather than specifically religious identity or

participation, the responses given indicate that the question was answered in terms

of identity as no respondents gave a list of religious participation behaviours.

Perhaps if the form asked about religious participation of the children the results

would be more reliable, as they would be more likely to fit into the current literature

on religion and life satisfaction.

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May 2016Nevertheless, some interesting comparisons can be drawn between the 2015

responses to religion at LCC and the 2011 National Census data on religion. In 2011

59.3% of the population of England and Wales listed Christianity as their religion on

the census, including any denominational specifications, with 55.9% of people in the

Leeds area specifically relating to Christianity (Office for National Statistics, 2012,

p.1; Qpzm LocalStats UK, 2012). However, the LCC responses relating to

Christianity, including denominational specifications, amount to just 30.5% of

respondents. Such a disparity between the national statistics and LCC data is not

seen in responses listing Islam, the second biggest faith tradition in both studies, as

4.5% of LCC responses specified Islam, which is comparable to the National Census

average of 4.8% of the England and Wales population and 5.4% of the Leeds

population (Office for National Statistics, 2012, p.1; Qpzm LocalStats UK, 2012).

Initial discussion around the belief identities of the LCC 2015 children with the

Charity revealed some surprise that there were so many children recorded as

Christian, yet the responses as Christian are much lower than the national average.

The discrepancy may be explained in the age differences of the two studies, as the

former is for all age groups, but the latter is focussed on a younger generation. The

differences between the 2001 and 2011 Census revealed a decline in those who

consider themselves Christian, from 71.7% to 59.3% (Office for National Statistics,

2012, p.1). It is likely that as older generations pass away, the younger generations

are less likely to articulate their belief identity through Christianity. The discrepancies

of the statistics on Christianity align with Paul Weller’s approach of the ‘Three

Dimensional Society’, which articulates three dimensions of belief approaches as

Christian, Secular, and Religious Plural’ (2008, p.52). Within each of these

approaches there is internal diversity - for instance, within the ‘Secular’ there is

diversity in attitudes towards faith schools in the UK – but separating a Christian

approach from other religions emphasises the historic privileges and stake which is

hold in the UK legal system, as well as the unique changes it is undergoing in the UK

(Weller, 2008, p.52).

Although the findings from my research are tentative, it raises some fascinating

discussions around the process of transmission of religion and belief identities from a

parent to a child. While unreliable, the findings do not support the wider literature on

religion and life satisfaction, raising the possibility that the correlation does not occur

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May 2016in children between the ages of 7 and 11. The results could also indicate that while

the definition of SMSC contains some implicit bias, this is not overtly communicated

into the way that it is measured at LCC.

While wider polity is seeing a shift from language around religion to spirituality in

articulating belief identities, the fact that LCC continues to use religion indicates the

functionality of the question in their work. Hick points out that strict focus on

spirituality does not leave room to address issues around religious needs, whether

dietary, schedule needs or otherwise (2003, p.56). In this way, the religion question

on the application form is to identify and specific religious needs of the children

involved with LCC.

4. Impact of Theology and Religious Studies

Conducting this placement alongside my academic studies has shown me the

nuances in the relationship which TRS holds to the wider workplace. Theological and

religious belief are significant in shaping the values of an individual and an

organisation. While LCC does not officially classify itself as a religious organisation, I

found that many of the staff framed their belief identity through religion, and their

faith was influential in their motivation to work for a charitable organisation. In the

ever changing theological and religious landscape of the UK, the values of

organisations are continually changing, both to align with changes in government

policy and also to reflect changes in personal belief. An understating of how this

landscape is changing can help organisations like LCC to stay relevant to society in

the contemporary age.

My time with LCC has shown me some of the challenges organisations face in

catering for religious diversity and inclusion. For instance, the charity’s decisions

around the language of belief identity in spiritualty and religion in SMSC

development and the application form. Having knowledge of contemporary debates

around religion facilitates inclusive practices at organisations and charities.

Admittedly, I have found at times that my degree title goes down like a lead balloon

with certain businesses I have encountered during my time at university. Yet this

placement has reinforced to me the importance of TRS knowledge in the workplace

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May 2016in being relevant to society and offering new angles to analyse workplace themes

from.

5. Evaluation and Conclusion

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement with LCC and I feel I have successfully

fulfilled the main aims of the placement, including my personal aim to gain office

experience and the organisation’s aim to develop a new impact monitoring system.

Challenges still lay ahead for the future of the charity under the continued

Governmental austerity policy and for their practical application of the new

monitoring system. It would be fruitful to further explore the effects that governmental

pressure on third sector organisations plays in shaping attitudes to religion. I found a

covert link between SMSC development policy and the Government’s Prevent

agenda, and anti-terrorism campaign which is disproportionately targeting Muslim

groups and instilling Islamophobia into wider society.

Although my study provided inconclusive results, the research was not an essential

aim of the placement. The reflections on this study can also be of use for the charity

in showing the need to make the old monitoring system more complex. Further

research could be taken by LCC using the data from 2016 to see whether the new

impact monitoring system, based on SMSC development, with show a greater

variation of how belief identities can affect a child’s stay at Silverdale. Regardless of

the inconclusive results, working with the 2015 feedback questionnaire has

emphasized the overwhelmingly positive role that LCC plays in the lives of

disadvantaged children in Leeds.

6.Bibliography

Department for Education. 2015. [Online]. School Inspection Handbook. Department

for Education. [Accessed 27 April 2016]. Available from:

https://www.gov.ukSchool_inspection_handbook.pdf

Drees, W.B. 2008. ‘’Religion’’ in Public Debates. In: Vries, H. ed. Religion: Beyond a

Concept. New York: Fordham University Press, pp. 464-472.

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May 2016Eaude, T. 2009. Happiness, Emotional Well-being and Mental Heath – what has

Children’s Spirituality to offer? International Journal of Children’s Spirituality. 14(3),

pp.185-196.

Ferriss, A. L. 2002. Religion and the Quality of Life. Journal of Happiness Studies. 3,

pp.199-215.

Hadaway, C. K. and Roof, W. C. 1978. Religious Commitment and the Quality of Life

in American Society. Review of Religious Research. 19(3), pp.295-307.

Hicks, D. 2003. Religion and the Workplace: Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Leeds City Council. 2013. Outside body: Leeds Children’s Holiday Camp

Association. [Online]. [Accessed 4 May 2016]. Available from:

http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgOutsideBodyDetails.aspx?ID=246

McNeil, F. 2004. Now I am a Swimmer: Silverdale Holiday Camp, the first 100 years.

Leeds: Pavan Press.

Mitroff, I. I. and Denton, E. A. 1999. A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard

Look at Spirituality, Religion, and Values in the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-

Bass.

Office for National Statistics. 2012. [Online]. Religion in England and Wales 11.

Office for National Statistics. [Accessed 12 May 2016]. Available from:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/

ons/dcp171776_290510.pdf

Qpzm LocalStats UK. 2012. Leeds Census Demographics United Kingdom. [Online].

[Accessed 10 May 2016]. Available from: http://localstats.co.uk/census-

demographics/england/yorkshire-and-the-humber/leeds

Stark, R. and Maier, J. 2008. Faith and Happiness. Review of Religious Research.

50(1), pp.120-125.

Weller, P. 2008. Religious Diversity in the UK: Contours and Issues. London:

Continuum.

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May 2016Witter, R. A., Stock, W. A., Okun, M. A. and Haring, M. J. 1985. Religion and

Subjective Well Being in Adulthood: A Quantative Synthesis. Review of Religious

Research. 26(4), pp.332-42.

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