Tug-of-war between Church and School

Schools want the 2 weekly confirmation lessons off their timetables

For as long as anyone can remember, in 7th or 8th grade two school lessons a week from September to May are held at church with the local pastor preparing youngsters for their confirmation. Although the percentage of confirmands has fallen from 80% to 70% in the last decade, confirmation in May remains the norm for most 13 to 15-year-olds. Other religions and denominations are of course exempted. However, with the general trend towards secularism and pressure on the school timetable, proposals have been tabled by schools to move the confirmation classes out of the curriculum at the beginning of the school day once a week and place them at the end of the school day or on Saturday mornings.

Bishop of Haderslev, Niels Henrik Arendt, is aghast at the thought. In an interview with the Christian Daily he says, “Church membership, currently at 80%, will fall drastically, if confirmation classes are moved to pupils’ leisure time. In England, for example numbers have fallen from 50% in the early 20th century to just 5% nowadays. If we retain the early morning lessons we show that the Folkekirke and the Folkeskole (the People’s Church and the People’s School) share the same cultural tradition in the education of our children. As for the timing of the lessons, pastors are much busier in the afternoon than the early morning, and Saturdays are traditionally reserved for weddings and funerals. ”

While acknowledging that a number of pastors have problems facing unmotivated pupils he argues that the same goes for schoolteachers in general. “It is simply a matter of logistics for schools. They have the children for 12 years running – it should be possible to find a few hours in 7th or 8th grade for confirmation classes.”

One response to the schools’ request is to establish a Confirmation Centre this month as a creative workshop for mutual support and inspiration. The initiative comes from the 10 bishops and the YMCA/YWCA, and already has a webpage at www.konfirmandcenter.dk.

Another response has taken the form of a compromise in Lyngby-Taarbaek near Copenhagen with autumn classes being in the traditional early hours (c08.00-10.00) and the spring classes being in the afternoon (c14.30-16.30). Time will tell whether or not the compromise can work out in practice.

 

By: Edward Broadbridge

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