CAPÍTULO 5: RESULTADOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN
3. Resultados del modelo final
outcomes
For Jeynes (op.cit.) the learning habit of diligence was not only a significant factor in explaining why children in religious schools out-perform children in non-religious schools but also, out of the nine factors that were identified, diligence was the second most significant:
“The regression coefficients were largest for the school program and diligence
variables, each of which exceeded half a standard deviation in size.” (Jeynes,
2003, p.153)
Indeed, Jeynes goes onto say that this was the most important finding of his whole study: “The most important finding of this study is that the two variables in which religious schools had the greatest advantage, that is, diligence and having a demanding school program (i.e. taking a lot of advanced classes), were the two variables that were most strongly related to academic achievement.” (Jeynes, 2003, p.159)
Within the context of British schools, the choice of ‘program’ (subject choices) is limited below
the age of 16, mainly as a result of the national curriculum imposed under the Education Reform Act (1988). Although Jeynes was writing about 12th grade pupils, the focus of this piece of research is predominantly pre-16. The dominant factor here is therefore diligence.
Within the literature there is some evidence to suggest that schools with a Christian ethos are perceived to promote greater diligence. For example, in summarising the current literature on the impact of schools with a Christian ethos, Green (2009b) writes in the following way:
“The bias in the research towards measuring the impact of schools with a Christian ethos on attainment reflects global shifts in education policy. …In England and Wales maintained schools with a Christian ethos have been directly co-opted into this agenda because of the perception that they raise
183
standards and that Christian character formation will promote diligence, hard
work and attainment.” (Green 2009b, p.78)
It is perhaps significant that the words: diligence, hard work and attainment are combined together within the context of Church schools.
Francis (2005b) compared the values of over 12,000 boys attending non-denominational
schools with 136 boys attending independent Christian schools. He concludes that the ‘values
environment’ modelled by 13-15 year old boys in the independent Christian schools was significantly different from that of the boys in the non-denominational schools. Further, the boys attending the Christian schools reported more positive attitudes towards the Church, the Bible and, crucially here, towards hard work and diligence.
This positive religious attitude was also identified as a significant factor in North American schools by the Cardus Educational Surveys, Cardus (2011; 2012; 2014). Although graduates of religious schools did not actively seek high paid jobs there was nonetheless a very strong sense of Christian calling to the more demanding professions in health care, social work and education. This trait was particularly prevalent amongst graduates of Evangelical Protestant schools (Cardus 2014, p.27). In addition, in all religious schools, graduates reported that their schools had prepared them well for the harder STEM subjects and a greater proportion of religious school graduates were employed within the science professions compared with their non-religious public school counterparts (Cardus 2014, pp.18-20).
Jeynes suggests that diligence is internalized as a learning habit within the lives of the students in religious schools:
“The difference in the learning habits between students in religious and non- religious schools suggests two possibilities. First, that religious schools instil certain work ethic values in children or, secondly, that these work ethic values are present in the children before they start school. That is, they emanate from
a religious upbringing.” (Jeynes, 2003, p.161)
Writing in the context of the United States, Mentzer(1988), points out that religious people often maintain a strong work ethic. This is echoed by one of the founding fathers of Sociology, Max Weber (1904), in his seminal work “The Protestant ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.”
Jeynes summarises this tension of work ethic between the home and school succinctly:
“As a result, it is difficult to determine how much of the religious school student advantage is due to learning habits learned at school and how much may be due to a greater likelihood of these students having learned a religiously
founded work ethic at home.” (Jeynes, 2003, p.161)
Uecker (2008) carried out research into the nature of the school effect by using data from the National Survey of Youth and Religion. Uecker compared the religious lives of pupils in 5
184
parents played a significant part in the religious involvement of the adolescents and that was not mediated by school type. In essence, parents and peers had a greater impact on religiosity than the school. As we have noted, Jeynes counters this suggestion by noting that it is unreasonable, given the amount of time pupils spend in school, to suggest that there is no ‘school effect’ (see chapter 4 section VII part c and also chapter 7 section II part e).
Although this particular debate of home effect versus school effect would constitute a useful area of further research, it remains beyond the remit of this thesis. This thesis explores the relationship between ethos, learning habits and outcomes in English Church schools in whichever way that they are formed.