background, religiosity and expectations of the parents
TRANSCRIPT
BACKGROUND, RELIGIOSITY
AND EXPECTATIONS
OF THE PARENTS
AND
SENIOR STUDENTS
IN A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
by
John W. Fisher
A minor thesis submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Education.
November 1993
Institute of Education
University of Melbourne
ii
ABSTRACT
This study inspected the Senior School in a multicultural, multi
denominational school founded on a Christian base, servicing the Western
suburbs ofMelboume.
A quantitative religiosity measure and an instrument for determining nine
expectation factors of schools were developed.
Just under half of the school families had all members with high religious
conunitment, whereas a quarter had little. The mothers were more
religious than either the students or the fathers, each of whose levels of
religiosity correlated better· with each other's, than the students' did with
their mothers'.
Overall, the parents had higher expectations of the school than did the
students. In contrast to parents from higher socio-economic backgrounds,
parents from lower backgrounds had higher expectations relating to
prestige and job ,preparation for their children. r
The expectations of the school studied appeared similar to typical church
schools, differing from previously studied Christian Community Schools (in
NSW) in that the factor of Religious nature was of lower priority, and
Academic standards higher.
Higher expectations of the Christian nature of the school were held by non
locals and parents with non-English speaking background, compared with
their counterparts.
The highly religious students and parents scored higher on the factors
relating to the school's Religious nature, Teacher quality, Moral standards,
and Friends, but lower on Preparing students for employment, compared
with the less religious.
Three enrolment options were raised to help contemplate the future of the
school in light of the diversity of expectations existent within the student
and parent body.
iii
DECLARATION
Except where due reference is given in the text, this thesis contains no
material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis
presented by me for another. degree or diploma.
This thesis does not contain any other person's work, except where due
acknowledgement is given in the text.
This thesis has not been presented for any other degree or diploma at
another tertiary institution.
John W. Fisher
November 1993
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am most thankful to God for the strength, insight and perseverance
granted me for the completion of this project, and for the special people
who have helped make it possible.
For my supervisor, Dr Murray Seiffert, who understood how I was
thinking, reflected on my work critically in a supportive manner, and
encouraged me during this research project, I am very thankful.
I appreciate the invaluable advice Dr Charles Poole gave me on the use of
statistics with the SPSSX package on the VAX computer.
The Rev Dr Philip Hughes introduced me to the notion of religiosity, for
which I am very thankful. His previous work, that of the National Church
Life Survey team and that of Ron Kallmier & David Baker were most
helpful.
To my colleagues, Rev Philip Wilson for his valuable contacts, and to r
Laurence Smith for his ever willingness to help me as I learnt to use the
computer programs to produce this thesis, I am extremely grateful.
I am indebted to the parents and students of Heathdale Christian College who so willingly gave of their precious time to make this study possible.
To those very special people God has blessed me with, my wife"Marlie and
my family Lisa, Jody, Kristin & Jarrod, I say a special thankyou for your
understanding and tolerance of my tunnel vision over the last two years.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
Ch. 1. SETTING THE SCENE
1.1 Christianity in the Nation
1.2 Christian Schooling in Australia
1.3 Christianity in the Schools
1.4 Why Christian Schools?
1.5 Religiosity
1:6 Heathdale - A Special Case
1. 7 The Focal Questions For This Study
Ch. 2. THE STUDY, IN FOCUS
Page
11
111
IV
v
IX
Xl
Xll
1
4
4
6
8
13
15
16
2.1 Nature and Scope of the Study 18
2.2 Response Rate to Surveys 19
2.3 Definition 20
2.4 Instrumentation 20 2.4.1 The ACER Higher Tests WL-WQ. 20 2.4.2 Beliefs, Expectations And Careers Survey (BEACS). 20 2.4.3 Anonymity. 23 2.4.4 Reliability variables. 23
2.5 Limitations 25 2.5.1 Numbers. 25 2.5.2 Scores on religiosity items. 25 2.5.3 Timing of enrolment. 25 2.5.4 Reasons for enrolment. 25 2.5.5 One view. 2S 2.5.6 Expectations or experience? 26 2.5.7 Researcher bias. 26 2.5.8 Missing responses. 26
2.6 Statistics 27
v
vi
2.6.1 Nature of variables. 27 2.6.2 Univariate analysis teclmiques. 27 2.6.3 Bivariate analysis techniques. 27 2.6.4 Multivariate analysis techniques. 28
Ch. 3. THE DIFFERENT HUES OF HEA THDALE
3.1 Student Enrolment 29
3.2 Family Composition 31
3.3 Place ofBirthl Language at Home 3 1
3.4 Ages of Students and Parents 32
3.5 Parent Educational Level 33
3.6 Major Form of Parental Employment 34
3.7 Religious Affiliation 35
3.8 Student Abilities 36 3.8.1 Student general ability levels. 36 3.8.2 Ability, gender and achievement. 37 3.8.3 Country of birth, language, ability and achievement. 38
3.9 An Overview to this Point 39
Ch. 4. RELIGIOSITY, IN PERSPECTIVE t
A. 1 Responses to Religiosity Items 'on the BEACS Survey 41 '-4.11 Public practice. 41 4.1.2 Private practice 44 4.1.3 Salience of belief 45 4.1.4 Experience. 47 4.1.5 Belief 49
4.2 CLUSTERS - Religiosity measures 51
4.3 Students' �d Parents' Religiosity 53
4.4 Discrimination Within Religiosity 54
4.5 Religiosity Levels in Denominations 55
4.6 Summary of Religiosity 56
Ch. 5. EXPECTATIONS EXPOSED
5.1 High Expectations 58
5.2 The Top Ten Expectations For Each Group 58
5.3 Survey Overview 59 5 .3 . 1 Prestige. 60 5.3.2 Students' personal expression. 60 5.3.3 Academic standards. 61 5.3.4 Teacher quality. 62 5.3.5 Student behaviour. 62 5.3.6 Preparing students for employment. 63
5.3.7 Moral standards.
5.3.8 Religious nature.
5.3.9 Friends.
5.3.10 Other Items not in the nine factors.
5.3.11 Summary of Expectation Factors.
5.4 Value Sets in Christian Schools
5.5 Ranked Order ofExpec�ations
5.6 Summary
Ch. 6. �E INTERPLAY OF BACKGROUND,
RELIGIOSITY AND EXPECTATIONS
64
64
65
66
67
68
70
71
6.1 Background and Religiosity 73 6.1.1 Student ability, gender and religiosity - A distinguishing mix. 73 6.1.2 Place of residence and religiosity. 73 6.1.3 Country of birth, language and religiosity. 74 6.1.4 Parents' education. occupation and religiosity. 74 6.1.5 Summary of background and religiosity. 75
6.2 Background and Expectations 75 6.2.1 Variations in Prestige. 76 6.2.2 Variations in Students' personal expression. 76 6.2.3 Variations in Academic standards. 77 6.2.4 Variation in Student behaviour.
, r ·6.2.5 Variation in cultural understanding.
6.2.6 Variation in moral standards/ beliefs.
6.2.7 Variations in Religious nature.
6.2.8 Variations in Friends.
6.2.9 Adequate buildings and equipment.
6.2.10 Very naughty studentS.
6.2.11 Differentiation by year level.
6.2.12 Gender differentiation.
6.2.13 Variation by place of residence.
6.2.14 Summary of background and expectations.
77
77
77
77 78 78 78
78
80
, 80
81
6.3 Religiosity and Expectations 82 6.3.1 Prestige and Students' personal expression. 83
6.3.2 Academic standards. 83
6.3.3 Teacher quality. 84 6.3.4 Student behaviour. 85 6.3.5 Preparing students for employment. 85 6.3.6 Moral standards. 86 6.3.7 Religious nature. 86 6.3.8 Friends. 87 6.3.9 Other items. 88
6.3.10 Rank order of expe¢ltions (item E41a-h). 88 6.3.11 Discriminating religiosity groups by expectation factors. 88 6.3.12 Religiosity and expectations of Christian atmosphere. 89 6.3.13 Summary of religiosity and expectations. 90
vii
6.4 Congruence with Heathdale's Goals 6.4.1 Heathdale's Mission Statement. 6.4.2 Evangelism in the school. 6.4.3 What's in the name?
Ch. 7. THE OVERALL PICTURE
7.1 Background, in Review.
7.2 Religiosity, in Review
90
90
91
92
93
93
7.3 Expectations, in Review 94 7.4 An Overview of the Interplay Between Background, Religiosity
and Expectations 94
.. 7.4.1 Background and religiosity. 94 7.4.2 Background and expectations. 94 7.4.3 Religiosity and expectations. 95
7.5 The Future of Heath dale Christian College 95 7.5.1 Clarity of goals. 95 7.5.2 The current situation. 96 7.7.3 Enrolment options. 97
7.6 Review of Methodology 98
7.7 Implications for Further Research
7.8 A Wider View
BIBLIOGRAPHY 'APPENDICES
99
100
101
A. Heathdale's Interim Prospectus 104
B. Follow-up Letter to 'Late' Parents 110
C. Beliefs, Expectations, And Careers Survey 111
D. Cluster Values for Religiosity Factors 122
, E. The NEFOS Instrument 123
F. Values of Reliability Variables for CLUSCOM &NEFOS 128
G. Scores for Religiosity Items 130
H. Crosstabulations of Student Ability by Country of Birth & Language 131
I. Responses to Religiosity Items on BEACS Survey 132
J. Details of Expectation Items 13 8
K. Expectation Items & Factors- t-Test Pairs between Groups 139
L. Crosstabulations of Expectations by Background 141
M. Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels 142
N. Expectation Items by Religiosity Levels. 143
O. Heathdale Publicity Brochure (October, 1993) 144
P. Student Contract Proposal 146
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1.1 Growth in Christian School Associations 5
1.2 Students in Victorian non-Government Secondary Schools, 1992 6
2.1 Parent Response Rate for BEACS Questionnaire by Year Level 19
2.2 The distribution of cases in each CLUSCOM religiosity group 22
2.3 Reliability Values for the CLUSCOM Religiosity Measure 24
2.4 Reliability Values for the NEFOS Expectations Scale· 24
3.1 Students' Place of Residence 31
3.2 Status of single females at HCC and in Werribee 31
3.3 Place of Birth for Heathdale & Werribee Populations 31
3.4 Language spoken at home for HCC & Werribee populations 32
3.5 Heathdale's Students' and Parents' Ages 32
3.6 Educational Levels in Heathdale Parents & Werribee Population 33
3.7 Major Form of Employment of Parents at Heathdale compared with the Werribee population 34
3.8 Religious Affiliation at HCC compared with Werribee Population 36 ,-
),9-- Student General Ability and Achievement 37
3.10 Gender and Achievement in School Asses�ments 38
3 .11 Crosstabulation of Student Ability by Country of Birth & Language 38
4.1 Sign test levels of significance for Public Practice items 41
4.2 Sign Test levels of significance for Private Practice items 44 4.3 Sign test levels of significance for Salience of Belief Items 45
4.4 Sign Test levels of significance for Experience Items 48
4.5 Sign Test levels of significance for Belief items - ' 49
4.6 Sign Test level of significance for Belief Items E32-E35 51
4.7 Crosstabulation between Access-Value Religiosity Groups 51
4.8 Pearson's r values from Crosstabulations between Religiosity Factors and CLUSCOM Groups 52
4.9 Crosstabulation of the Complete Cluster Religiosity (CLUSCOM) & Access-Value Religiosity (AVREL) Measures 52
4.10 Distribution of Students & Parents in Two Religiosity Measures 53
4.11 t-Test Pairs Results for CLUSCOM Groups and Factors 54
4.12 r Values for CLUSCOMs & Public practice Items! Factor 55
4.13 Discriminant Analysis ofCLUSCOM Groups by Religiosity Factors 55
5.1 Top Ten Expectation Items for Each Group 58
5.2 Summary Values for Expectation Factors of Groups 67
ix
5.3 t-Test Pairs for Expectation Factors 68
5.4 Comparison of Value Sets in Christian School Studies 69
5.5 Ranked Order of Groups' Expectations on item E41 70
6.1 Summary of Expectations that Vary with Background 76
6.2 Crosstabulation of Students' Expectations by Year level 79
6.3 Crosstabulation of Expectations by Place of Residence 81
6.4 Correlation of Religiosity with Teacher quality 84
6.5 Correlation of Religiosity with Preparing students for employment 85
6.6 Correlation of Religiosity with Moral standards 86
6.7 Correlation of Religiosity with Religious nature 87
6.8 Correlation of Religiosity with Friends 87
6.9 Correlation of Religiosity with Rank order of expectations item E41 88
6.10 Discriminating Religiosity Groups by Expectation Factors 89
6.11 Comparing Religiosity levels with Cluistian atmosphere (item E41e) 89
6.12 Comparing religiosity levels with Religious nature factor 90
D.l Cluster Values for Religiosity Factors 122
D.2 Final Cluster Values for the A VREL Religiosity Measure 122
F.l Scale-testing co-efficients for the CLUSCOM Religiosity Measures 128
F.2 Scale-testing co-efficients for NEFOS 129
G.TScores for Religiosity Items r
130
H.l Crosstabulation of Student Ability by Country of Birth 131
H.2 Crosstabulation of Student Ability by Language 131
1.1- 1.33 Responses to Items Bl- B35 132-7
J.l Details of Expectation Items 138
K.l t-Test Pairs on Expectation Items, between Groups 139
K.2 t-Test Pairs on Expectation Factors, between Groups 140
L. 1 Crosstabulations of Expectations by Background 141
M.l Students' Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels 142
M.2 Fathers' Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels 142
M.3 Mothers' Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels 142
N.l Expectation Items by Religiosity Levels 143
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1.1 Four Patterns of Faith Among Attenders 14
1.1 A student's view of the administration block at Heathdale 17
3. 1 Heathdale's student catchment area 29
3.2 HCC Senior School student population, 1992 30
3.3 % ofWerribee groups represented by 14-17 year-oIds at HCC 30
3:4 Student abilities 37
4.1 % of groups in Public practice factor, items B I-B6 41
4.2 % of groups in Private practice factor, items B7-B8, BIO
4.3 % of groups in Salience of belief factor, items B II-B 17
4.4 Most important aspects of faith
4.5 % of groups in Experience factor, items B9, B 19-B20
4.6 % of groups in Belief factor, items B23-B30
4.7 % of groups selecting each type of New Church, item B31
4.8 % of groups in Beliefs' items B32-B35
4.9 CLUSCOM Religiosity levels in each Denomin�tional Group
.. 5: I' - z-Scores for Prestige items r
5.2 z-Scores for Students' personal expression items
5.3 z-Scores for Academic standards items
5:4 z-Scores for Teacher quality items
5.5 z-Scores for Student b�haviour items
5.6 z-Scores for Preparing students for employment items
5.7 z-Scores for Moral standards items
5.8 z-Scores for Religious nature items
5.9 z-Scores for Friends items
5. 10 z-Scores for Other Items not in factors
5.11 z-Scores for each Group's Summary Expectation Factors
44
45
47
48
49
50
50
56
60
61
61
62
63
63
64
65
65
66
67
6.1 z-Scores for Sununary Expectation Factors by Year level & Gender 80
6.2 z-Scores for Expectation Factors compared with Students' Religiosity levels 82
6.3 z-Scores for Expectation Factors compared with Fathers' Religiosity levels 83
6:4 z-Scores for Expectation Factors compared with mothers' Religiosity levels 83
6.5 HEATIIDALE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE - MISSION STATEMENT 91
"_-.1.:
xi
ABBREVIA nONS
ACER
AISV
AVREL
BEACS
CCS
CLUSCOM
HeathdaIe
HCC
Australian Council for Educational Research
Association of Independent Schools of Victoria
Access� Value Religiosity measure
Beliefs, Expectations, And Careers Survey
Christian Community Schools Complete cluster religiosity measure
NAB NCLS
} Heathdale Christian College
} " " "
non�Australian born National Church Life Survey: 1991 Survey on 300,000 attenders in 6500 Anglican/Protestant churches throughout Australia
non�English speaking background NESB
SPSS
VCE
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Reg. Trademark)
Victorian Certificate of Education
Abbreviations of religiosity factors: BEL Beliefs
".EXP" Experience PRI Private practice PUB Public practice SAL Salience of belief
". Abbreviations of expectations' factors: ACD Academic standards FRI Friends (peer group)
. MRL Moral standards
r
PRP Preparing students for employment
PRS School's prestige
RLG Religious nature·
STU Student behaviour
TCH Teacher quality
XPR Students' personal expression
xii
Note: The convention used in this thesis is to give a capital letter to the :first word in the title of each religiosity and expectations' factor.
1
INTRODUCTION
It is commonly held that a person's world view is the filter through which
the whole of life is seen. It colours one's thinking. It helps people see
clearly, or, as in a mirror, dimly. One would expect that people's values are
founded on the basis of their world view. As agnostics, atheists and non
Christians have opposing spiritual bases from Cluistians, it is likely that
marked differences will exist between expectations of these groups. Thus,
what people in a pluralistic society expect of human institutions, like
schools, is expected to be coloured by their existing mind set.
The question could be asked as to why so many families in Australia have
opted out of the 'free', secular, state system of education into fee-paying,
alternative, non-government 'Christian' schools. The Rev. Bob Frisken,
President of Christian Community Schools Limited, would have us believe
it is because they understand the shift in philosophical base which he sees
became markedly evident since the 1960's (1989: 2). But, are the parents
really interested in the philosophy, or merely its �ractical outworking? Do -- '-,. _ _ they have strong religious convictions forcing them to flee what they see as
a flood of degradation, at the hand of the anti-God activists who are
forging new frontiers in our society through education? Or, is theirs a
choice of convenience, where a 'good', moral education can be afforded,
with maybe a little sacrilice, in a caring, Christian, relatively low-fee school, -, perhaps separate from the uncouth?
At least one writer believes the spiritual commitment in Christian families is
- waning, as other factors take priority, in their reasons for choosing
Christian schools:
As the Christian school ministry has matured through the years, the type of parent sending students ... has changed. In the early years ... spiritual conunitment and a desire to have their child(ren) receive a truly Christian education motivated parents to select the Christian school. Many parents ... now have different motives. They desire to "protect" them fromthe negative forces prevalent in ,society today. (Braley, in Burris and McKinley, 1990: 96)
2
Have the 'Christian' schools become, to the general Protestant populace,
what the Catholic schools seem to be for many Catholics - an apparently
safe 'holding environment' (Leavey, 1992: 228) offering better standards
than other schools around them, or a selected clientele, rather than an
extension of the church helping parents to bring up children in the faith?
Recent writers (Nonnan, 1980, and Partington, 1990) have suggested that
parents are deserting the state and large non-government schools in a
search for better values for their children. Studies of Christian Community
Schools in NSW (Ka11mier, 1988, and Baker, 1990) have shown that
parents rated religious beliefs highly amongst reasons given for selecting a
Christian Community School.
This study closely inspected the largest school in Victoria affiliated with
Christian Community Schools Ltd, in 1992. It looked at the people who
sought a service from this school, queried the extent of their religious
commitment, probed their expectations and compared them with the
school's ethos.
r
The' key question asked in this study was, 'How do parents' and students'
background and religiosity relate to their expectations of a Christian
school?'.
In Chapter One, the scene is set by looking at Christianity in the nation,
... 'Christian' schooling in Australia, followed by Christianity in the schools
and asks 'Why Christian schools?'. A brief introduction is given to the
nature of religiosity, as it plays a vital role in Christian schooling. The
. Senior School at Heathdale Christian College is seen as a special case of
non-government, alternative, 'Christian' schooling, in Victoria. The key
questions for this study were then brought into focus.
In Chapter Two, the nature, extent and methodology of this study are
outlined, with the development and analysis of the Beliefs, Expectations
And Careers Survey (BEACS).
In Chapter Three, the background detail of the clients is drawn out, by
asking, 'What are the background characteristics of the parents and students
served by the school?'
3
In Chapter Four, a clearer focus on the students' and parents' religious
commitment is found by answering the question, 'How religious are the
parents and students?'
In Chapter Five, the study concentrated on the expectations of the students
and their parents in nine key areas, that is, 'What do the parents and
students expect from the school?' and 'How much agreement is there
between the students' and parents' expectations?'
In Chapter Six, the questions considered are, 'What are the relationships
between the background, religiosity and expectations?' and 'How do these
relate to the stated goals of Heathdale?'
Chapter Seven contains the key findings of the study and their implications
for enrolment policy in the school, as well as some suggestions for future
research.
This study did not attempt to answer the question, 'How well does the
school serve its clients?' It is the responsibility of,the administration and r
"Council of Heathdale to compare the inputs, provided by this study, with
the practices in the school, to gain their answer to that evaluative question.
As schools are not static entities, the story told here was but a snapshot of
the Senior School of Heath dale Christian College, as it existed in Term 4,
... 1992. Even as this report was being written, changes could be seen from
what Heathdale was like twelve months previously. As this story- is read in
the future, it is hoped that it will yield increased understanding for those
concerned with Heathdale's development and that there might be issues
raised herein that will help other people, in other schools, i.e., that from the
one, (there might be) insight for the many.
4
CHAPTER ONE
SETTING THE SCENE
1.1 Christianity in the Nation
With 17.5 million people, 3.1 million of whom are in schools, and such
abundant resources, Australia is looked on with envy by so many. Yet,
from a Christian viewpoint, only about two out of every ten Australians go
to church at least once a month (Blombery & Hughes, 1 993: 1 2). 'There
has never been a time in Australia when most people went to church. In' general, it has been between 20 and 30 percent of the population.' The
majority of Australians (around 60%) are nominally Christian, claiming
affiliation, but rarely, if ever, attending a church service. Most of these
people still believe in God, most of the time. They generally see the church
as a good thing as it teaches people to be good people. Keeping the Ten
Commandments is seen as more important than following Christ, or having
a personal relationship with God. r
The Christian faith has traditionally helped shape the culture in which we
live (Blombery & Hughes, 1 993: 24). As Australia is now one of the most
ethnically-diverse nations in the world, with non-Christian groups becoming
a significant feature in our multi-cultural society, their impact is being felt in " many quarters, especially in schooling.
1.2 Christian Schooling in Australia
Since the 1 790's in Australia (New Life, 26/8/93: 1), church schools have
co-existed with government schools and those established by other
independent providers. Church schools were planted by pioneers desirous
of a Christian basis for the education of children in this developing nation.
Their rise and fall has depended largely on government financial support.
When government funding, for non-government schools in Australia, was
withdrawn by 1898, many Protestant church schools were handed over to
the state. Endowments, or the use of religious teachers, enabled the largest
Anglican and Catholic schools to keep functioning. With restricted funds,
5
and the impact of two world wars, only the more 'exclusive' non
government schools continued to be highly resourced into the middle of this
century (Baker, 1990: 5).
As a result of the Karmel report to the Whitlam Labor government and the
subsequent Schools Commission and States Grants (Schools) Bill, 1973, funding for government and non-government schools was secured. The
'needs-based' argument in the Karmel report opened the floodgates for the
establishment of a wave of new non-government schools. Disquiet over the
rapid growth in school numbers led to restrictive Funding Policies fot
Australian Schools (Schools Conunission Report - April 1984) and
Guidelines 1985-88, delivered by Sen. Susan Ryan in 1984. Subsequently,
The New Schools Policy (1986, Revised 1993), restricting funding to a
maximum of level 6 for new schools and· setting minimum number
requirements, has not significantly stenuned the tide of other non
government schools being established by people with purpose (see Table
1 . 1) .
It is evident from information supplied in the Statistical Annex to the-National Report on Schooling in Australia that Christian schools ... continue to grow and offer parents across Australia a choice in education.
-
(Aust. Assoc. of Christian Schools, Annual Report 1992, 1993: 2)
Table 1.1
Growth in Christian School Associations.
Association Year
Christian Community Schools Ltd 1976 1992
Christian Parent Controlled Schools Ltd 1962 1992
Association of Ecumenical Schools 1974 Victoria Inc 1993
Lutheran Schools Association 1967 1993
Sources: CCSLtd 1992 Schools Directory CPCSLtd 1993
' Directory
No. of schools
1 76 1 66 1 10 29 75
Personal Conununication - Rev 101m Leaver Lutheran General Church Council Report, 1993
No. of students
14 15057 77 16082 126 5240 3592 1 8285
6
As well as· continuing efforts in Catholic and other church schools, a real
commitment to quality Christian education has been established in
alternative non-government schools in Australia, over the last 20 years.
The Lutheran schools have strengthened and increased in number. The new
entities of Christian Parent Controlled Schools Ltd and Christian
Community Schools Ltd have emerged. There has been a varying-sized
group of schools associated with Accelerated Christian Education,
originating with the Southern Baptist, Dr Howard, in the USA. Another
affiliation of schools which have had significant growth, are the Association
of Ecumenical Schools Victoria Inc (formerly the Association of Christian
Community Colleges of Victoria). Other non-affiliated independent
Christian schools, e.g. Flinders Christian Community College, Oxley
College, Waverley Christian College, Western Port Christian School, have
also made impact on their local areas, in Victoria (see, for example, Table
1.2, for the secondary school numbers).
Table 1.2.
Students in Victorian non-Government Secondary Schools, 1992.
School type Total non-government Catholic Independent# Christian Conununity Schools Christian Parent Controlled Schools Ecumenical Schools, Victoria non-affiliated, Christian Lutheran
No. students 125, 157 r
74,941 50,216 469 } 13% 1072 } of 3950· } Independent 554 } school 650· } student 247 } numbers Seventh Day Adventist
• = estimate # 139/144 AISV schools had Christian religious affiliation Australian Education Council, Schools RepOrt 1992. Sources: AISV Facts and Figures 7/93. As for Table 1.1, and personal communications. SDA Vic Conference, School Census Report 1992.
1.3 Christianity in the Schools
Baker (1990: 9) commented on the significance of the Arnold tradition of
British schooling on the development of Australian non-government
schools. Their goal of producing Christian Gentlemen resulted in schools
with an essentially Christian character. This is shown by their moral codes
and allegiance to various denominations. 'The status of religion in so-called
7
Church schools is low' (Hansen, 1971: 142). Note Hansen's comment 'that it is not difficult to allow T.C. Worsley some kind of truth:
To regard religion as the most important thing in these schools, as many ... say they do, is like regarding the lion as the most important thing in the back garden. Perhaps it would be, if it were there. (T.C. Worsley, Barbarians and Philistines [Hale, London, 1940: 198], in Hansen, 1971: 147).
As well as financial constraints, mentioned above, the independent church schools have experienced philosophical tension between Christian and
classical views of life. In varying degrees, the resolution of this tension is still on the agenda of today's independent church schools (Hill, 1991: 150). Mol (1985: 35) found 'few significant differences [in regular church attendance, prayer habits, experiencing God's presence and belief in God, i. e. indicators of religious commitment] between those who have gone to non-Catholic denominational schools and those who attended state schools', showing the lack of effectiveness in these schools to impact on students' faith commitment.
A recent study of Catholic schools (Leavey, 1992: 217) found that there has been an increase in the disjunction between Christian beliefs and curriculum and that 'there is a poor understanding of the key elements of the Catholic tradition' in the Catholic girls' schools studied in NSW. This reinforced the notion that Catholic schools are losing their grip on
.. sponsoring faith in their students.
According to Jones (1983: 12):
it would seem that marked differences exist between the traditional church schools and most of the new Christian schools. Most of the established church schools ... reflect a liberal philosophical view of education .... But the new Christian schools are going back in history, beyond the nineteenth century when secular universal schooling was introduced ... those pioneering the Christian school movement are groups holding to the authority of the scriptures and to an evangelistic emphasis in their witness.
The centrality of biblical and Christ-centred education is made clear in the philosophical statements of each of the Christian school 'groups':
I. Accelerated Christian Education:
The aims of ACE material are to provide ' an education system which restores the Bible to its rightful place. Our children not only need the right answers to life's questions about origins, purposes and values, they also need a curriculum which treats every subject from the biblical vantage point of God's truth. (Roberts, undated)
2. Association of Ecumenical Schools Victoria Inc:
students may develop an understanding of .. . The central truths of the Christian faith . . . . To express Christian belief in the life worship and teaching of the school. (Leaver, undated)
3. Christian Community Schools Ltd:
Christian schools train the whole person, body, mind and soul.
8
CCS express this aim in the motto 'speaking the truth in love .. '.grow up into him in all things, who is the Head, that is, Christ'(Eph.4:15). (Christian Community Schools Ltd, 1989: 5)
r
-Acco"rdingly, an education that is not centred on Jesus Christ is not a true education. The exclusion of the Bible results in a false, distorted and invalid education .. . Facts, as pieces of information , cannot be divorced from a system of beliefs and values . (CCSL, 1985: 1)
4 . Christian Parent Controlled Schools:
Education is nurture for life, true life� life in fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. Consequently, education can only be meaningful if it honours Christ in its purpose and its methods, training in a Christian way for a Christian life . (Christian Parent Controlled Schools, undated)
1.4 Why Christian Schools?
There is little doubt that government funding has significantly aided the establishment and development of the new non-government schools in
Australia. But, that does not explain why parents choose these, often-
9
struggling, schools which require so much more of parents, when state
schools, and established church and Catholic schools, which are generally
better resourced, are readily available. From a variety of research, it
appears that the values held by the parents play a significant role in their
choice of education for theif children.
Research on parents' choosing Christian schools supported the importance
of values:
1. Nonnan (1980: 5) reported that parents who chose Christian schools
described themselves as:
parents who value Christian principles and who are concerned at the standards of leaming, discipline and morals at their local high school, and want something better for their children.
2. Kallmier (1988: v) concluded that:
the Christian values and beliefs of the parents, of the teachers in Christian Community Schools and in the school itself were most important influences on school choice. r
'
3 . Baker (1990: ii) reached the conclusion that:
values (of school and .self) are important in the choice of school.. . and that the clients of independent Christian schools prioritise values differently [with religious and moral values being of greatest importance to parents (p.62)] from the Australian general community.
Other writers have supported the importance of Christian values as a reason
for selecting Christian schools:
1 . Among the ten reasons Igenel (1978: 14- 18) gave for sending a child to
a Christian school, were that 'we are to train "up" a child, not point him downward' (proverbs 22: 6 NIV) and that 'Standards for morality must be
taken fro� Scripture alone', as well as the fact that 'Christian schools
. support the family as the number one institution of society'.
2. Jones (1983: 21,19):
It would seem that the emergence of those new Christian schools has been due to the rise of an affluent and well-educated lay community, alarmed by the faults of the State system and dissatisfied by the type of education offered in traditional church schools.
10
Christian schools provide a biblical christian perspective of the world ... consistent with ... teachings of home and church; the opportunity to establish strong pastoral relationships which assist in undertaking nurturing roles, and an opportunity to exhibit high standards in academic work and in personal relations as a basic expression of Christian philosophy.
3. Frisken (1989: 7) proposed a strongly emotive, (spiritual) argument:
Many parents are losing the battle for the minds and soul of their children. Sending a child to a Christian school will not guarantee that they will not reject the Lord, but it will give the child the tremendous suppo'rt 'of caring teachers, who are fine models, a peer group that accepts Christian values, and teaching that supports the values of the home.
,
" Hill (1991: 100, 151-3) sounded a warning that:
because of the value the community places on education, intervention in the lives of children through schooling is considered to be highly justified. .
. He appeared worried about the nature of the intervention which he believed
was likely to occur in non-government schools:
Conventional independent schools, by both tradition and selective enrolment, have tended to be predominantly Anglo-Celtic and nominally Christian. The newer parent controlled schools tend .. .in the same directions. The reaction of some people to the cultural fact of multi-ethnicity [in Australia] is to retreat into mono cultural enclaves ... not an insignificant reason ... why many people choose either independent or 'alternative Christian' schools for their children. The implicit slogan here is 'Preserve our heritage for and through our children'.
Hill laid down: the challenge to the sponsors of non-state schools ... to modify those underlying values which are unhospitable to a liberal democratic ideal.
Hill continued, by asking: Is a school sponsored by a faith community justified in excluding the study of other faiths at some level?
11
Some Christian school sponsors would say 'Yes', at all levels. Jesus Christ
said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14: 6 NIV). Just as
bank tellers only handle genuine currency, so that when confronted with a
counterfeit, it is immediately apparent, so too, Christians only need to study
Christ, because by studying 'the truth', wrong ideas become obvious.
Others would say, that to be intellectually honest, one must look at both, or
many, sides of the coin (Le. comparative study of religions).
Countering his concern for the impact of schools on the formation of
attitudes and values, Hill reported that the consensus of much research
indicated that 'the home - even the laissez-faire home - has more influence
than the school, even into adolescence' and 'how effectively students can
barricade their private selves from the teacher's prying .. jt is easy to pay lip
service ... but what is learnt at a deeper level is resentment.' (1991: 161-2)
Other studies have shown that religion was impo�ant for Catholic parents
_chposing Catholic schools (Smolicz and Moody, 1978, Atkinson and
Atkinson, 1980, Burrell, 1981). Burrell's study found less support for the
practice of Christianity, in Ballarat schools, amongst Anglican/Protestant
parents.
An investigation of reasons for parental choice of schools in the ACT
(reported in Seiffert, 1993: 37) showed that:
* religion seemed to be the only factor differentiating between
Catholic and public school parents.
* religious orientation was important for 83% of the Christian
school's parents, and 30% of the other (traditional) private schools' parents.
* as less well-to-do parents were attracted to the Christian school,
they might well not have been in a position to afford the more expensive
private schools, thus not have them as a serious option to consider.
Partington's study (1989) on students transferring schools, showed that
religion was not an important factor, except for those choosing a 'New
Christian' school with a 'persuasively Christian character', and in one of the
Catholic, co-educational schools. As Partington reported that government
schools were seen as inadequate in 'standards of work', 'commitment of
12
teachers and the behaviour of students' (1989: 35), it would be interesting
to know whether the parents who chose the Christian schools, really did so
for what might be considered Christian compassion/care for underachieving
students, rather than for the idealistic, spiritual relationship with Christ that
would be fostered in these schools.
Morrison's study (1985)[reported in Seiffert, 1993: 37] showed that the
religious orientation of the Anglican schools studied was unimportant for
most parents. They were more concerned about the moral direction of a
school rather than its religious stance.
Brown (1985: 23)[reported in Baker, 1990: 11], found that established
church schools may have been unacceptable alternatives, for parents
choosing Christian schools, because of:
* high fee structures, making these schools unaffordable, and
* the apparently declining Christian stance of many church schools,
making it difficult to distinguish them from government schools. Hansen
(1969: 16) added evidence to support this position when he found that 68%
of boys surveyed in Protestant schools considered the influence of
Christianity to be weak or almost non-existent. r
The Atkinsons' study (1980) found that schools' _ religious affiliations were
less likely to be considered important by parents choosing state schools for
their children, in the Frankston area, south of Melbourne. Young's study
(1986: 60) of parents' reasons for choosing Carey Baptist Granunar School,
showed religious factors at 11th position (response rate 73%) and Baptist
affiliation at 18th position (response rate 20%).
The above studies added weight to Seiffert's contention (1993: 38) that: for the vast majority of parents, religion at school is unimportant and those who do consider it important are usually more concerned with finding a conservative approach to morals, religion and life in general.
He also found that for some parents, religious issues were a negative factor
in choosing a school.
Many studies (above r have presented the parents' viewpoints, but what do
the students think? This question is not often asked. Even though he did
not follow it through, Kallmier saw the necessity for an 'investigation of
13
pupil perceptions of Christian Community Schools [which] would
demonstrate to what degree students reflect the attitudes and values of the
school and their parents ... and determine whether students accept the values
and ideals that are part of the fabric of the schools (1988: 50-1). The Heathdale study took note of Kallmier's vital point of including
students' views.
1.5 Religiosity
It is vital to have a clear idea as to what religious commitment (often called
religiosity) entails, in order to obtain a good understanding of the place and
value of religion in a school.
Since World War IT, some social scientists have shown renewed interest in
religion due in part, perhaps, to research findings that religion does indeed
make a difference in people's attitudes and behaviour (Glock and Stark,
1965: x) . Glock and Stark defined religion:
as one variety of value orientations, those institutionalized systems r
of beliefs, symbols, values, and practices that provide ... solutions to ... questions of ultimate meaning (1965: 17)
Religiosity may be defined and/or measured as either a highly generalized or as a very precise and diversely structured phenomenon, depending on the uses to which it is put.. .. Any scheme of religious measures must be judged by its capacity for answering worthwhile questions. (Roof, in Wuthnow, 1979: 36).
In Australia, Hughes and Blombery's analysis of data from the Combined
Churches Survey (1988) led to the identification of two types of religiosity
among church attenders: access religiosity, and values religiosity (Figure
1.1). Access religiosity, which emphasised access to God, consisted of two
further patterns:
* conversionism, where the life of the church is seen as revolving
around the act of saving people from the world, followed by daily
interaction with God (found mainly in Pentecostal, Baptist and other
smaller Protestant denominations), and
14
* devotionalism, where response to God's love with loyalty and
devotion is mainly expressed through church attendance (found across the
denominations).
Figure 1.1 Four Patterns of Faith Among Attenders
Access Religiosity Value Religiosity
CHURC . Converting CLERGY: ensl
Conversion Ism Conventionalism Devotlonallsm Prlncipllsm
Source: Hughes and Blombery, 1990: 14. Values religiosity was seen to consist of:
* conventialism, where keeping the Ten ' Commandments was ,.
. Identified by many as the most important aspect of faith (i.e. diligent
obedience to rules - with strength in the Catholic and some parts of the
Anglican church), and
* principlism, where. the focus is on ethical principles (e.g. caring
for and helping others - found particularly in the Uniting, but also other
. mainline churches, among the most highly educated, many of whom are
professionals).
The patterns are not completely separate and opposed to one another, but part of a continuum along which individuals may move in either direction as their faith develops. They are not different versions of Christianity but different emphases. (Blombery & Hughes, 1 993: 22)
These patterns, of a qualitative nature, showed the difficulty of providing a
definitive measure of religiosity for comparative -purposes.
Much research, including de Vaus' (1980) & Kallmier's (1988) work in
Australian schools, has relied on the question of church attendance as ail indicator of religious commitment. Limitations could arise from the use of
a single factor for such an important characteristic.
15
Glock and Stark ( 1965 : 20) proposed five dimensions to provide a frame of
reference for studying religion and assessing religiosity:
*experiential *ritualistic *ideological *intellectual *consequential.
Leavey et al.(1 992: 5) translated these five dimensions into belief,
knowledge, ritual, religious experience and moral behaviour, to give a functional measure of religious commitment in a study of sponsoring faith
at Year 1 1 in Catholic Girls' schools in NSW.
Within the Heathdale study, a comprehensive religiosity measure, based on Glock and Stark's work, was developed, as the question of religious commitment was considered of major importance in its relationship to
background and expectations of students and parents in this Christian school. The Heathdale study contained a traditional view of religiosity as an individual's belief and behaviour in relation to the supernatural (God),
as evidenced in church-type beliefs and values (i.e. bounded by
institutionalised religious fonns [from Wuthnow, 1 979: 1 8]).
1.6 Heathdale - A Special Case
y
-�he Rev. Joe Westlake was the Werribee Baptist minister at the time Heathdale was established. As the founding 'father' of Heathdale, he said,
'It was designed to offer a quality education in a. Christian ethos, which is
different from Christian education.' By this, he meant, 'Secular education would be de-secularised, where possible, keeping the quality high, without
losing the roots of the Judaeo-Christian ethic' (personal interview, February, 1 992).
The Background! History of Heathdale, expressed in the Interim Prospectus' (essentially undianged since 1 98 1), highlighted the centrality of
religious beliefs and their relationship with home and school:
Christian schooling has . . . arisen . . . [because of] . . . disenchantment with the secular humanism and materialistic bias found in many other educational systems. People . . . are seeking . . . quality education consistent with deeply-felt religious beliefs . . . which affinn traditional standards . . . in the home . . . . many other felt needs could be met by establishing a Christian school. . .in operation by February 1 982.
The school's statement of faith was built on that of the Baptist Church, drawing heavily on the Evangelical Alliance statement at the same time.
16
Heathdale was planned to be multi-denominational, with a mainstream,
evangelical stance. The Rev. Westlake saw no problems with Muslims and
Buddhists in the school, as the multi-denominational referred to
sponsorship of Heathdale (i. e. the eight denominations named in the
Council for Christian Education in Schools, Victoria).
A Statement of the Theological Foundations of the School and the
Philosophy of Education were included in the Interim Prospectus, so that
parents would understand the school's Christian ethos and the intended
practical outworking of same (See Appendix A).
It was to be understood that they [i.e. parents] would accept, and encourage, the Christian teaching of the School, so that there would be no conflict between what was taught at School and . . . at home. (Cerne & Hickman, 1 993 : 40)
Heathdale has become a 'low-fee', multi-denominational, co-educational
school offering educational opportunities to students in Years Prep- 12 in
the Western suburbs of Melbourne. Apart from the Catholic schools,
Heathdale is the only 'Christian' school which offers low-fee secondary r
. -education in the region from Keilor (Overnewton Anglican Community
College) to Geelong (Christian College, Highton and Covenant College).
1.7 The Focal Questions For This Study
. Many studies have been undertaken on parental choice of schooling. The
major reasons given included good academic results, discipline and caring
environment. Others, such as religious commitment" and status, were less
. likely to draw a straightforward response. This study has attempted to
elicit the expectations held by the students and parents in a particular
school, to see if there were factors that could be used as potential
predictors for harmony with the school's ethos and operation. A
satisfactory method could be made available to other schools.
Anecdotal records have been presented in a book which celebrated the
tenth anniversary of Heathdale Christian College - A Vision Becomes a
Reality 1982-1992. Numerous personal interviews were conducted before
this book was written by two ex-staff members, Helen Cerne and Bronwen
Hickman. They wrote ( 1993 : 89):
parents choose Christian schools for a variety of reasons. As the School has grown, increasingly, there is a diversity offamilies enrolled there. Most, because they are finn believers in God and want this inculcated through the educational process. Others choose it because it means traditional moral values and firm discipline away from the laissez laire approach of a pluralistic secular society. Others select it because it is a private school with emphasis on good academic standards along traditional lines.
17
These choices can cause different priorities. _ _ conflict between needs as perceived by teachers and expectations as expressed by parents who, as clients, expect a certain service.
The empirical study reported below was designed to complement the sympathetic, historical approach reported in the above book, as well as provide useful information to the HCC Council which is currently deliberating over the school's enrolment policy. To this end, the key questions raised in the study were:
1. What are the background characteristics of the parents and students served by the school?
2 . How religious are the parents and students7 3a. What do the parents and students expect from the school? 3b_ How much agreement is there between the students' and parents'
expectations? 4a. What are the relationships between background, religiosity and
, expectations? 4b_ How do these relate to the stated goals of Heath dale? 5. In the light of expectations of Heath dale, what is the effect of
enrolment policy on the Christian ethos of the school?
Figure 1.2 A student's view of the administration block at Heathdale. (Courtesy of Michael Needham, Year 9, 1992)
18
CHAPTER TWO
THE STUDY, IN FOCUS
2.1 Nature and Scope of the Study
This empirical study was based on survey data gathered from the students and parents who made up the Senior School (Years 9-12) at Heathdale Christian College, Werribee, Victoria, in Teon 4, 1992.
Only the Senior School was chosen for two reasons: 1 . The older students were more likely to show a divergence of
opinion as they expressed' their beliefs and expectations, rather than merely reflecting those of parents andlor teachers, as might be 'expected of younger students.
2. As the question of careers was important, older students were considered more likely to have clearer ideas of their future plans, than would younger students.
r
The Beliefs, Expectations And Careers Survey (BEACS) was developed during July to September, 1 992, trialled in late September (on five families with children previously enrolled at Heathdale), and distributed to each student and parent in mid-October.
As the researcher was Assistant Principal at Heathdale, in 1 992, it was relatively easy to gain access to the students to have the survey completed in class groups. All but the Year 12 Art group were surveyed by the researcher in' single lesson time-slots per class. The Art group was given the surveys by the class teacher. A Freddo frog was given to each student on completion of the questionnaire. The ACER WL and WQ ability tests were also administered in single lesson time-slots.
The BEACS questionnaires were sent home, via the students, with requests for the parents to complete and return them within one week. A Freddo frog was included with each questionnaire, as a small token of thanks for the effort expended in completing the questionnaire.
18
CHAPTER TWO
THE STUDY, IN FOCUS
2.1 Nature and Scope of the Study
This empirical study was based on survey data gathered from the students
and parents who made up the Senior School (Years 9-12) at Heathdale
Christian College, Werribee, Victoria, in Term 4, 1992.
Only the Senior School was chosen for two reasons:
1 . The older students were more likely to show a divergence of
opinion as they expressed' their beliefs and expectations, rather than merely
reflecting those of parents and! or teachers, as might be 'expected of younger
students.
2. As the question of careers was important, older students were
considered more likely to have clearer ideas of their future plans, than
would younger students. r
The Beliefs, Expectations And Careers Survey (BEACS) was developed
during July to September, 1992, trialled in late September (on five families
with children previously enrolled at Heathdale), and distributed to each
student and parent in mid-October.
As the researcher was Assistant Principal at Heathdale, in 1992, it was
relatively easy to gain access to the students to have the survey' completed
in class groups. All but the Year 12 Art group were surveyed by the
researcher 'in' single lesson time-slots per class. The Art group was given
the surveys by the class teacher. A Freddo frog was given to each student
on completion of the questionnaire. The ACER WL and WQ ability tests
were also administered in single lesson time-slots.
The BEACS questionnaires were sent home, via the students, with requests
for the parents to complete and return them within one week. A Freddo . ,
frog was included with each questionnaire, as a small token of thanks for
the effort expended in completing the questionnaire.
19
2.2 Response Rate to Surveys
Students who were absent when their class was surveyed were followed up as a group when all were present at school, in the week following the initial surveys . All but three Year 12 students completed the survey (i.e. a 97%
response rate for students).
Twelve parents (8 fathers, 4 mothers) refused to complete the questionnaire (see Table 2.1). Of the available parents, 96% made a response to the BEACS questionnaire.
Table 2.1
Parent Response Rate for BEACS Questionnaire by Year Level.
Year level
Responses 9 10 11 12 Total
Fathers' returns 39 21 15 11 86 Father - No reply 1 0 0 3 4 Verbally declined 5 · 0 1 . 2 8 r Father Deceased 2 0 1 2 5
103 �others' retums 44 21 1 6 14 95 �other - No reply 1 0 0 3 4 Verbally declined · 2 . 0 1 1 4
TotaJ. in Year 47 21 17 1 8 103
A letter was sent . to parents who did not reply within the one week requested (Appendix B). Up to two phone calls, at weekly intervals, were made subsequently to gain as complete a census as possible. A further eight parents (4 mothers, 4 fathers) made no comment on the 'survey at all. There was the same rate of reply from parents irrespective of the language spoken at home (i.e', one third of the parents who did not complete the survey were from non-English speaking backgrounds, including the only Buddhist family in the Senior School at that time).
20
2.3 Definition
Religiosity has been defined here as an individual's belief and behaviour in
relation to the supernatural (God), as evidenced in church-type beliefs and values (i.e. bounded by institutionalised religious fonns).
2.4 Instrumentation
2.4.1 The ACER Higher Tests WL-WQ.
* These tests were used to give a measure of the students' general
ability as revealed by perfonnance in solving problems using material of a
verbal and numeric nature, for ages 13+ years.
2.4.2 Beliefs, Expectations And Careers Survey (BEACS).
Nearly all of the items used in this instrument were selected from previous,
related surVeys, in their original or slightly modified fonn (see Appendix C f'nr " ... .... py of BEACS).
r
,, "
* BEACS PART I: GENERAL INFORMATION gave insight into each
respondent's background:
1 . gender of student, year level, home suburb 2. composition offamily 3 . country of birth 4. language spoken at home 5. age of respondent 6. parents' highest level of education 7. parents' major form of employment 8. respondent's religious affiliation
If the mother was currently engaged in home duties and had indicated a
previous job role, the previous job role was code,:d for this analysis. This methodology, therefore, reduced the home duties component and inflated
the values for the other areas compared with the Werribee community
figures.
* The base questions for this section were selected from the National
Church Life Survey (1991) and Kalhnier (1988), modified where necessary
to suit the respondents in this study.
2 1
'" BEACS PART II : BASIC BELIEF AND EXPERIENCE SURVEY.
The BEACS survey contained two sets of questions relating to each
respondent's 'degree of religious commitment. Previous studies (Hansen,
1 97 1 ; de Vaus, 1980; & Kallmier, 1 988) used the frequency of attendance
at religious observances as a key indicator of commitment. Leavey et al.
(I 992) included prayer and Bible reading as major components of a
'religious practice' measure. Hughes and Blombery proposed a qualitative
measure of access religiosity and value religiosity (I 990) which they used
to differentiate between church-attenders.
As this study was undertaken on a Christian Community School, it was felt
that a close inspection of the students' and parents' religiosity should be
made in comparison with their stated religious affiliation. To this end, the
work of Glock and Stark (1965) was used to identify five characteristics
which were used to help develop the religiosity 'measure'. The five
characteristics were:
Public practice (PUB) Private practice (PRI)
Belief {BEL) Experience (EXP)
Salience ofbelief {SAL)
r
PART n ofthe BEACS survey contained 35 items which were selected from
the National Church Life Survey ( 1 991), and the Combined Churches
Study for Faith and Mission ( 1 987), as well as original items from the
researcher. The above five factors contained 29 of the items, with at least
three items being placed in each factor:
PUB BI-6 BEL B23-3 1 EXP B9, 19 & 20
PRI B7, 8 & 10 SAL Bl 1-18
A complete religiosity measure (CLUSCOM) was developed for the
students and parents using the SPSSX QUICK CLUSTER program with the
above five factors. Four cluster groups were chosen, in an attempt to
differentiate the cases studied into four levels of religiosity:
1 VH Very High 3 M Moderate
2 H High 4 L Low
For some later analyses, these four levels were condensed into two:
Hr Higher (VH and H) Lr Lower (M and L).
22
The initial values for the four cluster groups were based on an inspection of
the frequency variables for each item and 'ideal' cases with highest, lowest
and intennediate values for each factor (see Appendix D for values).
The three groups showed high and statistically significant correlation
between their religiosity measures (p<.00 1 for each): Religiosity measures Pearson r
Student x Mother . 65 Student x Father .70 Mother x Father . 81
The other items from PART II and the items I-VI at the end of the BEACS
survey were the Hughes and Blombery criteria for Conversionism,
Devotionalism, Conventionalism and Principlism used to create an
. alternative cluster grouping (A VREL). But, the CLUSCOM religiosity
measure was preferred because:
a. it placed more cases in Higher religiosity levels (see Table 2.2).
b. it showed better agreement between students and parents for r
each factor and level within the measure.
c. it gave higher correlation on religiosity between students and
their parents, and between the parents for the complete measure.
d. it was easier to score, than A VREL.
, Table 2.2
. The distribution of cases in each CLUSCOM religiosity group
CLUSCOM religiosity group
Religiosity Students Fathers Mothers level 1 VH 1 5 27 3 8 2 H 39 22 30 3 M 29 22 1 7 4 L 1 7 15 9
Total 100 86 94
• BEACS PART ill: EXPECT A nONS OF SCHOOL.
The 39 basic items in this section were selected from the work of Kallmier
(1988) and Baker (1 990), rewworded slightly to fit the format of this survey.
23
The items E35a-f were the Mayer key competencies (1992: 9). All but .
three of the 45 items were distributed to nine expectation factors, for
comparison purposes:
PRS - School's prestige - items El , 10, 24, 27 XPR - Students' personal expression - E25, 3 1 , 36 ACD - Academic standards - E6, 14, 19, 26, 37 TCH - Teacher quality - E9, 1 1 , 22, 28, 32 STU - Student behaviour - E3, 16, 30, 40 PRP - Preparing students for employment - B 18, 35a-f MRL - Moral standards - E4, 7, 20, 23 RLG - Religious nature - E8, 12, 17, 21 , 29, 38 FRI - Friends (peer group) - E5, 1 5, 33, 39
The respondents were instructed to express their opinion on each of the
expectation items, by completing a 5-point Likert scale: 4 = most important to me 3 = very important to me 2 = of some importance to me 1 = of very little importance to me ° = not at all important to me
The NEFOS instrument is convenient to use with families wishing to join the secondary section of a Christian school (see Appendix E).
r -- " '�- BEACS PART IV: SCHOOL SUCCESS AND CAREER PLANNING.
The results of this section are not reported here, as they form the
preliminary work for another project investigating students' 'Personal
Values, Self Concepts and Career Plans'.
- 2.4.3 Anonymity.
* The anonymity of responses was protected - by code numbering
_ each questionnaire and checking off the class master rolls when each was
returned. This enabled tardy parents to be followed up without identifYing
individuals' responses.
* The questionnaire gave an advantage over the interview
procedure by providing anonymity which . was important for reducing
potential embarrassment in sensitive areas like religious issues.
2.4.4 Reliability variables.
* Multiple-item indicators were used to create more reliable
measures for the religiosity and expectation factors, rather than using single
item measures. Only items with item-to-scale coefficients greater than 0.3
were left iIi the appropriate factor.
--
24
* As it was not convenient to use a test-retest procedure with the
BEACS questionnaire, item-item correlations were used to provide a
measure of overall reliability for the religiosity and expectations factors.
The mean alpha value, across the three groups, was at least 0.7 for each of
the scales, indicating their reliability as measures (de Vaus, 199 1 : 255-6) of
religiosity (in CLUSCOM - see Table 2.3) and Nine Expectation Factors Of
Schools (NEFOS - see Table 2.4) . The full values for the reliability variables
are listed in Appendix F.
Table 2.3
Reliability Values for the CLUSCOM Religiosity Measure
(Alpha values)
CLUSCOM Groups
Religiosity Factors Student Father Mother Mean Value
. Public practice .82 .90 .88 .87
Private practice .82 .93 .85 .87
Salience of belief .84 .93 .86 .88
Experience .52 .84 .73 .70
Belief .82 .98 .96 . .92 r
- - -
The religiosity items formed very coherent factors, with the exception of
some signs of weakness in the Experience factor for the students.
Table 2.4
_ Reliability Values for the NEFOS Expectations Scale - (Alpha values)
NEFOS Factors Student Father Mother Mean value _ School's prestige .63 . 8 1 .77 .74
Students' personal expression .69 .70 .70 .70 Academic standards .83 .88 .84 .85
Teacher quality .58 .79 .80 .72
Student behaviour .69 .80 .74 .74
Preparing students for employment . 83 .66 .7 1 .73
Moral standards .74 .75 .63 .71
Religious nature .93 .94 .89 .92
Friends .67 .67 .76 .70
25
2.5 Limitations
2.5.1 Numbers.
• Each of the three groups was relatively small (i.e. fathers 86,
mothers 94, students 100).
* Some of the parent data was duplicated as 1 1 families had two
children, and one had three, in the Senior School at Heathdale, in 1 992.
* Two special students, grade-placed in Year 9, were not included
in this study, as the number was too low for comparative purposes.
2.5.2 Scores on religiosity items.
• The religiosity items were scored from an evangelical/charismatic
viewpoint. The scores should suit most people from Reformed through to
Pentecostal persuasion, but maybe not all liberal theologians would agree
on all items (see Appendix G for scores on religiosity items).
• The scores were, however, internally consistent for this study.
2.5.3 Timing of enrolment.
• This study did not differentiate between recent intakes and r -- -· �tudents who had spent up to ten years (maximium) in the school. With a
large spread of enrolment times across a small number of students, and with
only about 10% direct entrants at Senior School level, any sub-groups
formed on the basis of 'timing of enrolment' would have been too small to
perform appropriate statistical analysis for comparative purposes.
2.5.4 Reasons for enrolment.
* Reasons for selecting Heathdale were not sought. nor was the
, question of financial capacity to pay for more expensive education, to see if Heathdale was a genuine choice. or merely a place of convenience.
2.5.5 One view. * As this was a once-off snapshot of Heathdale, it can only describe
how things were in Term 4, 1992. A more extensive study might have
shown the consistency. or rate of change, in the religiosity and expectations
of the school community.
26
2.5.6 Expectations or experience? * From the questionnaire, it was not possible to know whether the
respondents were indicating their expectations on entry to Heathdale, or
reflecting on the experience they have had with the school, thus giving pseudo-evaluative comments. An interview program could have helped
clarify this situation. Whatever, the opinions expressed were taken as the
current expectations of the parents and students.
2.5.7 Researcher bias.
* The researcher being Assistant Principal did not appear to have an adverse effect on the students who were accustomed to completing questionnaires to help with his studies. Discussions on other topics, for
example, TV, and careers, yielded comparable comments to results gained from analysis of students' 'responses to previous questionnaires. This lent a
degree of comfort that the students would have responded meaningfully to
this study. * No such guarantee can be given for the parents. As no interviews
were conducted, except on the trial group, it was assumed that the parents
gave honest, heartfelt responses. The researcher pad conducted student
·careers information evenings with the parents present, where the tone and
interaction with parents was open and positive. As they did not appear to be intimidated by the person, it is reasonable to assume the same open
response to the survey. This is supported by the fact that less than 5% of
parents made no response to the survey, a further 6% verbally declining to
complete it.
2.5.8 Missing responses.
* Almost all the students completed each item on the BEACS, as these were cursorily checked for completeness by the researcher before
handing over the Freddo frog. * Missing responses were equated to don't know/uncertain, so were
assigned the minimum value for calculations involving scores (Le. religiosity
and expectations factors). * Other items were treated as missing by the relevant SPSSX
statistical procedures.
27
2.6 Statistics
2.6.1 Nature of variables.
* BEACS PARTS I & II contained nominal and ordinal variables in
the background and religiosity items.
* The scores assigned to the religiosity items were added in groups
to give five religiosity factor scores, used with SPSSX QUICK CLUSTER to
give a complete religiosity measure (CLUSCOM).
* The factor scores, or scales, based on summated ordinal questions
were safely used for interval-level statistics (de Vaus, 199 1 : 3 14).
* A 5-point Likert scale, from 0-4, was used to provide interval
values for the expectation items. Summations gave factor scores. .
* The rank ordering questions were not easily interpreted as a few
people ranked more than one item equally high or low.
2.6.2 Univariate analysis techniques.
* Frequency distributions were used as appropriate (e.g. student
population) .
* Standardised z-scores were used to compare items in the same r
:< e.g,· expectation) factor:
z-score = (raw score - mean)/standard deviation.
(i. e. a positive z-score shows that a given item scored higher than the
average of all the items in a particular factor.)
* In a normally-distributed population, equal numbers of cases
- would be expected in each of the higher and lower responses to an item .
. The Sign Test was a non-parametric test used to determine whether a
significant number of cases fell in either the higher, or the lower, categories
. (i.e. to see if a skewed distribution existed in the population).
* The pairs t-test was used to compare the means of related
variables (e.g. student and parent religiosity levels), in normally-distributed
populations, with equal variances.
2.6.3 Bivariate analysis techniques.
* Crosstabulations were used extensively to detect association
between two variables. Many crosstabulations were reduced to 2x2
matrices, yielding four-fold point-biserial coefficients, referred to as phi
coefficients. Chi-square was used as the inferential statistic (de Vaus,
199 1 : 166 & 194).
28
* Pearson's r was used with interval/interval variables which both
had small numbers of categories (de Vaus, 1 99 1 : 196).
2.6.4 Multivariate analysis techniques.
* In discriminant analysis, a linear combination of the independent
variables was formed and served as a basis for assigning cases to groups.
Thus, information contained in multiple independent variables was
summarised in a single index (e.g. in the students' level of religiosity).
* Note: Two-group linear discriminant analysis is closely related to
multiple linear regression.
* The canonical correlation is a measure of the degree of
association between the discriminant scores and the groups. It is equivalent
to eta from the oneway analysis of variance.
* In the two-group situation, the canonical correlation is simply the
usual Pearson correlation coefficient (Norusis, 1 990: 87).
29
CHAPTER THREE
THE DIFFERENT HUES OF HEATHDALE
This chapter provides an answer to the question, 'What are the background
characteristics of the parents and students served by the school?'
3.1 Student Enrolment
In its tenth year of operation (1 992), the Senior School cohort at Heathdale
numbered 1 03 . Four buses brought students to the school from the
northern regions of Melton, St Albans and Sunshine, across to
Williamstown, with others coming by car from as far south as Little River
(see Figure 3 . 1).
Figure 3.1
Heathdah�'s student catchment area
"El80U�NE AIRPORT
MELTON NIOORIE
ROCK9ANK
Seventy per cent of the students in this study came from the local
Werribee/Hoppers Crossing region (see Figure 3.2 for student numbers).
This is similar to the 60-65% of local students who attended the
Westbourne and Williamstown Grammar Schools, Werrlbee campus, which
has grown to 613 students in Years 9- 1 2 since it started 1 5 years ago.
30
McKillop College (the regional Catholic school), which is 2S years old, had an enrolment of 717 students in Years 9-12, in 1992.
Figure 3.2
Bee Senior School student population, 1992
30 25 20 1 5 1 0
5 o
30 • boys I1EJ g.ids
Y e ar 9 Y e ar Y e ar Y e ar 10 ' 1·1 12
In summary, Heathdale attracted approximately 7% of the Year 9-12
students who attended non-government schools in the Werribee region in 1992.
Results from this study were compared with data extracted from 199 1
Census data (Tables BOS and B 13) to determine the percentage of I
Werribee groups represented by 14- 1 7 year-olds 'at Heathdale (Figure 3 .3).
It was not surprising to find that Heathdale attracted more Protestant students than those from any other religious group. '
Figure 3.3
% of Werribee groups represented by 14-17 year-old� at Bee
Catho lic/O'dox
no n-Christia n t==---------------l - Boys
N o re lig ion CI Girls
U nspe cifie d
T OQ l po p · j;;;;;;;;;�iiiiii"IIT.i 2% % of each group at H CC
Significantly more girls came from the local WerribeeIHoppers Crossing region, whereas more boys travelled to Heathdale from outside the local area (see Table 3 . 1) .
Table 3.1 Students' Place of Residence
Students
Residence Boys Girls N * local 57% 80% 70 non-local 43% 20% 30 N 44 56 100
i\�( 1, N=100) = 6.50, 12< . 0 1 . Phi = .25 Note: *local = WerribeeIHoppers Crossing
3.2 Family Composition
31
With no sole male parents, and 5% single female-parent families, the nuclear family structures were much more evident in the Heathdale sample studied than those in the Werribee population as a whole (Table 3 .2).
Table 3.2 Status of single females at BCC and in Werribee
Single females BCC Werribee pop. Widowed 2% 4.7% Separated }3% 4. 1% Divorced } 7.4% De facto 0% *7.8% Total 5% 24%
Note": __ � could include some of above r
With 2% of the mothers being widowed and 3% separated or divorced, the
Heathdale families exhibited less than one third of the Werribee community
rate for families with single females ( 199 1 Census B06 ). The Bursar
confinned that none of the 7.8% de facto component, in the Werribee
population (Table B36), was present in the Heathdale sample.
3.3 Place of Birth! Language at Home
Table 3 .3 shows that, overall, the percentage of students born in Australia
Table 3.3
Place of Birth for Beathdale & Werribee Populations
HCC HCC HCC Total
Place of Birth Student Father Mother W'bee Australia 73% 46% 50% 73%
Other English Speaking Country 9% 20% 1 8% 9% Non English Speaking Country 1 8% 34% 32% 1 8%
32
matched that in the Werribee population for people aged 15 + years. Less
than half of the total Heathdale parents were born in Australia. As 57% of
fathers and 55% of mothers from the local area were Australian-born, a
larger number of Heath dale parents who lived non-locally were not.
More non-local families were also from non-English, rather than English
speaking backgrounds (see Table 3 .4).
Table 3.4
Language spoken at home for BCC & Werribee population
Populations Language Total Werribee HCC families Non-local spoken at home population in Werribee HCC families
English 78% 80% 57%
*NESB 22% 20% 43%
Note: * NESB = non English speaking background
Significantly more students (12<0.02, Sign Test) from non-English speaking
background (48%) travelled greater distances to �ttend Heathdale, than
_ _--.Students from English speaking background {23%}.
3.4 Ages of Students and Parents
Nearly all the students and parents were in the age ranges expected (see
, Table 3.5) .
. Table 3.5
BeathdaIe's Students' and Parents' Ages
Year level Students Mothers Fathers
Age 9 10 1 1 12 N Age N N
14 5 5 30-4 6 3
15 40 3 43 35-9 24 14
16 1 13 5 19 40-4 38 26
17 1 * 5 9 8 23 45-9 19 29
1 8 2 6 8 50-4 6 10
19 1 1 * 2 >55 3
N 47 21 17 1 5 100 93 85
Note: * The 17 year-old in Year 9 and the 19 year-old in Year 1 1 came from NESB.
33
3.5 Parent Educational Level
The fathers from the Werribee area were more highly educated than their
wives and the non-local fathers (Table 3 .6). The mothers had similar
educational levels, to each other, but the non-local mothers had a
considerably higher percentage of tertiary degrees and diplomas than their
husbands. Both groups of mothers had less trade qualifications than their
husbands.
Table 3.6
Educational Levels in Heathdale Parents & Werribee Population
Max Level Total HCC non-local local HCC Werribee
of parents HCC parents population
education parents 15+ years Dega:>ip 38'.4% 19.2% 46.7% 6.9%
Male Trade Cert 26.7% 19.2% 30.0% 26.8%
No Qual. 34.9% 61 .6% 23 .3% 66.3% ,
,.-- �.-----
Deg/Dip 3 1 .9% 36.7% 29.7% 7.7%
Female Trade Cert 5.3% 3.3% 6.3% 7.0%
No Qual. 62.8% 60.0% 64.0% 85.3%
The local Heathdale parent population reflected Burrell's findings (198 1 :
22) that 'the educational standard reached by fathers was higher than that of
the mothers' in the non-government schools which he studied in Ballarat.
The Werribee population data came from the 1991 Census (Table B I6),
which contained the educational levels of persons aged above 1 5 years. As 48% of the male and 47% of the female population in Werribee were under
the age of 34 years, and only 4% of the fathers and 7% of the mothers at
Heathdale were in this age range, it was not possible to compare parental
educational levels with community standards, with the data currently
available.
34
3.6 Major Form of Parental Employment
The high percentage of parents in professional and administrative
occupations indicated that Heathdale did not represent the typical
population of Werribee. Kallmier ( 1988 : 49) found that parents from three
Christian Community Schools in the western suburbs of Sydney were not,
for the most part, employed in labouring or unskilled work. This matched
Hughes and Blombery's findings in the churches ( 1990: 1 1 0) that 'compared
with percentages in the population, the manual workers, and to a lesser
extent the people in skilled trades, are under-represented . . . while those in
professional and administrative occupations are over-represented.'
At Heathdale, more local parents had administrative/professional
occupations, with less working as labourers, compared with the non-local
parents. Nearly twice as many local mothers were engaged in home duties,
compared with non-locals. There was also a lower rate of unemployment
among local parents compared with non-locals (Table 3 .7) .
Table 3.7 r
- .-Major Form of Employment of Parents at Heathdale compared with
th W ·b I f e ern ee �o�u a Ion.
Occupation Total non-local local #Werribee
HCC HeC HCC �o�ulation
AdminlQrof 54.7% 34.6% 63 .3% 1 5 .5%
Male Labour etc 44.2% 53 .9% 35 .0% 63 .4%
Unem�oyed 1 . 1% 1 1 .5% 1 .7% 17.6%
Admin/prof 34.0% 26.7% 3 7.5% 9.4%
Female Labour etc 48 .9% 60.0% 43 .8% 49.2%
Home duties 16.0% 1 0.0% 1 8 .7% 3 1 .6%*
UneI1!QJoyed 1 . 1% 3 .3% 0% 5.6%
• TIlls was the total Female population listed as 'Not in the Workforce'.
# 1991 Census Tables B20 & B22, for Males 35+ and Females 25�54 years of age.
As would be expected, there was good, overall correlation of parents'
educational level with occupational status:
Mothers "i\l , N=94) = 34.7. U<.000, Phi = .61
Fathers ')..\1, N=86) = 14.6, y=.OOO, Phi = .41
3S
No significant difference was found between the educational levels of
parents from English-speaking background and NESB, but NESB fathers
had lower occupational status than those from English speaking
backgrounds (�\ 1 , N=86) = 7.63, 12=.006, Phi = .30).
The non-Australian born mothers (of boys), who had lower occupational
status than the Australian born mothers (�>'{1 , N=40) = 5.08, g=.02, Phi =
.36), were the ones whose sons needed academic help, as the boys' abilities
and results were low, particularly in Mathematics.
3.7 Religious Affiliation
According to Kaldor et al.( 1992: 14):
in the wider community today the notion of denominational affiliation and its significance has diminished greatly. People are willing to search more widely for meaning . . . . Particularly within Anglican! Protestant Australia, congregations can no longer count on those nominally affiliated to their denomination to want to become involved.
" =the-vast majority of families belonging to the Senior School at Heathdale
Christian College had stated Protestant religious affiliation (8 1 %-students,
82%-fathers, 85%-mothers). There were · almost equally small
representations from the Catholic/Orthodox, non-Christian, Unspecified
and No-religion groups (see Table 3 . 8).
A much larger proportion of the Large Protestant Cl!ld Pentecostal sections
of the community were represented in Heathdale, compared with the
- Werribee population as a whole. These people are often more zealous in
their beliefs, more than likely being convinced of the necessity of having
their children nurtured in a school with ideals like their owo.
Heathdale was established by the Werribee Baptist Church in conjunction
with other active church communities. Hughes and Blombery (1990: 22)
indicated that the adherents to the Baptist and Pentecostal denominations
were very similar in their patterns of faith, with nearly 1 00% being oriented
toward access religiosity, where 'most of them defined the Cluistian faith in
terms ofa personal relationship with God' (ibid., 1 990: 13).
36
Table 3.8
Religious Affiliation at Bee compared with the Werribee Population
Population
HCC HCC HCC total local non-Whee HCC local
Religious affiliation students fathers mothers pop. students HCC students
N 100 86 94 72172 70 30
Catholic/Orthodox 7% 5% 5% 40.8% 7% 7%
Mainstream 29% 30% 3 1% 28.7% 34% 17%
Other Large Protestant 32% 29% 32% 2.3% 23% 53%
Pentecostal 19% 21% 22% 0.5% 20% 17%
Smaller Protestant 1% 2% 0% 1 .2% 2% 0%
non-Christian 2% 5% 5% ' 2.4% , 3% 0%
Unspecified 5% 4% 2% 0.2% " 4% 6%
No religion 5% 5% 3% 13 .3% 7% 0%
Not stated 10.6%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Note: Mai� = Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian. Lutheran
Other Large Protestant = Baptist, Church of Christ" Salvation Anny
Pentecostal = Apostolic, Assemblies of God. Christian Revival Crusade
Smaller Protestant = Christian & Missionary Alliance, Wesleyan Methodist
non-Christian = Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Muslim
The Buddhist family, with a son in Year 12, did not complete the survey.
From the data in this study, it appears that Heathdale perfonns a similar
function, in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, that Ballarat College does
for its region (i. e. in attracting the families with Protestant religious
affiliation), whereas the Catholic families generally choose Catholic schools
(Burrell, 198 1 : 20).
3.8 Student Abilities
3.8.1 Student general abiUty levels.
Overall, the student populace possessed slightly higher than average
language ability (on the ACER WL test, 69% scored >100, 1l<'005) and
general ability (on the combined ACER WLlWQ tests, 68% scored > 1 00,
p<.005 Sign Test) (see Figure 3 .4).
"
f: t f .
Figure 3.4
Student abilities
30 �-----------------------
25 �------��-------------
20 �----������-----% of
1 5
37
• W L-La nguage
• WQ-Maths students +----... ------\-.--,,�-.---- • W U W Q-General
10 +---��----�------��
5 +-��----------------�.
7 2 - 8 0 - 8 8 - 9 6 - 1 04- 1 1 2 - 1 20- 1 2 8 -7 9 8 7 9 5 1 0 3 1 1 1 1 1 9 1 27 1 3 6
S core
3.8.2 Ability, gender and achievement_
No significant difference was found comparing the ability levels of girls
with boys. As expected, significant correlation was found when students'
general ability levels were compared with their academic results in English,
Mathematics, Science and GeographyfHistory, at Year 9 (for those in Year
9) and Ye� 1 0 (for those in Years 10-12) (Table 3 .9). r
Table 3.9
Student General Ability and . Achievement
English Mathematics Science Geog.lHist.
girls boys girls boys girls boys
_ Chi-square 4.76 8.46 5 .96 5.91 7 . 17 4.06
. D.F. 1 1 1 1 1 1
N 55 44 55 44 55 43
. 12 .029 .004 .0 15 .01 5 .007 .044
Phi .29 .44 .33 .37 .36 .3 1
Note: boys' English, and girls' GeographylHistory results were not significant
English results correlated with general ability and language ability, for girls
only, whereas Mathematics results showed strong agreement with general
and Mathematics ability for both groups of students (Table 3 .9 and below):
Girls' English results x language ability --'<'\1, N=55) = 5.67, Q=.017, Phi = .32
Students' Maths results x Maths ability -X1(1, N=99) = 16.91, 12<.000, Phi = .41
38
The girls achieved significantly better results than the boys in English,
Mathematics, GeographylHistory and Practical subjects, but not Science, in
Years 9 & 1 0 at Heathdale (see Table 3 . 10).
Table 3.10
Gender and Achievement in School Assessments
English Mathematics Geography/ Practical
History subjects
Chi-square 22.7 3 . 92 12 .6 4.27
D.F. 1 1 1 1
N 99 99 96 97
Q <.000 .048 .000 . 03 9
Phi .48 .20 .36 .2 1
Note: girls achieved higher than the boys in Heathdale's assessments.
3.8.3 Country of birth, language, ability and achievement.
The Australian-born girls, boys with Australian-born mothers, and both
groups of students with Australian-born fathers, had significantly higher ,.
language ability than their counterparts. As would be expected, the NESB
students, and children of NESB parents, scored significantly lower than
those with English-speaking background (see Table 3 . 1 1).
Table 3.11 . . .
.. . Crosstabulation of Student Ability by Country of Birth & Language
AB/ student
NAB father
mother
ESB/ student
NESB father
mother
Language ability Maths ability General ability
boys girls boys girls boys girls
n.s. * n.s. * * *
* n.s. n.S.
** . * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
n.s. n.s.
n.s. **
n.s. *
n.s. **
n.s. * *
n.s. * *
n.s. **
n.s.
* *
* *
* *
AB "" Australian bo rn, NAB "" non Australian born
ESB = English speaking background, NESB "" non-English speaking background
Chi-square n.s."" not significant, * p<.05, .* p<.O l see Appendix H for full results.
AB and ESB all scored higher than NAB and NESB.
39
The non�Australian born boys, with related non.English speaking ability,
and boys who had parents from non�English speaking backgrounds showed
significantly lower maths ability (Table 3 . 1 1).
There was no significant difference in general ability between Australian
and non�AustraIian born students. There was, however, significant
differentiation in student general ability level, based on the parents' place of
birth and English�speaking background (Table 3 . 1 1).
It could be argued that the non-English speaking background students were
disadvantaged by using the ACER WL and WQ (language·based) tests to
measure academic ability. Albeit, these results gave afunctional measure
of ability, as the language of instruction (written and spoken) at Heathdale,
is English. This was borne out by the academic results at Years 9 & 1 0.
3.9 An Overview to this J.>oint
By its tenth year of operation, Heathdale had attracted a selectively small
cohort of students into Years 9�I2, with only 1% of. the local boys and 2% r
,. ... --. of the local girls, and about 3% of the students with Protestant affiliation
being drawn from the Werribee area.
The parent body represented in the Senior School at Heathdale Christian
College was atypical of the local area in that fewer were Australian-born
. and more had higher occupational levels, (with the possibility of higher
educational levels) than the general populace.
More families in Heathdale, than in the Werribee population as a whole,
reflected the traditional nuclear family composition of two parents, married
to each other, supporting their offspring.
The students mainly came from Protestant-affiliated families and possessed
slightly higher than average general ability levels and language ability.
However, significant variation existed in student general ability, not on the
basis of parental education or occupational status, but, on the basis of
country of birth and English'speaking background.
40
The girls generally achieved better results than the boys at Years 9 and 10.
even though they did not show superior intellect. The non-Australian born.
non-English speaking background boys scored significantly lower than their
counterparts in Mathematics and Science, attendant with their lower ability
in Mathematics.
This study will further investigate if there was any relationship between the
above factors and religious convictions, or see whether the predominantly
non-Catholic parents were seeking a low-fee school which offered
significant features other than religion for their children (i.e. whether their
expectations of Heath dale were based on conviction about Christian values,
or convenience).
r
41
CHAPTER FOUR
RELIGIOSITY, IN PERSPECTIVE
Having analysed the clients' background carefully, the key question
answered in this chapter is, How religious are the parents and students?'
4.1 Responses to Religiosity Items on the BEACS Survey
The religiosity items were distributed into five factors. Comments on the
individual items in each of these factors are listed below. The items,
together with the frequency of response for the students, and parents, are
listed in Appendix I. The significance of the results, using the Sign Test for
the responses with an * compared with the whole group, is also listed in Appendix I as well as in each of the Tables under the Figures below.
4.1.1 Public practice.
Summary results for items B I-B6 are shown in Figure 4. 1 and Table 4. 1 .
Figure 4.1
0/0 of groups in Public practice factor, items BI-B6
B1 Worship we ekly
B2 > 3 hours/ week '!=I=====II===I�� ___ ., at church �
B3 Tak e part in outreac h
B4 Involved in groups
B5 Exe rt Christia n inflUence
B6 Talk about faith
111!11111���=f�,-_-! �D Student
0 % 1 0 % 20% 30% 40% 60% 60'" 7 0 %
Table 4.1
S' T I Ign est eve s 0 f ' 'fi Ii P br P f It SlgOl Icance or u IC rac Ice ems Group Bl B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 Student n.s. n.s. low n.S. low low Father high n.s. low n.S. high n.s .
Mother high high low high high high
42
B 1 Worship weekly.
About half of the students (54% of the girls and 50% of the boys) stated
that they attended worship services weekly, or more often.
The parents claimed a significantly higher pattern of attendance than the
students (mothers-64%, fathers-62%), but not as high as the 7 1 % from the
NeLS sample who claimed to attend church at least once a week. The
NCLS sample comprised 62% female, 3 8% male (Kaldor, 1 992: 73 & 24).
If church-attendance was taken as the key indicator of religious
commitment, students in the Heathdale study would not rate significantly
highly on religious commitment. This result, and that for item B2 below, contrasted with the stated' religious affiliations, where 88-90% of the
students and parents indicated particular religious affiliations (Table 3 .8).
This corresponded with Leavey's findings that 'Regular mass attendance
among parcmts . . .is much lower than Catholic affiliation' ( 1992: 166).
B2 Time at church.
As the mothers showed a significant commitment to the public practice of
their religion, it is not surprising that they spent a significant amount of time r
iri- church-related activities each week (6 1%>3h/wk). The fathers' (58%)
and the students' (48%) involvement was higher than the NCLS sample
(34%). The NCLS (1992: 74): initial analysis suggests that higher levels of congregational involvement are found amongst attenders who are also more involved in congregational mission activities, sharing of faith and inviting others to church.
Further study could be done to find whether those parents and students
who practiced their faith publicly had , or sought to have, a greater impact
on the qu�ity of Christian life at Heathdale.
B3 Outreach activities.
Only 1 6% of students were involved in outreach activities in a church. The
parents' involvement (mothers-4 1%, fathers-36%) compared much more
favourably with the NCLS results, where:
33% of attenders claimed to be involved in mission activities of some sort . . . . there is a relationship between involvement in mission activities and the extent to which attenders feel they are growing in their understanding of their faith and in their beliefs ( 1992: 57).
43
B4 Group involvement.
Once again, the mothers indicated major involvement (70%) in group
activities in a church, whereas the students mirrored their fathers, with
barely half being involved. This could have related to less time being
available to students and working fathers, than fof' their mothers. The
lower figures fell short of those for the NCLS sample, which indicated
fairly constant levels of involvement in group activities of between 62-66%
of attenders for each age group (1 992: 37)
B5 Exerting Christian influence.
From the NCLS it was found that 'those who feel that they are growing in
their understanding of their faith and beliefs also perceive themselves to be
exerting a greater Christian influence' (1 992: 60).
Both groups of parents stated that they tried to exert a Christian influence
with those around them to a significant extent (mothers-69%, fathers-67%)�
much more than the NCLS attenders' perceived influence of 53%.
The parents contrasted with the students' stated intentions, where only 33% r
:tried to exert some Christian influence. Leavey has shown that in Catholic
schools 'the peer group is not particularly religious and not exercising a
strong religious influence on students' (1 992: 224) and that parents are
providing a limited Catholic plausibility base for their daughters. For
sponsorship of faith, parents need both to bond with children and provide
.. .. religious example.
B6 Talk about faith.
, The students (60%) showed a significant un-readiness (or uneasiness) in
talking to others about their faith. The mothers showed the opposite
tendency, in that 69% felt significantly at ease in sharing their faith, with
24% seeking opportunities to do so. The fathers (58%) showed a similar
willingness to discuss · their faith to that expressed by the attenders in the
NCLS (55%) ( 1 992: 61) .
Were the participants in this study prepared to practice, in private, what
they were not always prepared to do in public?
44
4.1.2 Private practice.
Summary results for items B 7-8 & B 1 0 are shown in Figure 4.2 and Table
4.2.
Figure 4.2
% of groups in Private practice factor, items B7-B8, BIO
0% 1 0 % 20% 30% 4 0 % 6 0 % 60% 7 0 % 8 0 % 90%
Table 4.2
Sign Test level f ' 'fi s 0 slgm Icance or nva e rac Ice e Ii P ' t P f It ms
Group B7 B8 B I 0 Student n.s . low n.s. Father n.s. n.s. high Mother high high high
B7 Pray each day . .. ", -----:-::=The mothers were the only group in which a significant majority (74%)
indicated that they prayed daily. About half of the students (46%) and of
the fathers (5 1 %) prayed daily.
B8 Read Bible.
Only a small number of students (34%) read the Bible more than once a
week, even though 52% said they attended church regularly (item B l).
More fathers (5 1 %) and a greater number of mothers (66%) indicated that
. they read the Bible regularly.
B 1 0 Christian books and magazines.
About half of the students (46%) claimed to read Christian books and
magazines. Their parents were significantly different, with 84% of mothers
and 63% of fathers sometimes, or often, reading this material.
The mothers' extensive public practice continued in their private practice of
religion; the fathers less so, with the students showing little effort in this
area.
45
4.1.3 Salience of belief.
Sununary results for items B 1 1 -B 1 7 are shown in Figure 4.3 and table 4.3 .
Figure 4.3
% of groups in Salience of belief factor, items Bl l-B17
811 Convnitted to I fa ith l
8 1 2 Close to God
8 1 3 Grown In. Faith
1'.: .. ' 8 1 4 Changes
through faith
8 1 5 Going to
heaven [ .::! , : , . I
81 6 Life a fter death
817 Faith most
Important
0 %
Table 4.3
1 20%
20%
5 1 % · , . · · · 64%
33% 41%
· · j 48%
4 1 % 38%
56% 53%
. ' " 48%
40% 60% 80%
Si n Test levels of si nificance for Salience of Belief Items
Gi"ou- B 1 1 B 12 B 1 3 B 14 B 1 5 B 1 6 Student low hi Father low hi Mother n.s. hi
B 1 1 Commitment to faith.
1 00 %
B 1 7 low low n.s .
. Very few students (20%) indicated that they were very committed to their
faith, whereas 5 1 % of fathers and a major 64% of mothers claimed to be in
this category. With half the students (and 30% of fathers & 28% of
mothers) somewhat committed to their faith, these results paralleled the
respondents' readiness to talk to others about their faith (item B6) (i.e. a
lack of willingness, due to lack of clear commitment on the students' part).
B12 Fee/ing c/ose to God
The mothers (63%) felt significantly very close to God most of the time.
The large majority of students (73%), fathers (77%), and mothers (93%)
felt (more than) somewhat close to God most of the time. It would appear
that the students felt it was all right to have a personal relationship with
God (Le. to see Him as a personal mend, more than the Almighty, whose
teachings were to be followed [items Ie and h, IIIf]) but not let commitment
46
to His Lordship have too strong a hold on their lives ( i.e. the convenience
of a faith, without full commitment).
B 13 Growth in faith.
Very few students (33 %) claimed significant growth in their understanding
of the Christian faith, over the previous year. The parents' rates of growth
(mothers-48% , fathers 41% with much growth) matched that shown by the
attenders in the NCLS sample (47% much growth) (1992: 79). The NCLS
results showed:
those who felt they were growing in their faith were more likely to be more significantly involved in outward mission activity . . . . there is also a link between participation in congregational life and growth in faith (1992: 8 1).
Further investigation could be done to see whether the Heathdale
respondents, who have grown significantly in their faith, have differing
expectations or make significant contribution to the ethos of Heathdale (i. e.
did the personal growth lead to action?).
r
B 14 . Changes through faith.
The three groups all claimed they made changes in their actions and
priorities, over the last year, as a result of Christian faith (fathers-60%,
students-64%, mothers- 76%, compared with NCLS 69% (1992: 8 1)).
Does this mean that they all had good understanding of the Christian faith
before the previous year began, and so did not have much room for growth
(see item B13)?
B 1 5 Going to heaven.
The students (41 %) did not express the assurance of knowing that they
were going to heaven when they died. The parents (fathers-59%, mothers-
68%) exhibited more significant belief in the promise of a heavenly abode
on departure from this mortal existence. These results reflected the extent
of commitment to faith (item B 1 1) for each group.
B 16 Life after death.
About half of the fathers (53%) and of the students (56%) stated that belief
in 'life after death' was significant in their daily living, whereas a larger
majority of the mothers (7 1%) held this view.
47
B 17 Faith most important.
Only a small number of students (41 %) and their fathers (38%) disagreed that there were more important things than their faith in their lives. Just under half (48%) of the mothers felt this way. An investigation of their expectations (Chapters 5&6) will provide some idea of what was more important to these people.
B 18 Most 'iniportant aspects of faith.
The most important aspects of each group's faith are indicated in Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.4
Most important aspects of faith
T alk a bout faith
W orship God
Keep 1 0
Ii " !!!I!"
5 1 %
' I i \"· 1 I IIIi'" 460/.
Conma ndments �:.i�i:;: '���===:::;-;;:� _____ _
Care for othe rs 1=1111 " ' 1,::",1;111'11
0% 1 0% 2'0%
46%
30% 40% 50% 60%
o Student
• Father
Ell Mother
It can be seen from Figure 4.4 that about 80% of the respondents agreed that the two ' most important aspects of faith were worshipping God and caring for others. These are the two components of Christ's Greatest
" Commandment to love God . . , and love your neighbour . . . (Matthew 22:37-
39). The students and mothers had a stronger worship focus, whereas the fathers more strongly emphasised the relationship toward others rather than
, God.
4.1.4 Experience.
Summary results for items B9, B 19-20 are shown in Figure 4.5 and Table 4.4.
The experiential dimension of religiosity was the least specific, as each individual could interpret his/her experiences in a variety of ways, and degrees of intensity. The individual's personality, level of (faith) expectation and nature of denominational teaching can have major bearing on the inte9'retation of exp�riences.
48
The mothers showed that a personal experience of God correlated well with
the other aspects of their religiosity (e.g. public and private practice, belief
and salience of belief).
Figure 4.5
% of groups in Experience factor, items B9, B19-B20
89 Sense God's c a ll " ... ;",' ! "::::. ",;, ' .:: ::. '
B1 9 CommttmenU ��==:!:!:!:!:!!!�!I������ � conve rsion f 820 Presenc e of
God
00/0 1 0 % 200/0 30% 40% 5 0 0/0 60% 7 0 0/0
Table 4.4
Sign Test Ie I f ' 'fi ve s 0 slgm Icance � E or xpenence It ms e
Group B9 B 1 9 B20 Student o.s. low o.s. Father n.s. n.s. n.s. Mother high high high
B9 .sense God's call.
Just under half of the parents had a strong sense of what God was calling
them to do (mothers-49%, fathers-47%), whereas only 13% of the students
felt this way. About 60% of each group, overall, had some sense of God's
calling on their lives .
. B 19 Commitment! conversion experience.
According to the NCLS, over 40% of attenders in most denominations
claimed an experience of decisive faith commitment! Christian conversion
(NeLS, 1 992: 82). With an overall 5 1% of total NCLS church-attenders
indicating such an experience, the Heathdale mothers (67%) and fathers
(57%) showed that, on average, they were personally more committed to
Christ than the average church-attenders, with the students (43%) being
less so.
B20 Presence of God
The mothers (67%), once again, registered significant personal experiences
of the presence of God, such as miracles of healing, specific call to action!
ministry, vivid mystical experiences, with the most frequent being dramatic answer to prayer. The students (43%) claimed about the same number of
49
similar experiences to those listed by the NCLS (47%) (1992: 82), whereas
the fathers (57%) were slightly higher.
4.1.5 Belief.
Summary results for items B23-B3 1 are shown in Figure 4.6 and Table 4. 5 .
Figure 4.6
% of groups in Belief factor, items B23-B30
823 The Bible is
the Word of God
824 Ch rist = God,
man and a rose
825 Ete rn a l life
through faith
826 D iv ine
judgement
827 P e rsonal God
�=:::=::::===���� _
_ �D S tudent
-Ii • Father J:==!::=:=!I=I��.!!LJm M other
828 Ev iI spirits
B29 Speak ing in
tongues
- --Table 4.5
0 % 20% 40% 60% ' 80%
Si n Test levels of si nificance for Belief Items
Grou B23 B24 B25 B26 B27
Student n.s. Father n.s. Mother n.s.
Both groups of parents showed a high level of belief in: - the Bible as the Word of God (item B23),
' 1 00%
B29 B30 n.S. n.S. n.S.
- the Godliness, humanity and resurrection of Christ (item B24), - a divine judgement after death (item B26), - a personal God (item B27), - the activity of evil spirits in the world (item B28), - the six-day creation theory (item B30).
The students indicated a very strong (86%) belief in the six-day creation
theory.
Only about half of the students (44%); the fathers (48%); and the mothers
(56%) expressed the belief that eternal life comes through faith alone in Jesus (item B25). The impact of the Pentecostals in the school was
noticeable, with 45% approval of 'speaking in tongues'(Item B29). This is
so
somewhat higher than the 3 7% of church-attenders found to approve of
'tongues' by the NeLS (New Life, 1 3/5/93 : 1 3 ).
Item B3 1 caused great concern to the students, with 57% of them not
responding to the question of what sort oj new church they would be likely
to join, if they had to. The majority of parents selected a church focussing
on evangelism, with some concern for social action (see Figure 4.7).
Figure 4.7
% of groups selecting each type of New Church, item B31
Focus on .a 1 2% evangelism 24%
Evangells!T/ 28% 5 1 %
socIal action · · · · ; ;· ,' ·· · t�oZ .. I..n Student Social actlonl �o6 %
• Fath e r evangelism 9 %
Social action 12� 7%
I t;J Mother
:J 2"1" 5 7 %
N o response ····· l�t!'. " ' 1 .. ":., ":" :, :.,:,:::,":: . :::
0 % 1 0% 2 0 % 3 0 % 4 0 % 50% 6 0 %
Items B3 2-3 5 were used in the Hughes-Blombery classification o f access
religiosity and value religiosity. ,.-,
. The mothers were consistent in showing a significantly strong belief in: - more good (being) in the world than bad (item B32), - miracles (item B33), - the Bible taken literally as the inspired Word of God (item B34), - God directly in control of the world (item B35)., (Figure 4.8)
. Figure 4.8
% of groups with Beliefs, items B32-B35
83 3 miracle s
. . 834 lite ra l BIble
835 God In c ontrol
I
0 % 2 0 % 4 0 %
J 5 1 % 53�
6 0 % 8 0 �. 1 00%
The students generally held the opposite view to their mothers in that they
believed there was more bad in the world than good. The students and
their fathers concurred with the mothers on the issues of miracles, and the
5 1
literal Bible, but were ambivalent with regard to God being directly in
control of the world (Figure 4.8 and Table 4.6) .
Table 4.6
Sign Test level of si nificance for Belief Items B32� B35
GrOll B32 B33 B34 B35 n.s.
Father
Mother
4.2 CL USTERS � Religiosity Measures
Hughes· and Blombery·s ( 1990: 14) criteria of Conversionism and
Devotionalism (Access Religiosity), Conventialism and �rinciplism (Value
Religiosity) were used to create a cluster grouping (A VREL), with values
obtained for each of the four scales, from items B32�B35 and Ia�VIk. The
correlations between the three groups are shown in Table 4.7.
Table 4.7 r
. Crosstabulation between Access� Value Religiosity Groups
A� V religiosity groups N Pearson·s r sig.
student x father 86 0.46 0.0000 1
student x mother 94 0.44 0.0000 1 father x mother 86 0.64 0 .000
As the access religiosity and values religiosity scales were developed
exclusively on church�attenders, a broader measure of religiosity was
sought for use with the wider population present in Heathdale.
A complete religiosity measure (CLUSCOM) was developed using the five
factors discussed in Chapter Two. Four cluster groups were chosen in an
attempt to differentiate the cases studied into four levels of religiosity, from
Very High to Low. As with the AVREL measure, the three groups studied
showed correlation between values for each factor and the total CLUSCOM
religiosity measure (Table 4.8):
52
Table 4.8
Pearson's r Values from Crosstabulations between Religiosity Factors
and Groups
Religiosity Factor/Group
Complete Cluster Religiosity Groups
Public practice Private practice Salience of belief Experience Belief Students' religiosity Fathers' religiosity
Students Fathers Mothers .88 .92 .88 .80 . 87 .86 .85 .90 . 82 .64 .82 .72 .84 .92 .87
.70 .65 .8 1
Note: all significance levels <.000
The two religiosity measures correlated, indicating internal consistency in
the responses given by students and their parents in this area of the BEACS
questionnaire (see Table 4.9).
Table 4.9
. Crosstabulation of the Complete Cluster Religiosity (CLUSCOM) &
Access-Value Religiosity (A VREL) Measures
,
CLUSCOM & A VREL Groups N Pearson's r s!g. Students 100 0.72 0.000
Fathers 86 0.58 0.000
Mothers 94 0.63 0.000
'. A good comparison could be made between the characteristics of access
. religiosity and the Higher level of the complete cluster religiosity measure
(CLUSCOM). As the Heathdale study had a wider··base, than the church
attenders used by Hughes and Blombery, no clear comparison could be
drawn between the characteristics of value religiosity and the Lower
CLUSCOM level.
The CLUSCOM clusters were chosen as the preferred measure of religiosity
as they:
a. placed more people in Higher religiosity levels (see Table 4. 10).
b. showed more agreement between students and parents for each
factor and level within the measure.
c. gave higher correlation on religiosity between students and parents, and between the parents, for the complete measures.
d. were easier to score, than the A VREL measures.
53
Table 4.10
Distribution of Students and Parents in Two Religiosity Measures
Access-Value Religiosity Complete Cluster Religiosity Measure (A VREL) Measure (CLUSCOM)
Level Student Father Mother Level Student Father Mother 1 5 1 1 9 VH 15 27 38 2 35 28 43 H 39 22 30 3 41 24 27 Mod 29 22 17 4 19 23 15 L 17 15 9
Total 100 86 94 Total 100 86 94
4.3 Students' and Parents' Religiosity
Faith development theory suggests that children take on their parents' faith stories in the context of relationships of mutual trust and commitment. (Leavey, 1992: 172)
The strong correlation between parents' and students' measures of
religiosity (in Tables 4.7 & 4.8 above and Table 4. 1 1 below) indicated the .
... _ ��li1!9�d of similar religious values and experience being shared in a large majority of the families at Heathdale. However, only 46% of these families
had the students and parents all with Higher religiosity. The 26%, all with
Lower religiosity, could be reason for some concern as to what effect they
had on the religious Climate ' of the school generally, especially when the
�xtent of their differing views was made evident (see Chapter Six).
The mean values of CLUSCOM, and the five individual religiositY' factors,
are the same for the students and their fathers. This was shown by the t
test pairs analysis of religiosity factors (see Table 4. 1 1).
Significant differences were found between the mean values of the students
and their mothers, and between parents, in religiosity factors and levels (see
Table 4. 1 1), but there was good correlation between the students' and their
parents', and between the mothers' and the fathers', in religiosity factors and
complete religiosity measures.
54
Table 4.1 1
t-Test Pairs Results for CLUSCOM Groups and Factors
N COIT. 2-tail I-value 2-tail proh. proh.
CLUSCOM Religiosity groups students x fathers 86 .70 .000 1 .47 . 146# students x mothers 94 .65 .000 5 . 80 .000 fathers x mothers 85 . 8 1 .000 4.59 .000
Public practice factors students x fathers 1 00 .76 .000 1 .55 . 124# students x mothers 1 00 .66 .000 5 .27 .000 fathers x mothers 1 00 .78 .000 3 .93 .000
Private practice factors students x fathers 1 00 .58 .000 1 .22 .224# students x mothers 1 00 .42 .000 6.26 .000 fathers x mothers 1 00 .67 .000 5.72 .000
Salience of belief factors students x fathers 1 00 A9 .000 1 . 8 1 .073# students x mothers 1 00 A3 .000 2.85 .005 fathers x mothers 1 00 .64 .000 5 .04 .000
Experience factors students x fathers 1 00 A l .000 1 .07 .287# students x mothers 1 00 A5 .000 4.73 .000 fathers x mothers 1 00 .60 .00p , 3 .88 .000
-Belief factors students x fathers 86 .57 .000 .5 1 .613# students x mothers 94 .56 .000 4.07 .000 fathers x mothers 85 .71 .000 3 . 1 5 .002
Note: # = cannot reject null hypothesis of equal means
4.4 Discrimination Within Religiosity
- Discriminant analysis was used to find the best combination of variables to
assign people to religiosity groups.
From the correlations of individual religiosity items (B 1 and B2) and the
summary factor for Public practice, with each CLUSCOM group, it would ,
appear that previous - studies (e.g. Hansen, 1971 ; de Vaus, 1 980; & Kallmier, 1 988) that used frequency and amount a/ time spent in worship/
church activities, had a sound, though limited, base for comparing religious
commitment in their samples (see Table 4. 12).
.-
55
Table 4.12
Correlation Values (r) for CLUSCOMs & Public practice Items!
Factor
Public practice Items! factor
Worship weekly B l Time at church B2 Public practice
Note: all sig <.000
Complete Cluster Religiosity Measure (CLUSCOM)
Students .78 .78 .88
Fathers .86 . 8 1 . 92
Mothers .74 .79 .88
However, the results of discriminant analysis of the total CLUSCOM
groups, using their five component factors, showed the Public practice
factor did not yield the greatest variance in each of these groups (Table
4. 13).
Table 4.13
Discriminant Analysis of CLUSCOM Groups by Religiosity Factors
,
CLUSCOM Religiosity Groups � . . ,.� �,, - .. - Students Fathers Mothers .-'
Religiosity Factors *COIT. rank *corr. rank *corr. rank Public practice .5 1 3 .73 1 .5 .48 3 Private practice .40 4 .49 4 .52 2 Salience of belief .56 2 .73 1 .5 .73 1 Experience . 67 1 .57 3 .39 4 Belief .26 5 .37 5 .24 5
Note: *corr. == pooled within groups correlations between discriminating variables and
the canonical discriminant function.
The CLUSCOM instrument, developed here using five factors, is a more
comprehensive measure of religiosity, preferred to using just one or two
items from the Public practice domain, as was done in previous studies.
4.5 Religiosity Levels in Denominations
As the students' and parents' complete cluster religiosity (CLUSCOM)
groups correlated, they were combined to give larger samples for
comparison of the denominational groups. Even so, the total number in
each of the Catholic/Orthodox, non-Christian, unspecified and no religion
56
categories was still very small and must be interpreted with extreme caution
(Figure 4.9).
Figure 4.9
CLUSCOM Religiosity levels in each Denominational Group
(Note: The size of each group in shown in brackets.)
Cathollc;l O'dox (1 6 )
Malnstrean (87) t==�lii� Other Protestant (89 ) t=====J]!���g.
Pentec;osta l (5 8 ) � _______ _
nonoChrtstlan ( 1 0 )
U nspec;ifled (1 0 )
N o religion ( 1 2 )
� \:'" .;..,.. �� " " I�' (,"�'�.:'" � • • � • f'· . _ " � �"/l.<r .. � t_ � . ... � ,:r..: ..... � i1.':=I'"I�"4I'�""''''1�T;'\'''' 7. .. Trl",����",,:!�·r\-s;.·I"'"·�!.:lta �-d'-*����'"'::-..-... � .j"l)w.l-=��'l.!
--.----.-....-----------------0% 20% 40% 60% 80·t. 1 00 "1.
• Low • Mod
EJ HI e VHI
The Other Protestant and Pentecostal groups contained more members
with Higher religiosity levels (CLUSCOM levels VH & H) than those in the Mainstream and Catholic/Orthodox groups (Figure 4.9) . The Higher
religiosity levels parallel Hughes' and Blombery's findings (1990: 22) of r
.. - -" greater access religiosity in Pentecostal and other non-Mainstream
Protestant groups.
4.6 Summary of Religiosity
Previous studies have shown that the majority of church-attenders in . Australia are women. The results of the Heathdale study were consistent
with this finding in that more mothers (72%) displayed Higher levels of
religiosity than the fathers (57%) and students (54%).
Religious conunitment was measured by the five factors of Public and
Private practice� Belief; Salience of belief� and Experience, culminating in
the complete cluster (CLUSCOM) measures of religiosity, which were
supported by the scores developed from characteristics of access religiosity
and value religiosity.
The CLUSCOM instrument is a comprehensive measure of religiosity,
preferred to using only one or two items from the Public practice domain
(e.g. frequency or amount oftime spent in worshipl church activities).
57
There was better correlation between the students' and their fathers' levels of religiosity, than with their mothers', supporting the traditional importance of the father as spiritual head of the household.
Just under half of the families had all members in the Higher religiosity level (Le. more supportive of the school's ethos), whereas a quarter had each member in the Lower religiosity level. The divergent expectations of these groups are reported in Chapter Six.
S8
CHAPTER FIVE
EXPECTATIONS EXPOSED
In this chapter there is a close scrutiny of the issues, 'What do the parents
and students expect from the school?' and, 'How much agreement is there
between the students' and parents' expectations?'
5.1 High Expectations
The mothers expressed very high expectations of Heathdale, by returning a
mean value across all items of 3.35 (out of 4), where 3 was very important
and 4 was most important. The fathers were only slightly less expectant,
with an item mean value overall of 3 .24. The students were less demanding
with a mean value of2.87 for the items overall.
5.2 The Top Ten Expectations For Each Group
r
:Major concern about the Christian/religious nature of the school was
obvious, by its absence, from the top ten expectation items for each group,
ranked according to average mean item value (Table 5. 1) .
Table 5.1
Top Ten Expectation Items for Each Group
Rank Students Fathers Mothers
1 E 18 career preparation 94 E20 encourage honesty 98 ElO encourage honesty 96
1 ID7 better exam results 88 E19 3R's 98 E l l committed teachers 97
3 E14 necessary subjects 87 El l CQUJIllitted teachers 97 E19 3R's 95
4 E9 qualified staff 85 E4 better values 94 El3 trustworthiness 98
5 E l l committed teachers 84 El3 trustworthiness ene 96 E9 qualified staff 99
6 ID5b Mathematics skills 79 E18 career preparation 93 E4 better values 93
7 E6 better chance of uni 80 E9 qualified staff 94 Ell teachers talk to pa. 96
8 E13 buildings & equip. 80 E3 respect for authority 9' IDO Btu. wOfk habits 98
9 E19 3R's 77 Ell 1eachcrs talk to pa. 95 E18 career preparation 95
10 ID5e sc/tcclmol u'stand. 76 E35e problem solving 95 E14 neoessary IIJbjects 95
Note: The numbers at the end of each item are percentages of clients, in each group, who
considered that item to. be very important or most important. Full details of all items, including rank orders, are in Appendix J.
59
From an inspection of the ten highest ranked expectation items, it appeared
that the parents were slightly more interested in student character
development, and career ' preparation, than issues affecting students' academic performance. The students focussed on factors necessary for their academic achievement and career opportunities.
The parents, on average, showed very similar expectations, with only 9 of the 4S items not correlating (12 <.05) between mothers and fathers (see
Appendix K for details). Seven of these items (E9, 1 3- 1 5, 25, 34 & 40) had similar mean values and rank orders, overall, indicating that individual
differences must have existed between parents in a significant number of families. The mean values of item E35b (Mathematics) and E35c (Science/technology) were the same for the each group of parents, but their
, rank order for fathers was much higher than for mothers.
The students and parents scored similar mean values on eight of the
expectation items. The students showed markedly higher rank: order on
these items, as their expectations were generally lower than their parents.
The higher student concerns related to success (i�ems E1O, 13, 14, & 25) , arid job prospects (E18, 27), as well as making friends (E39) and security
(E15).
5.3 Survey Overview
, As variations in individual items may distort the overall picture, 42 of the 45 items on the BEACS questionnaire were distributed to nine expectation
factors, for comparison purposes:
PRS - School's prestige - items El , 10, 24, 27 XPR - Students' personal expression - E25, 3 1 , 36 ACD - Academic standards - E6, 14, 19, 26, 37 TCH - Teacher quality - E9, 1 1 , 22, 28, 32 STU - Student behaviour - E3, 16, 30, 40 PRP - Preparing students for employment - EI8, 35a-f MRL - Moral standards -' E4, 7, 20, 23 RLG - Religious nature - E8, 12, 17, 21 , 29, 38 FRI - Friends (peer group) - E5, 15 , 33, 39
60
5.3.1 Prestige (items E1, 10, 24, 27)
Most of the Prestige items scored very poorly for the three groups (see
Figure 5 . 1). This reinforced Baker's and Kallmier's findings that parents did
not choose Christian schools for status, or prestige, reasons. Seiffert
( 1993 : 74) stated that some parents were not prepared to admit they chose
select schools for reasons of status; others did not even realise they did.
Figure 5.1
z-Scores for Prestige factors
o Student
EJ Mother
-3 , ... ::::::. :; I, .. ::., �; ' .. . i .. :. :. � ..
-1 o
Note: Negative z-scores show that the raw scores for these items were lower than the mean value of the expectation items as a whole (see page 27). ,
r
A good-looking uniform is obviously not seen as being of great importance
to the clients at Heathdale, as this item (E 1) ranked equal lowest over the
45 items.
The students were more optimistic than parents on the factors related to the
school giving the student a good standing in society (E 1 0) and the school's
name helping with job prospects (E27), which ranked very low for the
parents.
The mothers showed some concern that other people will recommend the
school (E24). It is surprising that this item did not score higher, as the
Principal indicated that many clients came to the school on other people's
recommendations; very few from newspaper advertisements.
5.3.2 Students' personal expression (creativity/leadership )(items E25,
3 1 , 36)
The students expressed some support for the notion that students would he
encouraged to he creative (E25) and that leadership skills would he
developed (E3 1) (see Figure 5 .2) . Lower emphasis on Houselteam spirit
(E3 1) was disappointing, especially as the students with the highest
61
religiosity level scored the lowest out of the four religiosity groups on this item. As Christians belong to the family of God, working together developing team spirit should be seen as vital for Christian community.
Figure 5.2
z-Scores for Students' personal expression factor
-1 -0.5 o
z-SCOIe
5.3.3 Academic standards (items E6, 14, 19, 26, 37)
0.5
o Students
• Fathers
II Mothers
1
There were high expectations from the parents, with moderate interest from I'
�h.e students, that the educational basics (3R's) would be taught well (EI9)
(see Figure 5 .3).
Reasonable expectation from all concerned that students with learning
difficulties would get more help (E26), is consistent with a compassionate,
Christian world view. These expectations were realistic for the majority of students who showed they ' had slightly above average ability in language
(ACER WL Test). Better exam results (E37), all necessary subjects (EI4) and a better chance
of getting into uni (E6) were prime expectations of the students.
Figure 5.3
z-Scores for Academic standards factor
-1 . 15
E 1 4 All necessary subject.
E 1 9 3R's taught well
E21 H e lp with . lea mlng dlfflcu·ltles " , ";,', ' ;" .' i.
E37 Better
-1 -0.15 o
z-Score 0.5
• Father
1 1 . 15 2
62
Even though the parents did not rate better exam results, and chance of
university, as highly as other factors, they did have high expectations of
their children continuing on to tertiary studies. These results concur with
those of Kallmier (1988: 12) who found that academic results were not a
strong determinant in parental choice of Christian Community Schools,
contrary to the importance it plays in many parents' selection of other non
govenunent schools.
5.3.4 Teacher quality (items E9, 1 1 , 22, 28, 32)
The parents and students all had very high expectations of the staff who
were expected to be conunitted, qualified and communicative, expressing
care and concern for students (see Figure 5.4) .
Overall, the fathers indicated that pastoral care was less likely to be the
school's responsibility� it is more likely to be theirs.
Figure 5.4
z-Scores for Teacher quality factor
-1
E9 Qua lified staff
E1 1 Cormflted teachers
E22 Teachers talk with stul pa .
E28 ..... �I.I'.a-_ ...... _ Chrtst·llke
-0 . 5 o
z-Score
0.5
5.3.5 Student behaviour (E3, 1 6, 3 0, 40)
EI M oth e rs
1 1 .5
These results showed a clear expectation that students would develop good
work habits, self-control and independence in learning (i.e. characteristics
essential for satisfactory completion of the VCE, and preparation for post
school life)(see Figure 5 .5).
The fathers were quite concerned that the students would learn respect for
authority (E3), a sound chilracter trait and Scriptural injunction (Romans
1 3 : 1) . This expectation complemented the fathers' desire to see leadership
skills developed (E3 1); a person needs to be under authority in order to
exercise authority.
'Figure 5.5 '
z-Scores for Student behaviour factor
E30 Good work ha bits
E40 Develop selfcontrol
o
I
0.2 0.4 0 . 6 0 . 8 1
z-Scora
5.3.6 Preparing students for employment (items E18, 35a-f)
63
1 .2
Good careerpreparation '(E1 8) stood out clearly (with better exam results
(E37)) as the students' greatest expectations of Heath dale (see Figure 5 .6).
They could see the relevance of Mathematics, Science & Teclmology, and
Language & communication in preparation for employment, but were not y
" as convinced about interpersonal relations and problem solving.
The responses to cultural understanding (E35d) could ,well be researched
further, in this multi-cultural, multi-faith schooL This is vital, if Hill's concerns (1991 : 1 52) about students in Christian schools being drawn into
mono cultural enclaves, protected from the 'real' world, are not seen to have , any basis in Heathdale.
Figure 5.6
, z-Scores for Student preparation factor
E35b Mathematics
·1 -0.5 o 0 .6
z..score
1 1 .5 2
64
5.3.7 Moral standards (Items E4, 7, 20, 23) Developing the character traits of honesty (E20) and trustworthiness (E23)
ranked very highly on parents' expectations at Heathdale, together with
better values than other schools (E4) see Figure 5 .7). Kallmier argued
that: the most common and sufficient reason for Christian parents to search for alternative schools for their high school student. . . [was] their concern about the values taught in other schools. (1988: 3 9)
The students did not hold these items in as high esteem as the parents. With such concern for these factors, it was surprising to note the lower expectation that Heathdale's moral standardslbeliefs would be similar to
the respondents' (E7). A closer inspection of the religiosity levels revealed
that the beliefs part of this item overshadowed the mora/standards.
Figure 5.7
z-Scores for Moral standards factor
-1 . 5 -1
E4 Better values than other schools
standardsl beliefs
E20 Honesty encouraged
E23 Trustworthiness
-0.5 o
z-Score
0.5
5.3.8 Reli�ious nature (ltems E8, 12, 1 7, 2 1 , 29, 3 8)
1 1 .5
. It would have been useful to compare the students' responses to these items
before entering Heathdale, with those in this study, to see if these results
reflected their expectations, or the results of experience, in situ. Whatever
the case, the students, as a group, did not express the views generally
expected in a Christian school. Their overall scores on these items did not
show strong support for the philosophical basis of the school (Figure 5 .8).
The parents' responses could have indicated that they expected a separation
of 'real' church activities from the school. Items E21 , 29 & 38 could fairly
readily be agreed to as idealistic theory, whereas E8, 12 & 17 require a
practical commitment. A closer study of these items (in Chapter Six)
shows a marked differentiatipn on the basis of respondents' religiosity.
65
Figure 5.8
z-Scores for Religious nature factor
r ". 1 '
• Father
;··, 1.,
-2.6 -2 -1 . 6 -1 -0.6 o 0.6 1 z-Score
5.3.9 Friends (ES, I S, 33, 39) The parents expected the students at Heathdale to care for each other
(E33) and provide a helpful peer group (ES), yet they did not see it as a significant place for their children to make friends (E39) (see Figure 'S.9). Students could have come to Heathdale on the basis of existing mendships, or the parents might not have wanted to transport, their children to mends'
_ -hotises over large distances, or the parents might simply have wanted the convenience of a caring environment for their children during school time.
Figure 5.9
z-Score for Friends factor
E5 Helpful peer group
-0.2 -0.1 o 0.1
" ' i' · ' " · 'I!I ; :! .
0.2 0.3 z-Score
[] Student
m Mother
0.4 0.6 0.8 0.7
The students certainly saw the school as a place where they expected to make mends, although the peer group was not seen as being outstandingly help.ful (ES). Students also wanted the security of not being picked on for
their beliefs (ElS); a reasonable expectation in a Christian school.
66
5.3.10 Other Items not in the nine factors (E2, 13, 34)
The original intention was to include the following three items (in Figure
5 . 10) in three of the nine factors listed above, but reliability analysis showed
they did not fit well enough.
Figure 5.10
z-Scores for Other Items not in factors
-2.6 -2 -1 .6 -1 :z-Score
...C) . 5 o 0.6
C Student • Father C Mother
The results for item E2 showed a major lack of support for
artistic/dramatic pursuits amongst large numbers of parents and students at
Heathdale.
The students' concern for adequate buildings and equipment (E13)
matched their pre-occupation with academic achievement.
Item E34 was a real conundrum:
. . Parents expected their children to be honest (E20), trustworthy (E23),
hard-working (E30), respectful of authority (E3), self-controlled (E40),
caring (E33) and helpful (E5), in a school that had better values than other
schools (E4).
As well as agreeing with most of that, the students expected to do well
academically (E37, 6, 1 8).
Yet, on the whole, parents and students least wanted very naughty students
expelled from the school. Item E34 scored the lowest value from students
and mothers, and was rated 42/45 by the fathers.
The vast majority of parents and students at Heathdale obviously did not
support the use of the ultimate sanction, of expulsion, against persistent
student misbehaviour. This finding challenges the school authorities to find
other ways of maintaining good discipline.
-
67
5.3.11 Summary of Expectation Factors
From an inspection of rank orders for the summary expectation factors
(Table 5 .2), it can be seen that there was reasonable agreement between
students and their parents on the relative importance of
Student behaviour } Students' personal expression}
Friends (peer group)} moderate
Table 5.2
Religious nature
Prestige
Summary Values for Expectation Factors of Groups
} low
}
Students Fathers Mothers Factor Mean S.D. z R Mean S.D z R Mean S.D.
PRS 2.56 .70 - 1 .4 1 8 2 .64 .84 -2.34 9 2 .82 .74 XPR 2.83 .76 -0.27 7 3 .20 .68 -0.24 7 3 . 19 . 6 1 ACD 3 .26 .62 1 .54 1 3 .29 .62 0.08 5 3 .3 8 .50 TCH 2.94 .73 0.2 1 5 3.4 1 .50 0.56 3 3 .59 .41 STU 3 . 0 1 .65 0.5 1 3 3 .47 .47 0.75 2 3 .54 .4 1 PRP 3 .03 .68 0.59 2 3 .39 .64 0.46 4 3 .44 .46 MRL 2.92 . 7 1 0. 1 1 6 3 .56 .44 1 . 1 1 l 3 .64 .40 RLG 2.49 .94 -1 .67 9 3 . 1 6 .83 -.39 8 3 .37 .62 FRI . . 2.98 .67 0.39 4 3 .27 .54 0.02 6 3 .44 .48
Note: S.D. = standard deviation z = z-score R = rank order offaetor
z R
-2.25 9 -0.76 8 -0. 0 1 6 0 .83 2 0.65 3 0.23 5 1 .07 1
-0.02 7 0 .24 4
The parents' greatest expectations related to Moral standards, Teacher
quality and Student behaviour, whereas the students were pre-occupied
with Academic standards and Preparing for employment (see Figure 5 . 1 1).
Figure 5.11
z-Scores for Summary Expectation Factors
2
1 . 5 1
0.5 0 z-Score
-0.5 -1
-1 . 5 -2
-2. 5
Sunmary Expectation Factors
68
The low ranking in priority of Religious nature (RLG) must he of some
concern for this Christian school. Even though the absolute value for this
item was �gh for parents" it was only of some importance for students.
Parents and students showed marked differences in their rank order on
Moral standards, with parents placing this highest.
Even though there were considerable differences in rank order for the
Academic standards factors, the mean values were similarly high (see
Tables 5.2 & 5.3). The students rated this factor as number one.
Mothers and fathers correlated on all expectation factors (see Table 5.3).
The only summary expectation factor which correlated between students
and parents, was the Religious nature factor for students and their fathers.
The students and their fathers scored similarly low mean values on the
Prestige item, which also ranked last in importance for the mothers.
Table 5.3 r
, t-Test Pairs for Expectation Factors
Pair Groupings students- students- mothers-
Expectation factors fathers mothers fathers
School's prestige n.s. R* e** Student's personal expression R** R** e** Academic standards n.s. n.s. e** Teacher quality R** R** e** R** Student behaviour R** R** e** Preparation for employment R** R** e**
Moral standards R** R** e** Religious nature e* R** R** e** R** Friends R** R** C** R**
Note: R = reject null hypothesis of equal means C = correlation of means
n.s. = no significant difference, *n< .05, **Q< .01 (see Appendix K)
5.4 Value Sets in Christian Schools
Kal1mier ( 1988) claimed that Christian values and beliefs were important in
parental choice of Christian Community Schools. Baker (1990) placed
Kallmier's questions into Value Sets which fitted his Values In Christian
69
Schools (VICS) survey and compared the ranking of his values with
Kallmiers sample. As stated earlier (p. 22), both Kallmier's and Baker's
studies were used as part of the development of the expectations section of
the BEACS questiOIUlaire.
A comparison of parents' responses showed that, except for Religion, equal
or higher mean values were obtained for the value sets in the Heathdale
sample (BEACS), compared with Kallmier's studies (Table 5 .4). Baker's
values were not reported in his work (VIeS).
Table 5.4
Comparison of Value Sets in Christian School Studies
BRAes Kal1mier BEACS KaIImler VICS Students Fathers Mothern items E items mean R R mean R mean R mean R
Value sets Religion 2, 10 28,29 3.54 1 1 2.67 5 3.3 4 3.5 1 3 Moral 5, 6 4,7 3.53 2 2 2.78 3 3.45 1 3.55 1 Stu. dev't 1, 9 32,39 2.84 3 4 2.76 4 3. 13 5 3.33 5 Involvement 3,13,14 38,22,33 2.78 4 3 2.85 2 3.39 2 3.54 2 Educational 7,8,1 1,15 1 1,37,26, 2.23 5 S 3.26 1 3.34 3 3.42 4
13
Prestige 4, 6 10,24 1 .74 6 6 2.67 ,. 6 2.82 6 2.99 6
Note: R "" rank order
The only set to be in a similar position, was Prestige, at the lowest ranking.
The Religious and Student �evelopment value sets ranked lower, with
Moral, Involvement, and Educational sets ranking higher for parents at
Heathdale. The 1 80 parents and 100 students, in the Senior School at
Heathdale, were obviously different from the 213 parent respondents
studied by Kallmier and Baker in six Christian Community Schools in
NSW.
The students' results from Heathdale were much more in agreement with
the rank order of factors shown on Keats' work (reported in Baker, 1 990:
43) where the School achievement (Academic standards) and Job
(preparation for employment) ranked higher than Help Others and
Popularity (Student behaviour and Friends), with Morality and Religion
(Religious nature) lower down. The BEACS questionnaire yielded marked
differences between the rank order of these items for students and parents,
although the parents were comparable with each other.
70
The Heathdale students scored, and rank-ordered considerably lower on the
Religious and Moral value sets, compared with their parents and those
studied by Kallmier and Baker. Younger students might have shown value
sets closer in agreement with their parents than the older students studied
here. Baker's assumption (1990: 43) that 'the mean response of these age
groups [students] would not differ significantly from a similar survey
conducted among their parents . . . . who complete the VICS survey' is open to
debate warranting further investigation.
5.5 Ranked Order of Expectations
When asked to rank their expectations in order (see Table 5 .5):
* the students reinforced their expectations of academics and job
prospects as being of greatest importance.
* the parents also expressed strong agreement with the students
about the importance of academics.
* each group ranked Christian atmosphere considerably higher than
had been indicated by their results on items EI-40 (see Figure 5 .8).
Table 5.5
Ranked Order of Groups' Expectations on Item E41 ' Groups
Expectations ' Students Boys Girls Fathers Mothers
academics 1 1 1 1 1 student job prospects 2 2 2 6 6 moral standards 3 3 3 2 2 peer group 6 7 6 7 7 Christian atmosphere 4 5 5 3 3 sport & culture 7 4 8 8 8 student behaviour 8 8 7 5 5 teachers 5 6 4 4 4
The parents' rank order of academics (at 11 8) was considerably higher than
their ranking on the expectation factor of Academic standards (5 & 6/ 9),
and for the VICS Educational factor (3 & 4/ 6). The parents' interpretation
of 'academics' warrants further investigation to clarifY this apparent
discrepancy.
During 1990.92, ten senior staff and Council members intimately associated
with the school, removed their children (9% of the student body in this
71
study) to give them 'better' educational opportunities elsewhere; much to
the chagrin of the Principal, as the withdrawal of students by people
running the school could lead' to an undennining of confidence in
Heathdale.
It appears that, when asked directly, the students and parents were more
likely to ,give acceptable. responses to the importance of Christian
atmosphere in the school. This has implications for the school's enrolment
procedures, where the administration have the responsibility of clarifying.
with potential clients, what is meant by 'Christian atmosphere', or ethos of
the school, thence detennining the extent of practical support likely for
same, before the students are enrolled.
5.6 Summary
The students clearly showed what they expected from Heathdale (i. e. good
academic results and job preparation).
The parents expressed their, expectations a little IFsS clearly, indicating, on
, the' one hand, that student character development (morals and behaviour)
was slightly more important than academics; on the other hand, that
academics ,were most important. Overall, their expectations were very
high.
The students and parents all saw the committed, qualified teachers as being
very important in helping the students reach their academic goals. "
All groups showed that the ReligiouS/Christian nature of the school was of
lesser importance than academics and job preparation. Prestige of the
school in the community was lowest on the list of nine expectation factors
of the school.
The students' mean values were lower than their parents' on 38/45
expectation items. They were higher for the academic factors of getting
into uni and better exam results, and for the school's name helping with job
prospects.
72 '
The students and their fathers correlated on the Religious nature factor,
which was the only summary expectation factor with comparable values
between the students and their parents.
The students and parents in this study differed from previous studies of
parents, in Christian Community Schools in NSW, in that Religion and
Student development ranked lower at Heathdale, with Moral, Involvement
and Educational value sets higher. At the macro level, it appeared that
parents and students had similar expectations to those in typical non
government church schools.
A closer inspection of the relationships between background, religiosity and
expectations will reveal vital differences within each group of participants
in this study.
r
· . �. . � ": . .
CHAPTER SIX
THE INTERPLAY OF BACKGROUND, RELIGIOSITY AND EXPECTA nONS
73
This chapter brings together the various components of the study by asking,
What are the relationships between ' the background, religiosity and
expectations?' and How do these relate to the stated goals of Heath dale?'
Many expectations were high for all members of a group, especially the
mothers. Some factors listed below were found to differentiate between
items, and other factors, within the student and parent groups.
6.1 Background and Religiosity
6.1.1 Student ability, gender and religiosity - A distinguishing mix..
* It has already been shown that there was no significant difference
between the ability levels of girls and boys (page 37), nor was there
. :differentiation in religiosity, per se, on the basis of gender. But, when the
three factors of ability, gender and religiosity were considered together,
significant differences were found in the girls. The girls with Higher
religiosity showed greater language and general ability CACER WL and
WLIWQ), or it could be said that the more able girls scored Higher on the
. religiosity measure than the less able:
Girls' religiosity x language ability '1.."'(1, N==55)= 4.09, p=.043, Phi =' .27 , "
Girls religiosity x general ability -x."'{1, N=55)= 4.50, p=.034, Phi = .29 * It could be suggested that the religiosity measure was simply a
reading comprehension exercise. A study of the interaction of religiosity
with expectations will show that the religiosity levels were consistent with a
set of beliefs the girls held, not just the result of an academic exercise.
* No such differences were found between the boys' ability and
religiosity levels, nor with the girls' Mathematics ability measure (WQ).
6.1.2 Place of residence and religiosity.
* The girls and their fathers, who lived outside of the local Werribee
area, rated more highly on religiosity measures than their local
counterparts:
Girls x place of residence N=56, r= �.34, 12=.0 16
Girls' fathers x place of residence N=49, r= -.34, p,=.017
74
* No significant difference was found for boys and their fathers. As the mothers were generally highly religious. no differentiation was found
comparing place of residence with their religiosity levels.
6.1.3 Country of birth, language and religiosity.
* Neither the .country of birth, nor the language spoken at home
were significant variables in comparing religiosity levels of students and
their parents, thus reinforcing the notion that the religiosity measure was
not just a language/reading �xercise.
6.1.4 Parents' education, occupation and religiosity.
* There was no perceived differentiation in the fathers' levels of
religiosity by comparing them with their level of education and
occupational status.
* The more highly educated mothers of girls showed higher
religiosity levels than those who only completed secondary school, but
mothers of boys did not show any such varia�oh. Mothers in higher
" occupational status levels (e.g. managerial, administration and
professional), also showed higher religiosity levels compared with the other
mothers: Girls' mothers' religiosity x occupational status
Mothers' religiosity x educational level
N=55, r= -.3 1 , R=.023
N=94, r= -.21, R=.038
• Hughes and Blombery found that 'more educated people and
those in professions tend to be "joiners" not only of churches but of
community groups' (1990: 1 10). The results of this study show that not all
highly educated or higher occupational status parents have higher
religiosity, even though they might be regular church attenders. There are
differences between parents, with mothers showing the greater vanations. * In Faith Without the Church? (Bentley, Blombery & Hughes,
1 992: 28) it was reported that 'education does appear to make a difference
[to church attendance] with less nominalism amongst the most
educated . . . . Amongst the more highly educated, a few more attend church
regularly . . . . One wonders whether those with more education . . . make a
definite decision about religion. '
75
6.1.5 Summary of background and religiosity.
* The girls' language and general abilities correlated with their level
of religiosity. The more able girls more clearly embraced their religiosity
than did the other girls, and the boys.
* The majority of girls who came to Heathdale from outside the
local area were more highly religious than their local counterparts, as were
their fathers.
* No differentiation was found when religiosity levels were
compared by country of birth and language spoken at home.
* Fathers' educational and occupational levels did not correlate with
their levels of religiosity, whereas the more highly educated mothers (of
girls) and mothers in higher occupational status positions possessed higher
levels of religiosity than the other mothers.
6.2 Background and Expectations
A summary of the expectation items and factors that were found to vary
with background characteristics of the groups is shown in Table 6. 1 .
Table 6.1
Summary of Expectations that Vary with Baclfgtound
Back2round Variables Country of lAnguage Level of StaMs of
S birth spolwl edqcatfon oc:c:npatlon Expectations IQ s F M F M F M F M School's prestige " " " " " "
E 1 uniform look good " ElO good standing in society " " " "" " " E24 others recommend school " · .. E27 school's name help get job " • . * • ". • " . .... Student's personal expression • • " E25 creativity encouraged • "" Academic standards " E6 better chance of urn " • " * "
El4 necessary subjects taught " "
E26 needy students get help " ." • •
E37 better exam results • * "
E3 learn respect for authority •
E35d cultural understanding " E7 similar standards! beliefs "
Religious nature E8 learn obedience to God *. •
E 17 worship & pray •
Friends ES helpful peer group • •
E 1 S stu. not picked on for beliefs " " . E39 make friends " E13 adequate buildings & equip. " . • •
E34 very naJ!gh.Jy stu. eXJ)elled • • •
Note: Results of crosstabulations using Chi-square, • = Q<.05, •• == Q<.OI (Appendix L)
Except for E7, all NAB, NESB, lower ed. & oce. status people had higher expectations
76
6.2.1 Variations in Prestige.
Overall, the Prestige factor was rated lowest by the parent groups.
However, Prestige was found to be of importance to parents who did not have high "'standing' in society. Those with lower social standing were
expecting their children to become "encultured" through their association
with Heathdale:
* Mothers with non-English speaking background and parents with
low occupational status had higher expectations of the school's Prestige
factor, than their counterparts.
* The low occupational status fathers expected the school uniform
would look good (item E 1 ).
* The school giving the children good standing in society (item
E I 0) was important for the fathers with non-English speaking background,
who were non-Australian born and those with low occupational status, and
for mothers with lower education or lower occupational status.
* Parents with non-English speaking background and fathers with low occupational status rated others' recommendation of the school (item
E24) highly. �
* The school's name helping with job prospects (item E27) was of
major importance for parents who were non-Australian born, non-English speaking background, with lower education or lower occupational status.
These findings support the notion that:
society does . . . assign roles other than educational ones to schools. Schools . . . are amongst the foremost agencies of socialization . . . . There, they [Le. students] learn to interact with their peers . . . they acquire the standards and values of the groups to which they "belong. " (Van Brummelen, 1988: 13).
6.2.2 Variations in Students' personal expression.
* This factor was of importance to low occupational status parents
and non-Australian born mothers.
* Encouraging creativity (item E25) was of greater interest to non
Australian born parents compared with those born in Australia.
, . � .
77
6.2.3 Variations in Academic standards.
'" Better chance of getting into uni (item E6) was of importance to
non-Australian born students and their fathers, as well as a particular sub
set of this group, namely the non-English speaking background fathers, and
those fathers with low occupational status. This reinforces the expectation
of social promotion through education.
'" less academically capable boys, non-Australian born fathers and
those with low occupational status expressed concern that students with
learning difficulties would get more help (item E26). The school would do
well to assess how much this expectation translates into payment for
results.
6.2.4 Variation in Student behaviour.
'" The non-Australian born students have a higher expectation than
their Australian born counterparts that they should learn respect for
authority (item E3), matching the standards one would expect in their
homes.
6.2.5 Variation in cultural understanding. ,.. '" Fathers from non-English speaking background expected the
school to develop key competencies in cultural understanding (item E35d).
They presumably wanted their children and their culture to be appreciated in the multicultural community at Heathdale.
6.2.6 Variation in moral standards! beliefs.
'" The students with higher general ability had higher expectations
that the school's moral standards would be simi/ar to theirs (E7). These students were more likely 'to have thought through many of the values
associated with their schooling, and hopefully contributed positively to the
quality of life at Heathdale.
6.2.7 Variations in Religious nature.
As has been mentioned earlier (page 32), a higher proportion of students
with non-English speaking backgrounds travelled greater distances to
attend Heathdale, than those from an English speaking background. It
appears that the Religious nature was of some significance in their fathers'
expectations of this school.
78
* Parents from non-English speaking backgrounds expected the
students to learn obedience to God (item E8), as they would similarly be
expected to obey their parents. * Low occupational status fathers, many of whom have a non
English speaking background, expected that students should be encouraged
to worship and pray (item E 1 7), to add meaning to life through faith in
God.
6.2.8 Variation in Friends.
* The non-Australian born fathers were interested in the social
advantage to their children of having a helpful peer group (item E5). * F�thers of non-English speaking background, who were of course
non-Australian bom, saw the school as a good place for their children to
make friends (item E39). This expectation would support the notion of
social promotion (i. e. for their children to mix with others who are better
adjusted to the Australian, and hopefully Christian, community).
* The lower education and occupational status fathers had higher expectation that the students would not be picked on for their beliefs (item
E I 5). The fathers in this group were looking tOytlie school for support in
the task of protecting as well as nurturing their children in matters of belief
6.2.9 Adequate buildings and equipment.
* This item (E13) was important for fathers with lower education and occupation status to help ensure their children's success in the
, education venture as a prelude to a satisfying career.
,6.2.10 Very , naughty students.
* The non- Australian born fathers with boys and the fathers with low occupational status saw the need to maintain standards in the school by
expelling very naughty students (item E34).
6.2.11 Differentiation by year level.
The Year 1 1112's showed greater concern than the Year 9/1O's that the
school environment would be conducive to their academic success and
personal development (see Table 6.2).
The following items showed the variation in the expectations held by the
students:
79
- staff were suitably qualified for each subject (item E9).
- very naughty students would be expelled (item E34).
- leadership skills would be developed in students (item E3 1 ).
- skills would be developed in interpersonal relations (item 35t).
- students would be encouraged to develop self-control (item E40).
- a bond would exist between the school and local churches (E 12).
- worship and prayer would be encouraged (item E 17).
- teachers would show a Christ-like example (item E28).
- The senior girls expected that the school would adhere to its statement of
faith (item E2 1).
- The senior boys were concerned that the school's name would help them
with job prospects (item E27).
Table 6.2
Crosstabulations of Students' Expectations by Year level
Year 9/10 vs Year 1 1/12 Chi-
Students' Expectations D.F. N square Q Phi E9 qualified staff I 100 5.;20 I .022 .23
-E12-bond between school & churches 1 100 3.95 .047 .20 EI7 worship & prayer encouraged I 99 4.64 .03 1 .22 E2I statement of faith adhered to I 55* 5.39 .020 .3 1 E27 school's name help get job I 42# 4.20 .040 .32 E28 teachers show Christ�li.ke example I 99 4.85 .028 .22 E3 I leadership skills developed I 100 4.37 .037 .2 1 E34 very naughty students expelled I 98 8.27 .004 .29 E35finterpersonal relations skills dev. 1 99 4.22 .040 .21 E40 students develop self-control 1 100 4.93 .026 .22
Note: * == girls only, # == boys only Yr 1 1112 bad higher ,expectations on all items
The summary expectation factors showed some differentiation by year level
(see Figure 6. 1) :
' - Academic standards were still the most important for both groups,
with Religious nature near least important.
- The senior students showed their reliance on the teachers by
placing them second behind Academic standards, whereas they were placed
sixth out of nine by the Year 9/1 O's, who did not yet fully appreciate the
importance of teachers in helping students to learn, grow, succeed.
- The younger students placed greater emphasis on Friends
compared with the Year 1 1112'5, who had either already developed strong
friendships, or felt more secure in themselves (and their faith?).
80
Figure 6.1
z�Scores for Summary Expectation Factors by Year level and Gender
2 1 .5
1 0.5
z-Scores 0 .0 . 5
·1 ·1 .5
·2
S urnna ry ExpectatIon Factors
6.2.12 Gender differentiation.
There were no major differences between girls and boys on the expectation
factors (Figure 6. 1). * Academic standards were still of number one concern, with
Preparation for employment second for boys, and fourth for girls.
* The boys were slightly more concerned, with Teacher quality, r
�:whereas the girls showed slightly more interest in Friends and Moral
standards.
The girls were different from the boys in that they were expecting:
* all necessary subjects to be taught (item E14),
-;''"(1, N = 100)= 6.57, IF .0 lD, Phi = .26, and
* the school to be a good place to make friends (item E39)
�:l(1, N = 99)= 5.47, If'" .019, Phi = .24.
6.2.13 Variation by Place of residence.
The non-Werribee students expressed greater concern (see Table 6.3) that:
* they would receive good pastoral care (item E32), and that
* the school would have a Christian atmosphere (item E38).
The local Werribee fathers had greater expectations that:
* school buildings and equipment would he adequate(item E 1 3).
* students would not he picked on/or their beliefs (item E 1 5).
* leadership skills would be developed (item E3 1).
* key competencies in scientific and technological understanding
would be developed (item E35c).
The non-local fathers had higher expectation that:
* the school's name would help their children with job prospects
(item E27).
The non-local mothers were obviously expecting that:
* the students would be taught Christian values (item E29).
Table 6.3
Crosstabulation of Expectations by Place of Residence
Werribee Resident ? D.F. N "i-" Phi Expectations 12
E13 adequate buildings & equip. father * 2 85 12.98 .002 .39 E 15 stu. not picked on for beliefs father * 2 82 9 .91 .007 .35 E27 school's name help get job father 4 83 19.75 .001 .49 E29 stu taught Christian values mother 2 92 10.83 .004 .34 E3 1 leadership skills developed father * 2 85 6.92 .03 1 .29 E32 good pastoral care student 1 99 3 . 96 .047 .20 E35c scltechnol. understanding father • 2 84 7.26 .027 .29 E38 Christian atmosphere student 1 100 5.53 .019 .24
Note: * "" Werribee residents had higher expectations
r
. �6�2�14 Summary of background and expectations.
8 1
Careful scrutiny disclosed the underlying interactions between background
and expectations. The previously hidden factor of Prestige became
important when it was investigated closely using the background variables
of parents' occupational status; level of education; country of birth; and . . language spoken at home:
* The lower occupational status fathers, many of whom were non
Australian born and from non-English speaking backgrounds, had high
expectations of social and educational opportunities for their children (i. e.
they expected social promotion through education).
* The mothers with non-English speaking background, and those
with lower educational background and occupational status showed that
Prestige factors were important for their children.
* The parents from non-English speaking backgrounds were more
concerned about the practical outworking of the Christian atmosphere of
the school, than were their counterparts.
* In contrast with the Australian born parents, those non-Australian
born were more interested in creativity being encouraged in the students.
82
* The more senior students had greater concerns relating to the
educational standards in the school, the development of personal qualities
and Christian values.
* The boys were more anxious about job preparation than the girls.
* The non-Werribee students were expecting a more caring
Christian atmosphere, than the locals. The non-local mothers had higher
expectation, than the locals, that Christian values would be taught.
* The non-local fathers had higher expectations than the locals that
the school's name would heip their children with job prospects. The local
fathers were seeking security, standards and employment skills for their
children.
6.3 Religiosity and Expectations
The z-scores for the nine expectation factors compared with the four
religiosity levels for each group are shown in Figures 6.2 to 6.4 (see details
in Appendix M).
Figure 6.2 ,.
- z-Scores for Expectation Factors compared with Students' Religiosity
levels
2 1 .5
1 0.5
0 z-Score -0 . 5
�1 -1 . 5
-2 -2. 5
Students' Expectation Factors
Although the students generally had lower expectations of the school than
the parents, the mean summary factor values increased with increasing
religiosity for the students, (with negligible differences for parents) with the
Very High students showing values similar to those of some parents (see
Appendix N for details).
83
6.3.1 Prestige and Students' personal expression.
There was no clear differentiation on the Prestige and Students' personal
expression factors, or any of their items, on comparison with the religiosity
levels for students and parents, although the Low religiosity groups did
rank: these factors slightly higher than the Higher religiosity groups.
Figure 6.3
z-Scores for Expectation Factors compared with Fathers' Religiosity
levels
1 .5...------------------------------
1�-------------------_r�--��----
0.5 +----�-'
o
z..score .0.5
-1
-1.5 .
-2
-2.5 .L.-__________ .===� __________ _
Fathers' Expectation Factors
Figure 6.4
z-Scores for Expectation Factors compared with Mothers' Religiosity
levels
1.5..------------------------------
1 +---------�� __ -------ir
0.5 +---------1 .... �......, o
z..score .0.&
-1
-1.5
� �.Ili';�--------------��+_------------2.5.1.-
------------'---"----------------
Mothers' Expectation Factors
6.3.2 Academic standards.
The Very High religiosity· students appeared less self-centred ranking
Academic standards third, after Teacher quality and Friends, compared with
the others who ranked it number one.
The students ranked this factor higher than the parents.
84
* The fathers were the only group to correlate any of the Academic
standards' items with their levels of religiosity, on item E 19 (i. e. 3R's would
be taught well) where the least religious ranked this item highest (r = .28, 2.<.05). However, this item's values for the mothers' four religiosity levels
were all high (number 3 rank order, overall), so its vital importance could
easily be overlooked. The rank order in the mothers' religiosity levels on
this item went 1 5, 5, 3, 2 showing a similar trend to the fathers.
6.3.3 Teacher quality.
This factor was of greatest importance to the Very High religiosity students
and eighth, out of nine, for those with Low religiosity. It also ranked
highly for fathers in the Higher religiosity level.
The Pearson correlations for this factor and items are shown in Table 6.4.
* The Higher religiosity level of students had greater expectations
that the teachers would be suitably qualified (item E9). This is somewhat
of an enigma, as the highest religiosity students, most of whom were girls
with good academic ability, had the same level of expectation of better
exam results, but slightly lower expectation of a better chance of getting
into uni, than the students with Lower religio�itY. As student ability
. {WLfWQ) did not correlate with student concerns about the teachers'
qualifications, it would be interesting to know why the Higher religiosity
students did so (e.g. did they feel more reliant on teachers helping them
gain good results?) .
.. Table 6.4
Correlation of Religiosity with Teacher quality
CLUSCOM Religiosity Group Expectation of Teacher quality Student Father Mother Teacher quality factor E9 teachers suitably qualified E22 teachers talk with students & parents E28 teachers show Christ-like example E32 good pastoral care
Note: Pearson's r, * = I!< .05, ** = I!< .01
.35** .38** .25*
.21*
.23*
.45** .69** .37**
.26* .38** .38**
* Teachers being willing to talk with students and parents (item
E22) was of great interest to the more religious students who saw
interpersonal relationships as important (items E35f & E32). The lowest
religiosity mothers ranked this item as number one, expressing their
concern about maintaining contact with the staff who help their children
succeed.
85
* The teachers showing a Christ-like example was of much greater
,importance to the Higher, compared with Lower, religiosity students and parents (item E28). This item was of greatest importance to the most
religious fathers. * Good pastoral care (item E32) was of moderate importance to
the more highly religious students and parents who saw the school as an extension of the caring Christian home. Conversely, the Low religiosity fathers saw pastoral care more as their domain, rather than the school's.
6.3.4 Student behaviour.
The more highly religious fathers had greater expectations that the students
would show respect/or authority (item E3)(r = .34, 12< .OJ). This matches
the Scriptural injunction that 'everyone must submit himself to the
governing authorities' (Romans 13 : 1 NIV).
6.3.5 Preparing students for employment.
The Very High religiositY groups ranked this factor much lower than the
other groups, especially the Lower religiosity mothers (see Table 6.5).
,.
- Table 6.5 Correlation of Religiosity with Preparing students for employment
CLUSCOM Religiosity Group Preparing students for employment Student Mother Preparing students for employment factor -.27* E35a language & communication skills -.26** E35b mathematics skills -.30** E35c scientific & technological understanding -.30" E35d cultural understanding -.21 * E35fpersonal & interpersonal relations .27*·
Note: Pearson's r, * = Q< .05, .. "" Q< .01
* Good career preparation (item E18) was the number one item for
the student·s overall.
* There was an expressed tendency for the development of key
competencies to be more important to the lower religiosity groups,
significantly so for the mothers who again showed they had their children's
career prospects finnly in mind (items 35a-d). This can be contrasted with
the more highly, religious students' positive concern for the development 0/
personal and interpersonal relations (item E35t).
86
6.3.6 Moral standards.
The Very High religiosity students rated this factor slightly higher than the
less religious, but not as highly as the parent groups, for whom this was
most important.
* There was a positive relationship between the students' and their
fathers' religious convictions and their expectations of better values than
those taught in other schools being present in Heathdale (item E4, number
one for most religious students, number two for most religious fathers).
* The expectation of similar moral standardslbeliefs (item E7)
matched the students' and fathers' religiosity levels (see Table 6.6).
Table 6.6 Correlatio
.n of Religiosity }Vith Moral standards
Expectations of Moral standards Moral standards factor
CLUSCOM Religiosity Groups Student Father .27** .24*
E4 better values than those taught in other schools .34*· .24·
E7 moral standards/beliefs similar to mine .37** .35 *.
Note: Pearson's r, * = n< .05, • • = n< .01
y * As the mothers scored highly on both items E4 & E7, there was
no differentiation on the basis of their religiosity.
* The highly scored items on honesty (item E20) and
trustworthiness (item E23) did not show any variation when compared with
the groups' levels of religiosity.
6.3.7 Religious nature.
Differences would be expected on these items as they were compared with
the religiosity levels of stu.d�nts and parents. The results were most marked
with the least religious placing these items at, or near, the bottom of their
priority list (see Table 6.7).
* Learning obedience to God (item E8) was rank order number one
for the most religious mothers. * A bond between the school and the churches (item E12) was of
low priority, going lower when moving from Very High to Low religiosity
in each group.
* Worship and prayer (item E17) ranged from moderate to second
lowest priority within the groups.
87
... Adherence to the 'statement of faith' (item E21), teaching of Christian values (item E29) and Christian atmosphere (item E38) showed
marked changes from high to very low priority on moving from Very High
to Low religiosity within the groups.
Table 6.7
Correlation of Religiosity with Religious nature
CLUSCOM Religiosity Groups Expectations of Religious nature Student Father Mother Religious nature factor
. .
ES students learn obedience to God El2 bond between school & local churches E 17 worship & prayer encouraged E2 1 adherence to school's 'statement of faith' E29 students taught Christian values E3S Christian atmosphere in school
Note: Pearson's r, * = 12< .05, ** = 12< .01
6.3.8 Friends.
.51** .65** .4S*·
.43** .66** .49*·
.28** .51** .2S**
.44** .57*· .43**
.44*· .64** .60**
.51** .62** .37**
.52** .63** .34**
Friends were of great importance, ranking second, for the Very High
religiosity students. ... A helpful peer group for their children (item E5) was of
r
- importance to the more highly religious mothers (see Table 6.8).
Table 6.8
Correlation of Religiosity with Friends
Expectations of Friends Friends factor ES helpful peer group ElS students not picked on for their beliefs E33 students learn to care for each other E39 school - a good place to make friends
Note: Pearson's r, * == n< .05, ** == 12< .01
CLUSCOM Religiosity Groups Student Father Mother .21*
.25* .24*
.25*
.22* '
* Students not being picked on for their beliefs (item E 15) was
second highest priority for the most religious student group, who wanted a
secure environment in which to live their faith. Several highly religious students have found it more difficult to express their faith in Heathdale,
than in previously-attended state schools, due to the forceful opposition
from some non-Christian students within the school. ... As their religiosity level increased, the fathers showed increased
expectation that students would learn to care for each other (item E33) and
88
that the school would be a good place for their children to make friends
(item E39).
6.3.9 Other items. * The encouragement of Artistic/Dramatic pursuits was of little
interest, b�t increased as the religiosity level of the fathers increased (item E2)(r = .27, 12< .05), showing their concern for this means of expression of faith.
* Adequate buildings and equipment (item E 13) was of greater importance to the less religious mothers (r = .21, It< .05), matching their interest in the students' preparation for careers (items E35a-d above).
6.3.10 Rank order of expectations (item E41a-h).
* The responses to this item reinforced the concern that the lower religiosity parents and students showed with - academic results and job preparation (see Table 6.9).
* As would be expected, the Christian atmosphere (item E41e) correlated positively with religiosity levels.
- Table- 6.9
Correlation of Religiosity with Rank order of expectations item E41
CLUSCOM Religiosity Groups Rank order of expectations Student Father Mother E41a academics E41b student job prospects
- E41e Christian atmosphere E41f sport & culture
-.38** .55** -.29**
Note: Pearson's r, * = Q< .05, ** = 12< .01
-.30** -.26* -.33** -.29** .58** .44**
-.29**
6.3.1 1 Discriminating religiosity groups by expectation factors.
* It was not surprising to find that the positively discriminating factors for the high religiosity groups were Religious nature, Teacher quality and Moral staridards� with Friends also of relevance to the students (Table 6. 10).
* The factor Preparing students for employment bore an important position for 'the mothers. This can be explained by the less religious mothers having an earnest desire to see their children suitably equipped for the Workforce, by using Heathdale's affordable, available resources (i.e. selecting the school for educational, not religious, reasons).
89
Table 6.10
-Discrimination of Religiosity Groups by Expectation Factors
CLUSCOM Religiosity Groups Student Father Mother
Discriminant expectation factors corr. var. corr. var. corr. var. Religious nature .78 60% .75 56% .59 35% Teacher quality .47 22% .37 14% .27 7% Moral standards .36 13% . 16 3% . 16 3% Friends .24 6% Preparing students for employment -.33 1 1% # Total variance .61* 87% .80· 87% .67· 80% sig. .003 .000 .000 N 100 84 92
Note: corr. = pooled within groups correlations between discriminating variables and
canonical discriminant functions * = canonical correlation
# Total variance = % of variance for canonical discriminant function
6.3.12 Religiosity and expectations of Christian atmosphere •
.. From the summary expectation factor values (page 67), it can be
·seen that the· Religious nature factor (RLG) was ranked 9, 8, & 71 9 for
students, fathers and mothers respectively, whereas from the ranked order
of expectations (item E41 , page 70), the Christian at,mosphere was 31 8 for
. parents and 41 8 for students. I'
* This apparent discrepancy can be explained:
- There is major differentiation on Christian atmosphere (item E41 e)
between the Very High & Low religiosity levels (see Table 6. 1 1).
- By taking the mean item values (i.e. averaging the extreme values
on item E41e), the marked lack of homogeneity within the groups
was masked.
Table 6.11
Comparing Religiosity levels with Christian atmosphere (item E41e)
Christian atmosphere - rank order CLUSCOM religiosity level Student Father Mother Very High 2 1 1 High 3 1 2 Moderate 8 6 6 Low 8 6 7 Overall 4 3 3
.. The Religious nature factor showed wide variation for parents,
which was not as strong for students, when measured against religiosity
levels (see Table 6. 12).
90
Table 6.12 Comparing Religiosity levels with Religious nature factor
Religious nature factor group CLUSCOM Student Father Mother religiosity level N Mean R N Mean R N Mean R Very High 15 3 . 12 6 27 3.67 2 38 3.68 3
High 39 2.77 8 22 3.57 2 30 3.29 7
Moderate 29 2.3 1 9 22 2.71 9 17 3 . 19 8
Low 17 1 .61 9 15 2.30 9 9 2.67 9
Overall 100 2.49 9 86 3 . 16 8 94 3 .37 7
Note: R = rank order
6.3.13 Summary of religiosity and expectations.
* This study showed that it is vital to take participants' level of
religiosity into account when comparing their expectations. as it
discriminated in a number of important factors (e.g. positively with
Religious nature, Teacher quality, Moral standards, Friends and negatively
with Preparing students for employment.
* The BEAeS questionnaire provided a convenient, quahtitative
measure of religiosity for comparative purposes.
6.4 Congruence with Heathdale's Goals. ,..
6.4.1 Heathdale's Mission. Statement.
* Heathdale's Mission Statement (Figure 6.5) reflects the
expectations of the Council responsible for its management in 1992. Until
this statement was produced, the Administration relied on the Interim
Prospectus (essentially unchanged since 198 1) as the guidelines for the
school's principles of operation from a theological and educational
viewpoint. The Administrator's interpretation of the Prospectus and
Mission Statement, in the practical exercise of enrolling students, has
determined whether the initial expectations of the founders have been
maintained in the school's operation, or whether a shift in emphasis has
taken place (i. e. whether the original vision gained vitality without
compromise).
* From the first three points of the Mission Statement, it can be
seen that Heathdale is committed to providing a caring, Cluistian,
disciplined environment where students are encouraged to achieve to their
God-given potential, in preparation for a satisfying career and contribution
to society.
91
Figure 6.5
HEATHDAlE CHRISTIA�QLlfg§ - HISSION SIAIEMEHI Hea thda l e Ch r i st i an Co l l ege i s a mu l t i -denom i na t i ona l , co-educ a t i on a l co l l ege predom i nant l y se rv i ng t h e educ a t i on a l needs o f fami l i es i n the western suburbs of Me l bourne . The Co l l ege o f f e r s a comprehens i v e cur r i c u l um for p r imary and secondary stude nts wh i ch is taught (rom a B i b l i ca l , Chr i s t-cent red v i ew of the wor l d . T h i s me ans t h a t the Co l l ege I s comm i t ted to : , Prov i d i ng a ca r i n g . Chr i s t i an env i ronmen t where s t udents may acqu i r e the
know l edge . s k i l l s and work hab i t s to g row I n to d i sc i p l i ned . th i n k i ng I nd i v i dua l s ; , Promo t i ng and fos t e r i ng d i l i gence and a�ce l l ence i n a l l endeavou rs . Students a r a
cha l l e nged a n d encouraged to ach i ev e t h e h i ghest poss i b l a s t anda rds I n accordance w i th the i r God- g i ve n a b i l i t i es ;
* Equ i pp i ng studen t s to pursue a sat i s fy i ng career and encourag i n g them to
con t r i bute i n a pos i t i ve way to soc i et y espec i a l l y w i th i n the l oca l commun i t y ;
• Work i ng w i th and suppo r t i ng parents I n the i r Ch r i s t i an respons i b i l i t y t o educate
the i r c h i l d ren and prepare them for fu t u re adu l t l i fe ; • Suppo r t i ng pare n t s I n the i r respons i b i l i ty for the s p i r i tu a l devel opment o f the i r
ch i l d re n , who may came to know and l ove the lord J e s u s ·Chr l s t and seek obed i en t l y
t o serv e H i m ; t Prov i d ing a cha l l e ng i ng , fu l f i l l i ng w o r k env i ronmen t t h a t w i l l enab l e us t o
recru i t , deve l op a n d reta i n t a l ented Chr i s t i an s t a f f .
Th i s statement shou l d be read I n conjunct i on w i th t h e a i ms a n d objec t i v e s o f the
Co l l ege w h i c h may be found I n the Prospect u s .
* . The students certainly embraced the notion of achieving to their
academic potential in preparation for a career, with care and help for others
definitely ranking behind their interests. Following concerns about the
moral standards, student behaviour and quality of teachers, the parents also
expected good academic development of their children.
* If the Heathdale Mission Statement points are presented in order
. of .importance, they reflect the expectations shown by the parents and
students, as Religious nature ranked near the bottom of the parents' and
students' expectations of the school.
* The fourth and fifth points of the Mission Statement expressed the
school's commitment to working with parents in their Christian
responsibility of training their children and in the children's spiritual
development. The Heathdale community is not homogeneously Christian.
With nearly half the families in the Senior School having all members with
Higher religiosity and a quarter with Lower, not all of the parents would
see training their children as their Christian responsibility. The Low
religiosity parents and students were not very interested in spiritual matters,
showing little support for the practical outworking of the school's ethos
(e.g. in encouraging prayer and obedience to God).
6.4.2 Evangelism in the school.
* Many Christian schools would rate the spiritual development of
students as of prime importance, as the foundation for growth in the other
areas of mental, social and physical well-being: It is clear to each of us as evangelical Christians that the most important decision any student can make is the decision to receive
Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. All other issues, educational or otherwise, pale into insignificance when compared to this
92
decision . . . . Evangelism has always been and must continue to be the most important objective of the Christian school as it should be for every believer. Christ's commission to us all is to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel. . . "(Mark 16 : 1 5). (Burris & McKinley 1990: 157)
* There is a difference of opinion as to the role of evangelism (i.e.
the building of the spiritual base) in Heathdale. The Baptist ministers, from
the school's major sponsoring church, were adamant that the role of the
church and school be kept distinct. They saw evangelism as the church's
responsibility. But written documents from, and about the school, clearly
show an evangelistic intent:
a. The school's Philosophy of Education (198 1), point 2 states that
it aims 'to provide education which affirms the relevance of the Christian
Gospel to each individual. ' The Gospel is spreading the Good News, 'which
is evangelism.
b. 'The Strategic Plan for the College (1992 and Beyond) stressed . . .
"The College seeks to present the Christian faith in a credible and relevant
way so that each student may have the opportunity f<;>r a personal encounter
-with,God. '" (Ceme and Hickman 1992: 58).
c. The publicity brochure distributed in October, 1 993, stated,
'leading a child to become a believer is a normal objective at Heathdale'
(Appendix 0). This supports a concern for the practical outworking of
evangelism, at least by some people, in the school.
. 6.4.3 What's in the name?
* As a Christian Community School, Heathdale was seen to be a
, school for the community, where Christianity provided a convenient base
for morals, or values, to which participating parents were able to subscribe.
In. other words, Heathdale reflects the intention of its founding father, the
Rev Joe Westlake, in that its key emphasis is on education, not Christianity.
There were major differences in the student and parent groups as to how
Christian the school should be.
93
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE OVERALL PICTURE
Detailed findings from this study have been reported in previous chapters.
7.1 Background, in Review
The families comprising the Senior School at Heathdale were atypical of
those in the local, Werribee region as they reflected a more stable nuclear
family composition, with less of the parents being Australian born and more
having higher occupational status levels than other adults of comparable
age within the region.
Seventy per cent of the students lived in close proximity to the school. The
30% non-locals came from within a radius of 30 km from Werribee.
Heathdale attracted select clients, most of whom were affiliated with
Protestant denominations, with only 1 % of the local boys and 2% of the •
local. girls attending the school, which is one of three non-government
schools, which together with four state secondary schools serve the
Werribee region.
Significant variation was noted in student general ability, and language
'. ability, on the basis of country of birth and the related non-English speaking
background, with many of the non-Australian born boys scoring poorly in
Mathematics.
7.2 Religiosity, in Review .
Religious commitment was measured by the five factors of: Public and
Private prB:ctice� Belief� Salience of belief� and Experience, with an overall
measure of reIigiosity (CLUSCOM) being developed.
The results of this study were consistent with previous findings in that the
mothers displayed a higher level of religiosity than the fathers. The fathers'
religious commitment correlated more highly with the students', than did
the mothers' ,
94
Almost half of the Heathdale families had all members with Higher
religiosity, showing support for the school's Christian nature, whereas a
quarter had each member in the Lower level of religiosity.
7.3 Expectations, in Review
Both groups of parents had very high expectations of the school, with
mothers slightly higher than fathers, with students lower than both groups
.of parents.
Previous studies of parents in Christian Community Schools in NSW
(Kallmier, 1988; Baker, 1990) showed considerable variation from the
students and parents in this study, who saw the development of moral
values and ' academic standards taking precedence over religions values, for
all but the parents with Very High religiosity. On the sulface, it appeared
that the Heathdale community had expectations similar to those in typical
non-government church schools:
* The majority of students were pre-occupied with academic
standards and job preparation. y
* The parents sought character development (i.e. good morals and .
behaviour) as well as academics standards.
* The religious nature of the school was low in priority.
7.4 An Overview of the Interplay Between Background, Religiosity
and Expectations
7.4.1 Background and religiosity.
* The more able girls and highly-achieving mothers showed
stronger religious commitment than their counterparts. The non-local girls
also had higher levels of religiosity than the locals.
7.4.2 Background and expectations.
* Parents with lower educational background and occupational
status, and those from non-English speaking backgrounds, indicated that
prestige factors were important for their children (i.e. they expected social
promotion for their children, through education).
* The fathers from non�English speaking backgrounds, the non�
local students and their mothers, and the more senior students were more
95 .
concerned about the Christian nature of the school, than were their
counterparts. * Job preparation was more important to the boys than the girls.
Non-local fathers had higher expectations of the school's name helping their
children with job prospects, than the locals who were seeking security,
standards and employment skills for their children.
7.4.3 Religiosity and expectations. * Considerable variation in expectations was found in this school
which contained students and parents with a range of religious convictions.
Levels of religiosity discriminated positively on expectations of the school's
Religious nature, Teacher quality, Moral standards, and Friends, and
negatively on Preparing students for employment.
* A close inspection showed that, for some parents, Christianity
provided a convenient moral base; whereas others were committed to a
genuine Christian school environment for their children. Some parents
embraced a stance equivalent to the values religiosity position of some
church-attenders; for others, a position akin to access religiosity, which
reflected a personal relationship with Christ, was of vital importance,
supporting the ethos of the home.
* The Beliefs, Expectations And Careers Survey (BEACS) provided
a useful quantitative measure of religiosity, which helped identify the above
variations.
' . 7.5 The Future of Heathdale Christian College
The expectations of the school and the consequential actions therein are a
. direct result of the enrolment policy and practice. Student enrolment is a
critical process with immense bearing on the on-going development of the
school . Each enrolment has the potential to enhance or diminish the
efficiency, effectiveness and ethos ofthe school.
7.5.1 Clarity of goals.
In this study, the investigation of the expectations of students and parents in
the Senior School at Heathdale revealed differences based on their
background and religiosity. The expectations of parents with children in
the Junior and Middle Schools should also be studied to see if the same
diversity exists at these levels. Evaluation of the practical impact of the
96
students' and parents' expectations is clearly warranted, so that the question
of enrolment policy, and the attendant issue of evangelism in the school,
can be put in perspective.
If a school does not articulate a clear set of goals and values, its standards
will degenerate. 'A Christian school should provide a Biblically-based
instructional program in a disciplined environment that encourages both
spiritual commitment and academic excellence' (Burris & McKinley, 1990:
1 57). The Heathdale students certainly expe.cted academic excellence, but
a marked polarisation was evident regarding their expectations in spiritual
commitment, depending on their level of religiosity. If the school had a
student contract system in operation, it could help establish and maintain
standards in all areas of its operation, including attitude to the school's
ethos (see Appendix P for details).
7.5.2 The current situation.
As previously mentioned (on page 87), several highly religious students
have stated that they have found it more difficult to overtly express their
faith at Heathdale, than they did in the state secondary schools from which
- they came, because of the strong opposition to Christianity expressed by
some non-Christian students in this school. The extent of this opposition to
the school's ethos needs to be determined to see whether it came from the
quarter of the students who had Lower levels of religiosity like their
parents.
If the Lower religiosity students ( and parents) were actively opposed, or
even just resistant to the practical expression of Christianity in the school
(e.g. prayer, Bible reading, worship, learning obedience to God) they could
eventually change the whole ethos of the school.
As was shown in Chapter 6, there is a difference of opinion over the place
of evangelism in Heathdale. The least religious students (and parents)
rarely, if ever, attended a church (pages 41 , 55, 1 32). If the school does
not present evangelistic opportunities to the students, they are not likely to
lay the spiritual foundation necessary for Christian life. The Christian
school could thus be seen as derelict in its spiritual duty (Burris &
McKinley, 1990: 1 57).
97
7.5.3 Enrolment options. In the light of varying expectations, the future of Heathdale will be
seriously affected by the answer to the question, What is the effect of
enrolment policy on the Christian ethos of the school?'
Christian secondary schools and colleges are often cautious about
accepting non-Christian students because of life-style concerns and
the accompanying impact on the school climate.
(Burris & McKinley, 1990 : 157).
There are three main options to consider for enrolment policy:
1 . This study showed that about a quarter of Heathdale's Senior School
community would likely be non-supporters of the school's Christian ethos.
On accepting a place for their child in the school, parents are required to
affinn their agreement with the Philosophy of Education and Theological
Foundations of the College. But, only a Christian could do this with
integrity.
If the 'open' enrolment practice continued, or grew, it could lead to the
.. :eventlial demise of Heathdale as a Christian school. It would become like
many church schools, having Christianity as a base for moral and religious
instruction, without the expectation, or realisation, of a vibrant relationship
with Christ being at the centre of active faith.
The change would not be instantaneous. Such a threat is one of gradual
. erosion of the fundamental ethos of a school, often by well-meaning people
wanting the school to become more relevant to the society it services. The
goal of serving Christ must be kept clearly in mind to maintain Christian
. distinctives.
2. If the school's enrolment policy was tightened, to be similar to that in operation in most Christian Parent Controlled Schools (i.e. at least one
parent required to be a confessing/practising Christian), about three
quarters of Heathdale's Senior School would remain. This situation could
be difficult to police, as the parents' circumstances might change over time.
After 1 0 years of operation at Heathdale, there could be cries of, 'Unfair! ',
even, 'How un-Christian! ' to start excluding people because of their beliefs.
It is generally felt that the church has the responsibility of reaching 'the lost';
but, does this school? If it does, to how many lost can it afford to 'reach
98
out', at any one time, before subsiding under the weight of unbelievers?
The reaching out would also place a definite evangelical mandate on the
school because, without a firm foundation of faith (in Christ), a person's
spiritual life will flounder. It is like trying to climb a ladder of spiritual
growth which has its base resting in quicksand.
3 . A totally exclusive 'Cluistians only' school would develop what Hill called a monocultural enclave (199 1 : 1 52), separatist, even in opposition to
the world. This position would not be tenable, as Christians are called to
be 'in' the world, but not 'of it (John 17: 1 6 NIV). Besides, this situation
could decimate the Heathdale population, reducing it by about 50%,
rendering it financially unviable.
The question of religious tolerance is a vexed one. In our pluralistic,
multicultural society, does a school which receives government funds have
the right to select students on the basis of religion, or any other grounds?
At present, it is possible, but, is it moral? Is it the Cluistian thing to do?
This study has identified varying expectations 8lJlohg the groups which
--
--, 'i:onstitute Heathdale, as well as looked briefly at three alternative enrolment
policies. It should provide useful information for the decision-makers as
they review the enrolment policy, thus determining the future of Heath dale.
7.6 Review of Methodology
The BEACS questionnaire was used to gather much valuable information
from students and parents showing that this school contrasted with
Christian Community Schools previously studied in NSW. The fact that
students were surveyed in this study added another dimension to data
gathered in Christian schools in Australia.
The high questionnaire return rate (about 90%) provided confidence that
the results of this study truly reflected the background, religiosity and
expectations of the Heathdaie senior school population.
A number of items in each of the religiosity and expectations factors
created reliable measures for each of the factors studied.
99
Throughout this study, more questions have arisen which could be answered by in-depth interviews to help clarify reasons as to why respondents answered the way they did.
But, time was limited� so was the scope of this study.
7.7 Implications for Further Research
Evaluating how well the expectations are realised in the school, has previously been mentioned (on page 96). It could include investigating the
following:
* Many believe a Christian school should be a microcosm
experiencing the living presence of Christ's love, where the students are
helped in developing to the best of their God-given abilities. After the
knowledge of academic subjects has faded with time, the students'
memories of the school will reflect how well teachers' lives impacted on
theirs. Time will reveal the quality of relationships that were developed, or
how well the teachers discipled the students. Have the students been encouraged to soar spiritually, through a personal
relationship with Christ? Or, ' has theirs been an education in dependency 'on a set of rules, or, even,
on humanity? * Have there been factors in the school which, contrary to
supporting growth in the students' religiosity, might actually have hindered
it (e.g. perceived hypocrisy between the preached word and the practical
outworking of it)? * Parents have greater influence on children's lives than· the school
(Hill, 199 1 : 160), as shown by the high degree of similarity in religious commitment between students and their parents. Good values appeared to
be a key expectation parents had of Heath dale.
How congruent are the parents' practices with their statements of values?
* As the Heathdale students strongly reflected parental religiosity
levels, particularly their fathers', a longitudinal study could detemtine if the
school had any impact on the development of the students' (and parents')
religiosity. And, if so, under what conditions?
* Is there a different feeling of worth between students with Higher
and Lower levels of religiosity? Is each treated with equality, or is there
partiality in the way staff, parents or peers treat certain students?
100
Is Christian love (i.e. thinking and doing what is best for the other person)
present in action?
* How do the students' personal values and self·concepts impact on
their career plans?
7.8 A Wider View
Heathdale is but one of the many Christian schools which have been
developed in Australia over the last 20 years. As further individual and
corporate studies are undertaken on them, more light will be shed on this
peculiar sociological phenomenon which has provided many parents with a
genuine choice in schooling:
• for some, because they actively sought alternative (Christian)
values from those espoused in other schools;
• for others, because they were seeking a safe haven for their
children away from the wiles of the world;
- for yet others, because such a school appeared to be the vehicle to
provide social promotion for their children, through education in a caring,
disciplined envirorunent that. had good moral stanqards, was affordable, and -
in a convenient location.
101
BmLIOGRAPHY
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Baker, D. A. (1990). Choice in Schooling: A Study of the Underlying Values Expressed Through the Choice of Independent, Christian Schools. Unpublished MEdAdmin dissertation, University of New England.
Bentley, P., Blombery, T., & Hughes, P. J. (1992). Faith Without the Church? Nominalism in Australian Christianity. Melbourne: Christian Research Association.
Blombery, T., & Hughes, P. 1. (1993). Faith Alive: An Australian Picture. Melbourne: Christian Research Association.
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. Burrell, 1. N. (198 1). Parental Choice: non-government secondary schools in the Ballarat region. Unpublished MEd thesis, University of Melbourne.
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CPCS (undated). The Must of Christ-Centred Education. Blacktown: Christian Parent Controlled Schools Ltd.
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de Vaus, D. (199 1) . Surveys in Social Research (3rd ed.). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
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Frisken, R· J .. (1989). Why Christian Schooling? Wentworthville, NSW: Christian Community Schools Ltd.
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Kaldor, P., Bellamy, J. , Correy, M., & Powell, R. (1992). First Look in the Mi"or: Initialfindings of the 1991 National Clmrch Life Survey. Homebush West, NSW: Lancer.
Kallrnier, R. A (1988). Why Parents send their High School students to Christian Community High Schools. Unpublished MA thesis, Macquarie University.
Kienel, P. A. (1978). Reasonsfor Sending Your Child to a Christian School. La Habra, CA. : P. K. Books.
Leavey, C., Hetherton, M., Britt, M., & O'Neill, R. (1992). Sponsoring Faith in Adolescence. Newtown, NSW: E. J. Dwyer.
Mayer Committee. (1992). Employment-related Key Competencies: A proposalfor consultation. Melbourne: Mayer Committee.
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New International Version (1986). The Holy Bible. Nashville: Holman.
Norman, M. (1980). Small Schools Study. Canberra: Australian Schools Commission.
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Norusis, M. 1. (1983). Introductory Statistics Guide SPSSX Ill: McGrawHill
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Partington, G. (1990). The Australian, 28 April, 1990.
Roberts, A. S. (undated). Educationjrom God's Vantage Point. Brisbane: . . Accelerated Christian Education.
Seiffert, M, W. (1993). A. Sociological Study of Factors Affecting Parental Choice Of Secondary Schools in Victoria. Unpublished PhD thesis, La Trobe University.
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Smolicz, 1. 1., & Moody, 1. M. (1978). Independent schools as cultural systems, in Murray-Smith, S. Melbourne Studies in Education, 1978. Melbourne; Melbourne University Press.
Van Brummelen, H. (1988). Walking with GOD in the Classroom. Seattle Wash. : Alta Vista College Press.
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Wuthnow, R. (ed.). (1979). The Religious Dimension: New Directions in Quantitative Research. New York: Academic Press.
Young, G. W. (1986). Parent Attitudes to an Independent School. Unpublished MEd th,esis, University of Melbourne.
104
APPENDIX A Heathdale's Interim Prospectus
Written in 1981 and kept essentially unchanged. except for the insertion of the logo.
HEATHOALE CHRlfTJAn COLLEGE
InTERim
PROfPECTUf
BACKGROUND /HI STORY OF HEATHDALE
I n £@eent year s , Christian school ing has beeol�e a widespread phenolflenon t h roughout the "es tel"h "or l d . Thh h a s a r isen f o r Many r e a � on s - h o t t h e l e a s t of which h a d i aehch antment wi t i l the secular hUlfla h i B� and m a t e r i a l i s t i c bias f ound in many oth@£ education a l s y s t ems .
People today " a r e s ee�ing a l t ern a t i v e s "hich o f f e r qua l i t y educat ion con s i s t e n t "i th deepl y - f e l t r e l i g i ou s b e l i e f s a n d "hich a f f i rm t r a d i t ional s t andard� upheld i n the home .
In 1979. research by the verrib"e a a p t i . t Church rav.aled t ha t 1n addi t ion to the f oregoing . many other f e l t need� "i thin t h e community could be m e t b y e s tablishing • rh r is t i a n school in t h e area.
Accor d ingly in 1980, a commi t t e e "as d e t up to " ca rry ou t all a c t ions nec@ls ary to hav e a Ichool in oper a t ion by February 1982 . "
ADMINISTRATION
The R e a thda le Chr i s t i an Colleg8 Li mi t ed is a Company e s t abli shed by ,a School Council cons ist ing of elected me_bers f rom the verribee B a p t i s t Church , o ther as soci a t ed churches , and the co�mun i t y . The Co�pany i s composed o f p a r e n t s and i n teres ted people "ho "ish to proN o t e t h e obj ect ives o f the Colleg e , and who subscribe to i t s theolog i c a l and phi losophical b a s e s . A s m a l l annual �e.berghip f ee i s charged t o cove r communicat ions cos ts .
THEOLOG I CAL FOUNDATIONS
' Jem IIld, .1/ JDI eulhu h IJ lOrd, JD. a n LuI, 'f dhdplu , " ' IJDhn l : l l .lnJ
The te8ching and a c t i v i ties of the " e a t h d a l e Ch r i s t i � n College w i l l be i n con f or m i t y v l l � t l l � p r in c i p les outl ined i n the f o l l ow ing s t a tement o f b a s i c t r u ths contained in the Bibl e :
a . Holi Scri p t u r e , the Old and Hew Te� t a�en t 8 , i s God ' . w r i t ten word and con t 3 i n s all things neces s l r y f or s a l v a t ion . I t is t h e supr eme au thor i t y in a l l ma t t e r s o f f a i th and conduct Bnd provideR the f r amework for our unders t �nding o f God ' s crea t ion and H i s purposes wi thin i t .
b . Holy Scripture i s i n t e l l igible in i t s e l f , b u t our unde r s t anding o f i t s t r u th i s broug h t abou t only a s t h e Holy Spirit reveals i t to us . I t remains esse n t i a l (or God ' s people to d r a w t o O n e anoth e r ' s a t t en t ion t h e p l a i n meaning of S c r i p t u re a n d i t s imp l i c a t ions f o r l i f e . a nd to w i t ness to i l s t r u th f ulness in expe r i ence .
c . There i s one t r u e God who i n the unity or " i s Godhead e�i s t s i n three person s : the Fa ther . the Son and the HOly Spi r i t .
d . God ' s sovereign au thor i t y i n His c r e a t i on , providence and r edempt i on i s exerei �ed i . i n f i n i t e wi 8do� , goodness alld l ov e .
e . Mankind h a s chosen to rebel a g a i n s t t h e sovereign Cod . Th i s e v e n t h a s coalfd c s i g ll i f i c ance : i t hu a H e e l ed the environment in which man l i ves , i t h a s marred man ' s n a t u r e i h c l u d i llg h i s ... ! " d a l l d vi l l , i t h IlS d i s t or ted hh percep t i on of his p l a c e ill the wor l d and has broken h i s r e l a t ion�hip w i th God . "an by hims e l f no l onger has the /lower to a c t i n a way t h a t i s pleasing to God : f rom b i r t h , man ' s n�ture i s s e l f -cen t r ed and not God-ce n t r ed , theuby r endering him deserving of God ' s condemn a t ion �lId in need of s a l v a t i o n .
2
f . God the Son became .an and l i ved i n H i s wor l d . H e i s known a n t h e m a n Jesus Chr i s t who i s b o t h t r u l y God and t r u l y lIIan . He w a s conceived by t h e Hot� Spi r i t I ll d b o r n o f the V i r g i n Hary.
g. II I Hercy and Grace, Jesus t h e p e r f e c t m a n d i e d to reconci l e u s to t h e F a t he r . H i s death is t h e onc e - r o r - a l l p er f ec t , prop i t i ar y , subs t i t u t i Ollary and s a t i a f actory s ac r i f i c e both for or i g i n a l g u i l t , and f or a l l the a in s of men . Through u ' e death o f Jesus , God Himsel f h a s removed the b a r r i e r w h ich prevented Il i s f u l l r e l a t i ollsh i p vilh mankind . Ve avait t h e joyful mani{en t a t ion of t h i s t r u th .
h . Because of H i s obed i ence i n l i f e and u n t o d e a th , Jesus h a s beell bod i l y r a i ned f rolll d e a t h and g i ven a l l author i t y . Thi s au thor i ty i s not r ecog n i s ed by rebell ious ilia II , bu t v i i i b e c l e a r t o a l l wher, H e r,.elutll9 ill person to j udge the wor ld .
'
i . Hen , women and young people a r e declared r i gh t eous by G o d a s they comm i t their l i v e s to Jesus i n repent ance and f a i th . Th i s conscious �ommi tment i 9 made pos s i b l e by th� work of the Holy S p i t i t w i thlll lhe i�d i v idua l ; i t is not a meri t o r i ous wor k .
j . God , the Holy S pi r i t l i Ves w i t h i n e v eryone w h o cOllfesses J e s u s C h r i s t 8 S Lo r d .
· By t h e i r per�on�l comm i tment of
( a i th , be l i e v e r s are born anew alld come a l i v e to God being thus BapEieed o f t h e Spi r i t •
1 \
k . The Church i � the uni v er s ll Body of � l l beli ever s who are thus regene r a t e , b e i n g indwei t b y the H o l y S p i r i t . B i b l i c l l ordinlnces* given by Ch r i a t f o r H i � Church a r e t h e B a p t i s� o f Bel i ev e r s a n d the COMMun ion of t h e Lord ' lI Supper .
1 . God expec t � His peopl e to a s s eMble t og e t h e r regularly in the Name of Christ (or Bible t elching . t h a n ks g i v ing . �r ayer and M u t u a l e d i f i c a t i on . Spi r i t u a l g i f t s a r e to be exercised no t selfishly or e go t i s t i c a lly b u t w i t h loving h UMi l i ty ih t h e service of Chr i s t and f o r t h e ed i f i c a t ion of His Church .
• • "Chriltian parenta Ire respon s i b l e t o God f o r the c a r e , dis ci p l i n e I n d ins t ru c t ion of thei r children i n t h e Lord . "
*n I I not htnde' thJt the Co11ef' IhlJd be IIt� I I • ,hthn 10/ hiltS 01 eo.tnUo. 0/ '!lodlitlOIiI Un.
P H ILOS OPHY OF EDUCAT I ON
'h lln 'P • child In tho WlJ he Ihodd go, lid Ibn h II oU h will lot dtpUl fin f t · , Ihonrhs ll: I , 1511
The pur pose o f Chr i s t i a n Educ a tion h to d e ve l op the IIhole pepon . Vh i l s t the s choo) share!! lIi th the hOllie , the church lind the cO",Muni t y i n the n ur t ur e alld educ a t i o n of ch i l d ren , the f i M I r e spons i b i l i t y res t s wi th p a r en t s : This r e s pons i h i l i ty e",b�aces the total lI e l f are of the chil dren and includes spiri t ua l , lIIe n t a l , phys i c a l nnd cul t u r a l as pec ts . H e a t M a l e Chd s l i an CoIl ege i s open to a l l cI oildren IIhose paren t s accept and a c l t v e l y endor s e its a i",� , and IIho wish t o take adv a n t age of the type o� educa t i on being o L l er e d .
The a illlS o[ the s chool a r e a s [OUOIIS : 1 . To provide educat ion a l pri�ary and secondary l e v e l s f or boys and g i r l s f r olll a wide r a n g e of backgroundR in an envi ronun t consistent lIith tloe Theological Founda t ion� .
2 . To provide educat i on II h i ch a f f i rMS the relevallce of the CIII: h t i an Gospel to each ind iv idu a l . J . To prol.'ide e d u c a t i on IIhich h i gh l i g h ts the v a l u e of every i nd ividual lind t o suppor t each � tudent 2 � h e or she develops , ins t i l l ing i n e a ch s t udell t concern and re�pe c t C o r the n e ed s . abi l i ties and conv i c t i ons of o t hers .
4 . To provid!! educa t i on . wh i ch engenders an appreci a t ion of beau ty , goodne s s and truth . S . To provi d e educa t i on wh ich s tr esses It s ens !! of COMMunity and to develop i n d i v i d u a l g i f t s s o that s t udents w i l l b e abl e to m a k e I n i n f orMed and responsible con t r ibu t ion to the loc a l a r e a a n d t o society in general .
6 . To provide educa tion which high l i g h t s the iMpor t an c e o[ [ llmily l i C e , respects e q u a l l y a l l forms of 1I0r k . and which hOllours thosa who seek j us t i c e , equ a l i ty and peace .
CURR I C ULUM
'The Foar of tho Lord is the beginning of know ledg o , , (Proverbs 1 : 1 , RSVI
The !l t a ( ( il,g pol i cy o f tho Co1 1elle ill to r ecrui t t e a c h e r s who a r e fully qu a l i f i e d Q�d r e g i a tered , a nd who ara com� i t t ed Chr i s t i ans , represent ing a v a r i e ty of d enominat ion s , b u t uni ted in t h e i r � ppre c i a t i on of th e value of their prov i s i on of a sound b a R i c educj t ion t augh t f r om a Chri s t i a n pen pec t i ve .
In pu�s�i t of the d ec l a red ai�s of t he College ( g e e "Phi losophy of Educa t ion" above l , a c a d emic excell ence w i l l be sough t . It i s expe c t e d that chi l d r e n w i l l roach h i gh s t and a rd s o f w o r k i n a n a tmosphero o f mutual encouragemen t , accept an co a n d c a r e , Inc luded �i th t h e a c a de m i c cu r r i cu l um w i l l b e phys ica l educa t i on a n d spor t , bibl i �a l i ns t r uc tion a n d w i d e c u l tural a c t iv i t i es .
Ev ery oppo r t u n i ty w i l l bo taken La broBden s tuden t s ' appr aci a t ion of t heir p l a c e i n the c r e a t e d world , a n d in the e a r l y y ea r s , to develop sound found a t i on s for baaic knowledg e , s k i l l . a n d s t udy h a bi t a . because our ai., in educa t i on are not res tricted to equi pping a chi l d lor a j ob , s tudents will be requ i r ed t o take a wide r ange of subj ec t s t h rough until a t lea s t the n i n th year of s chool i n g .
POL I CY
Voca t i onal g u i d a nce and ca re e r cou n o e l l ing w i l l b e a v a i l a b l e when r equi r ed , and s tuden t s i n Y e a r s l a , 1 1 and 1 2 especially v i I I bo encour aged to s t ru c t u r e their . t udy proqr amme accor d i n gl y ,
The s u b j e c t s t ha t a r t included i n the t ime t a bl e a t Primary l evel , a n d th e ' core ' subj e c t s a t Secondary l e v e l , a r e
m a i n l y t hos a i ncluded i n t h e Educa t ion Department cu r r icu lu� guide lines . The Col lege bel i e v � s th a t p r e s e n t ing t h i s con t e n t D n d m a t er i a l i n t h e con t ex t o f t h e . philosophy outlined in t h e prev i ous section of t h i s pr ospect u s i s the bes t way to p r epa re any ch i l d [or Chr i s t i an l i v i ng as a young person a n d u l t i ma t el y as an ad u l t w i t h i n the v i d e r commu n i t y , i t r espective o f occupa t i on o r voca t i on .
r
'Ob!f ron Indus ud IIhlt to Ihn' IRtbrns Il: I1 , lnl The b i b l e c le a r l y s t a t � s t h a t ch i l d r e n shou l d obey t h e i r pa r en t s , and t h a t e veryone shou l d obey t h o s e i n a u thor i ty . I t i s a g a i n s t t h i s b a ckqfound th a t tha g en er a l p o l i c y o f the Co l lege o n orqan i s a t ion , cont rol and d i s c i pline is out l ined .
P a r e n t s , s t u d e n t s �nd a t a f f are �7.pe c t ed to co-oper a t e in imple�en t ing the pol i �i e s of the s chool a nd t o suppo( l a n d endorse t h e t e ache r s '
author i t y in t h e c l a s s room. Regu l a r communica t i on be t w e en parents a n d the school will be encouraged .
D i s c i rl i n e i s applied as requi r ed , wi t h l i m i t ed u g e o f corporal puni shmen t . As a l a s t resor t , and on l y a f ter
. con sultat ion i nvo l vinq paren t ll , the P � i n � i p a l may e7.e rcise h i s r i g h t s to e�pel a s t ude n t w h O l e behav iour and a t t i tu d e ! ind i c a t e f l ag r a n t or per s i s ten t broaches of the code of e7.pec l ed beh aviou r .
The s chool wi l l b e con cerned �bout i n d i v i d u a l s tud en ts wh() may h a v e emo t i on a l ()r o l her probl ems , and w i l l s e e k t o r e s o l v e t he� , b u t t h e d i l l i c u l t i e s of o n e s tudent w i l l n o t be a l lowed to disrupt classes or th r e a t en t h e welf a r e of other s tUden t s . S tu d e n t s have a r i q h t t o know why r ul es ahd d eci s i ons a r e mBde and en f or ced . As t h e y ma ture they w i l l be encour�ged to t a k e par t i nc r ea s i ng l y in a c t i v i t i e s i nvolving t h e exerc i s i ng �f j udge�e n t s a n d the making o f decisions .
In summ a r y , the Pol i ey of the s chaol w i l l be to pr ov id e educ a t i on and p� s t or a l care f o r s t uden t s , t o nur t u r e i h t h em a l i v i ng Ch r i s t i a n f a i t h , and , by te a chi ng and examp l e , to p r e p � r e the� to h a n d l e succe s s f u l l y a n y t h i ng t h a [ u t u r a may hol d .
OR GAN I S ATION AND GENERAL
" I I tHnql sboaU b e dDD' d,een tlr l a d II ordu. ' 1 1 Cor. 1 1 : 11 . 1m Each ot the topics i nc l uded und e r t h i s heading are t h e s u b j e c t o f • s e p a r a t e sheet o r leaflet Which w i l l provide l u ll detail • •
Uniforlll
The w e a r ing of t h e o f f i ci a l school unif orm i s required for all grade s . There a r e summer a n d w i n t e r unHorJu for boys and g i r l � . wi th some v a r i a t i ons permi t t e d between j unior and s e n ior l ev e l s .
Fees Fees are t u i t ion f ees , and a r e due f o r payme n t a t th� beginning o f each s emes t e r . Every a t t empt i s Made t o keep f e es to a Nod e r a t e level . and as far a s po� s i bl e , t o adjust theN only at t h e beginning of e a c h year . Concess ions are a v a i l able (or s econd and subsequen t c h i l d r en o f the s ame f amily i n a t t endance e t the College a t the S IUIHI t ilte .
tn the eve n t of an u n expected .ajor change i n financial cir cums t a n ces . paren t s are a d v i s e d to s eek an i n t e r v i ew wi th the B u r s a r to discuss t h e issue at an early s t a g e .
Books , s t a ti onery Iwd equiplllent
The s chool l1 i 1 1 provide major pieces o f · equi pmen t . but e a c h s tu d e n t i s exp e c t e d t o prov i d e or p a y f o r h i s /her own w r i t ing impleme n t s and s t a t ionery in accordahce vi th the requireme�ts o f the ,chool .
Texthooks and o ther w r i t ten and aud i ov i s ual ma t er i a l s w i l l be provided on 8 gr ad e or form b a s i s by a m i � t u r e of two method s , a s seems mos t e d u c a t i on a l ly a p propr i a t e and eeonomical f or a l l concerned :
1 . A mod e s t "subj e c t , f e e " �ay be charged to cover t h e cos t of � a t e r i a l s a n d books u s e d b y t h a t elas s . and / or
2 . A book l i 9 t of r equirements to be boug h t f or each chi l d i n t h a t class .
In addi t i on to t u i t ion f ees . which a r e p a y a b l e e a c h s e�es t e r , and books and equipment charoes . [or vhich mos t o ( the expen d i ture a r l , e s � t the beginnino of each y e a r . there a r e a number of o t h e r i ni t i a l cos t s a t t h e t i m e a s tu d e n t f i r s t joins the Col l eg e . These include I non-returnable regis t r a t ion f ee which i s payable at the time .n appl i c a tion for admiss ion [ or a child i s made t o the College . Thi s fee covers the admin i s t r a t i v e expenses invol ved in the appl i c a t i on and enrol�en t proc e s s for elch applican t .
Trallsport alld " t t endance
It is th e r espon s i b i l i t y of parents to ensure t h a t each child a r r ives a t school pUnct u a l l y ( i d e a l l y f i v e t o t e n " Minutes be for� the f i r s t bel l ) and t h a t s u i t a ble arr angemen t s a r e made [ o r the child t o return home promptly at the end o f the school day.
r At p r e s e n t the Col lege has limi t ed organised t r anspor t , i . e . buses t ol f r om Al t o n a , V i l l i ams town , Lave r t o n : s t . AlbanK , Sunsh i n e , Deer P a r k : VyndhaMy a l e ; Hel t on . Alse. where parents vish to consider c a r pooling arrangemen t s . the Col l eg e i � prepared to provide Mutual introd u c t i ons to paren t s of f aNi l i e! who l i v e in the s ame a r e l!. .
Ag a t t endance a t school is considered' t o be Manda tory . all other ehgagenen t s f o r a s tudent ! � . q . den t a l appo i n tme n t s ) shOUld b e arranged for o ther t i mes .
7
Pllrell t -teat:/lli'/; rela t i ousllips As paren t s Bnd teachers a r e i nvolved t og e t h � [ in t h e n u r t u r e o f the §ame child , it i8 e , s e n t i a l t h a t they meet t o d i 5cu,s h i s /her prog re§! and problems f r om t ime to time. Hence , i t i s impor t a n t t h a t a t l e a s t o n e p a r e n t f r om each f ami ly a t tend t he prog r e s s re�o r t s e s s i on s h e l d two or t hree t imes epch yea r .
I n add i t ion t o these regu l a r reviews , wh�re speci f i c problems a ri se d i § c u s s i o n bet ween pare n t s and s t a f f m a y o f ten b e h e lp f u l . Such i n terv iews May be a rr anged with or through the P r i n c i p a l . Par enta l involvement and a s s i s t a n�e i s a n impor l a n t ' part o f College l i f e , and , a l ong w i th regular commun i c a t i o n , will be encou r aged .
B
GENERAL REGULAT I ON S
There a r e occ a s ions when t h e P r i n c i p a l mus t cer t i f y the age of a s t ud en t . A b i r t h cer t i f i c a t e or i t s equ i v a l e n t i s t h e r e f o r e required t o accompany t h e enroben t f o r m .
Chi ldren r e t u rn i n g t o school mu s t j oi n t h e i r c l asses o n t he d a t e f i xed f or resump t i on . They a r e n o l permi t t ed t o l e ave a t the end o f • term un t i l t h e c l os ing d a t e , except wi t h t h e e�press perm i s s ion o f t h e Pri ncipal . I A n o l e s ign ed by the child ' s parent o r g u � r d i n g i s r eq u i red t o excu s e h i m/her for having been l a t e or absen t , �nd f or not preparing w�r k . H o e�p l a n a t ion o f absence other than i l l n ess o r bereavement i s r egarded a s s a t i s f aet�ry unless pr ior. perm i s s i on h a s been ob t a i n ed f r om the Principal upon the w r i t t e n r eque s t of a parent or g U a r d i n g . Vhen a pupi l i s absen t on accou n t of i l lne s s , immed i a t e h o l i c e shou l d b e given t � the P r i n c i pa l .
Every child admi t t ed to the College i s e�pec ted to conf orm i n a l l r e s pe c t s t o the Col l ege rule§ .
1 10
APPENDIX B
Follow-up Letter for 'Late' Parents
HEATHOALE CHRlfTIAn COLLEGE A.C.P4', (l&J I62 'm 17' Derrimul Road. W.rrib ... JOlO Po. tal Add, .. s: P.O. Do" 10012, W.rribee PI .... JOlO
Tel: (0)) 749 1522 Fox: (0)) 748 6lj7
27 October , 1 9 9 3
Dear Parent ,
Last week I sent you a ques tionnaire related to career planning for students in Years 9 - 1 2 at Heathda1e .
I f you have completed it and given it to your child to return to me , will you please check to see if/when it was handed in and to whom , a s I have not yet received your reply .
I recognise that parents are very busy people and that your time is precious . But , may I please have about 30 minutes of that time?
With a census , it is e s s ential to have everyone ' s input for the best results to be obtained .
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- - -Your . opinion is of vital importance to me for the effectiveness of this research , to help students at Heathdale and hopefully elsewhere .
Please complete the survey and return it to me by this Friday ; 30 October .
Thankyou , in anticipation of your help .
Yours s incerely in Chri s t ' s s ervice ,
John W . Fisher
1 1 1
APPENDIX C
BELIEFS , EXPECTATIONS AND CAREERS SURVEY .
Dear Parents ,
I am interested in finding ways of working together with parents to bes t help students set clear, achievable c areer goal s .
\
As part of my Master o f Education s tudies at The Univers ity of Melbourne , I am looking at factors that influence students ' career plans . I am seeking opinions from All the students in Years 9 - 1 2 , at Heathdale Christian College , ADQ you , their parents .
I would greatly appreciate each parent ' s help by completing this survey and returning it to me , in the envelope provided , as soon as pos s ible , preferably by Friday 2 3 October , but by Monday. 26 October at the latest .
I ' l l be wanting to relate parents ' opinions with those of their children . For this reason , I have put a code on each questionna ire , so no names wi l l be recorded anywhere in the data . I am the only person with acc e s s t o this code , so your answers will remain confidentia l . And , a f ter the data has been entered onto the computer , the codes will be destroye d , s o identities will b e completely untraceable , even t o me .
It should take you about 30-40 minutes to complete this survey . I
I trust you will enj oy your ' Freddo ' when you fin�h ,
PI"ease answer ill questions .
Indicate the first answer you think of . Do not spend too much time On any one ques tion, but do give an answer .
It is important that you express Y2YX own �, without d i s cu s s in g the questions with others .
When you have completed the survey , please � that you have answered all questions on each page . If you have any difficulties with any o f the questions , please phone me :
on 7 4 9 1 5 2 2 , during . . school hours , o r on 7 4 1 6 6 7 1 , after 6pm .
I f you have more than one child in Years 9 - 12 , you wil l f ind multiolEl copies of PART IV of the s urvey . Please check the Year level and Sex on the form , to ensure you are completing � appropriate � . I look forward to receiving your completed questionnaire as Boon as pos sible .
THANKYOU for helping ,
John W . Fisher
BELIEFS . EXPECTATIONS AND CAREERS SURVEY - PARENT INSTRUCTIONS I • Please answer All questions • Do not spend ,too much time on any one question • Indicate the first answer you think of • For each question , please CIRCLE the ONE LETTER or � ONE ' box ' , which best describes your response , and COMPLETE the BLANKS , where appropriate .
PART I : GENERAL INfORMATION.
I . a . Student code . • . . . b . Child ' s Year • • • • .
c . Sex o f student i . Male i i . Female d . Home Suburb • • • . . . . • • . . • • . . . . . • . . . • . . •
2 . This survey is being completed by: ( C ircle ONE letter) a . Male Parent /Guardian b. Female Parent/Guardian
3 . In what part of the world were you ll2xn? ( circ le ONE letter ) a . Australia f . Northern Europe k . Africa b . New Zealand g . Southern Europe 1 - Pacific c . Great Britain h . Eastern Europe m . Other d . North .America 1 - Middle East • • • 110 . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . e . Central/S . America j . South-East As ia
4 . What language is spoken at horne ? a . Engl ish only c . Other & English b. English, & Other d . No English
5 . What is your age? a . 3 0 - 3 4 years c . 4 0 - 4 4 years e . 5 0 - 5 4 years b . 3 5 - 3 9 years d . 4 5 - 4 9 years f . more than 5 5
6 . What is the highest level of formal education you have reached? a . Primary . s chool r b . Some secondary education c . Completed secondary school d. Trade or certificate from technical college e . -Diploma from college of advanced education f . A degree from a university or equivalent g . Post graduate degree or diploma
7 . What is your � form o f employment? If currently home duties or unemployed , please indicate this � the previous job role ;
a . Home duties by choice h . Sales and service b . Unemployed i . Machine operator/driver c . Managerial /Admin . j . Labourer/manual activities d. Professional with people k . Farm owner e . Professional - technical 1 . Mus ic ian/artist _ ' f . Tradesperson m . Other ( please speci fy ) g . Clerical
8 . What is your religious affiliation? ( Circle � letter) a . Anglican (C of E ) o . Jehovah ' s Witness b. Apostolic p . Jewis h c . As semblies of God q . Lutheran d . Baptist r. Mormon e . Brethren s . Presbyterian f . Buddhist t . Reformed Churches o f Australia g. Catholic u . Salvation Army h . Christian & Mis s . Alliance v . Seventh-day Adventist i . Christian Revival Crusade w . Uniting Church j . Churches of Christ x. Wesleyan Methodist k . Congregational y . Other ( p lease specify) 1 . Foursquare Gospel m . Greek Orthodox n . Hindu l: . No rel igion
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-2-PART II I BASIC BELIEF AND EXPERIENCE SURVEY . Please circle � letter , in each of the following, unless instructed otherwise .
1 . How often do you go to worship services ? a . Hardly ever/never e . Once a fortnight b . Special occas ions only f . 3 out of 4 weeks c . Less than once per month g . Each week d . Once a month h . More than once a week
2 . About how many hours activities organised
would you spend in worship services ' lor by a church each week?
a . None c . 3 - 5 hours e . 1 1 - 2 0 hours b . 1-2 hours d . 6 - 1 0 hours f . OVer 20 hours
3 . Do you regularly take part in any outreach activities of a church? ( eg visitation , evangelism, community service/social j ustice/welfare )
a . No , I am not regularly involved b . Yes , in evangelistic activities c . Yes , in social carel social justice activities d . Yes , in both b and c above
4 . Are you regularly involved in any group activities associated with a church?
a . No , I am not regularly involved b . Yes , in small sharing, prayer or Bible s tudy groups c . Yes , in fellowships , clubs , social or other groups d . Yes , in both b and c above
5 . Do you try to exert a �C�h�r�i�s�-t�i�a�n�1�' nMAf�1�u�e�n�c�e with those around you ( at work , friends , local contacts ) ?
a . To a great extent d . Not at allr ___ b . . To . some extent e . Don ' t know
c . Perhaps a little f . Not applicable
6 . Which of the following best describes your readiness to � to others � your iAith?
a . I lack faith , so the question is n2t applicable b . I do nQt like to talk about my faith; my life and actions give
sufficient example c . I find it hard to express my faith in ordinary language d . I mostly feel at ease about expressing my faith and do so if it
comes up e . I feel at ease about express ing my faith and seek to find
opportunities to do so
7 . Which of the following best describes patterns of praYer in your daily life , at present?
a . Prayer is nQt important in my daily life b . I pray mostly in times of stress , need or gratitude c . I put as ide a set time for prayer each day d . I often mOve to/drift into prayer during each day e . Both c and d above
8 . How often do you read the a . Every day/most days b . Several times a week c . Once a week
Bible on your own? d . Occas ionally e . Never/hardly ever
9 . Which of these best describes your situation? a . I have a strong sense of what God is calling me to do b . I am nQt sure what God is calling me to do c . I do D.QS. sense God ' s call but my faith gives me direction for
living d . Don ' t know
-3-1 0 . Do you read Christian books and magazines ?
a . Often c . Rarely b . Sometim�s d . Never
1 1 . Would you describe yourself as . . . a . Very committed to your faith b . Somewhat committed to your faith c . Not committed to any faith d . Can ' t choose
1 2 . How c lose do you feel �t�o�Go�d most o f the time? a . Don ' t believe in God d . Very close b. Not close at all e. Can ' t choose c . Somewhat close
13 . Over the last year , have you grown in your understanding o f the Christian .fiJJ<.b?
a . No real growth b . Some growth c . Much growth, mainly through church d . Much growth , mainly through my own private activity
14 . Over the last year , have you made' any changes in your actions and priorities as a result of Chris tian �?
a . Not applicable b . I do not feel I have a Christian faith c . No real changes d . Some small changes e . Some ma jor changes
15 . Which of the fol lowing most clearly re flects l!:Ql.U: gJ21p1!2D? 'a . When I - die , I � I ' m going to heaven b . When I die , I � I 'm going to heaven c . When I die , I will cease to exist d . When I die , I don ' t know what will happen
1 6 . How important is belief in ' life after death ' in youre daily living? a . It is a central hope that I l ive my life for b . It is an additional motivation to be obedient to Chris t c . It is n2t very important t o my daily living; it ' s a bonus a t the
end of my life '
d . I do llQt believe in ' life after death ' e . Don ' t know
17 . Besides my �, I feel there are many more j,mportant things in my life
a . Not applicable d . I tend to disagree b . I definitely agree e . I definitely disagree c . I tend to agree
1 8 . Which of the fol lowing do you think is ,the MOST important to you ,
19 .
about rel igious iAith? a . Talking about your faith to other people b . Spending time with God in worship c . Keeping the Ten Commandments d . Being caring and cons iderate of others
Have you ever experienced a moment Christian convers ion? a . No , not at all b. My faith has grown gradually c . Yes , in the last year d . Yes , 1-2 years ago e . Yes , 3-5 years ago
of decis ive faith commitment! f . Yes , 6 - 1 0 years ago g . Yes , over 10 years ago h . Yes , several times i . Yes , but don ' t know when j . Don ' t know
- 4 -2 0 . Have you ever had an experience of the presence of God ( apart from
convers ion ) ? If s o , select the most s igni f icant : a . Mirac le of healing e . I n nature/world around me
' b . Spec i f ic call to action/minis try f . Some other way c . Vivid mystical experience . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . d . Dramatic answer to prayer g . No such experience/unsure
2 1 . Where do you find the greatest source of spiritual growth?
[ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ [
22 .
[ [ [ [ , [
J J ] ] ] ] ] J J J ] J ] ]
Please indicate a MAXIMUM of TWO . Write 1 & 2 alongside your choices . a . b . c . d . e . f . g . h . 1 . j . k . 1 . m . n .
Sharing , Bible study o r prayer groups Wors hip services In miss ion activities with church With mis s ion groups outs ide of church Friends Private prayer/ref lection Private Bible reading/study Reading Christian books and ma9a�ines Media ministry ( eg radio , TV) In unspoilt natural places /wilderness areas In meditation/relaxation groups not connected to any c hurch From other philosophies or groups Church camps/Christian conferences Other ( please speci fy ) . . . • . . . . • . • . . . . . . . • • • . • . . • • • • . • . . • • . • .
There are many Chris tian traditions from which we learn and grow in our faith j ourneys . Please indicate which you believe to have been the most s ignificant to you , by placing a 1 alongside' the most s ignificant , and a 2 alongs ide the second-most s igni f icant , if applicable .
) a . Catholic /Anglo-Catholic ] h . Charismatic / Pentecostal J c . Evangel ical
f . Liberation Theology g . Eastern Orthodox h . Other ( please s pecify)
] " d� Reformed ) e . Liberal i . Not applicable
Circle QH& letter , in each o f the following . 2 3 . Which statement comes closest to your view of the �?
a . The Bible is the Word of God, to be taken l iterally word for word
b . The Bible is the Word of God which needs to be read in the __ context of the times ,to understand its impl ications for us today
c . The Bible is a valuable boo k , parts of which reveal God ' s Word to u s
d . The Bible is a valuable book w i t h much to teach u s e . Don ' t know
2 4 . An important Christian helief is that Christ was fully Go d , fully human � phys ically rose from the dead . What do you think?
a . I have no doubt about it c . I have s erious doubts e . Don ' t b . I have some minor doubts d . I don ' t believe it know
25-� Another important Chris t ian belief concerns eternal life . How do you think eternal life c a n be obtained?
a . I don ' t really believe in eternal life b . Everyone will receive eternal l i fe c . I only need to try to be a good person d . It comes by being good as wel l a s faith in Jesus e . Faith alone in Jesus is all that is needed f . Don ' t know
2 6 . Do you believe in a divine 1udgement after death where some shall be rewarded and others punished?
A . Yes , without A doubt d . No , I don ' t think so b . Yes , I think s o e . Definitely not c . Uncertain
-5-2 7 . Do you believe in a personal God?
2 B .
a . Yes I do , and I have no doubts about it b . Generally I do , although sometimes I have doubts c . I don ' t know about a personal God , but I do think there is some
sort of higher power d . I don ' t know if there is a God e . I don ' t believe in God
Do you bel ieve in the activity of evil spirits in this world? a . Yes , without a doubt d . No , I don ' t think s o b . Yes , I think so e . Definitely not c . Uncertain
2 9 . What is your opinion of ' speaking in tongues ' ? a . Don ' t know, or have no opinion b . I generally dis approve of speaking in tongues as it is practised
today c . I generally approve of speaking in tongues in mos t sitUations ,
but do not speak in tongues myself d. I approve o f and have spoken in tongues myself e. Speaking in tongues is necessary for all Christians
30 . I believe the � was � a . by chance , through evolution b . by God , through evolution, over mill ions of years c . by God , through creation , over 6 days d . by God, through creation , over a long period of time
3 1 . Suppose you had to j oin a new church . Which of the following would you be most likely to j oin? ( Circle � letter , only . )
a . One with a ma j or focus on evangelism b . One primarily concerned with evangelism that also �demonstrated
sOme concern for soc ial action c . One primarily concerned for social action that also demonstrated
some concern for evangelism d . One with a maj or focus on ' social action e . Don ' t know/not applicable
Do you �trongly Agree , Agree , 2on ' t Know , Qisaqree or �trongly Qisagree with � of the following s tatements l (� one , for each On)
SA A OK D SO 32 . There is more good in the world than bad
3 3 . Miracles happened j us t as described in the Bible
3 4 . The Bible should be taken literally as the inspired Word of God
35 . God directly controls what happens in the world
PART III : EXPECTATIONS OF SCHOOL. What do you expect o f Heathdale Christian College?
INSTRUCTIONS I * Please express your opinion on the statements below . * Alongside each statement there are 5 numbers , which represent 5
poss ible attitudes to the statement . * Circle the number closest to your attitude to each statement .
What the numbers � : 4 • most important t o me 3 � very important to me 2 - of some importance to me 1 • of very little importance to me o not at all important to me
- 6 -1 . The school uniform would look good 2 . Artistic/ Dramatic pursuits would be encouraged 3 . Students would learn respect for authority 4 . -Better values than those taught in other s c hools 5 . My child would have a he lpful peer group
6 . My child would have a better chance of getting into uni 7 . School ' s moral s tandards /be l i e f s would be s imil ar to mine 8 . Students wou ld be encouraged to learn obedience to God 9 . Suitably qualified sta f f for each subject
1 0 . The school would give my child good s tanding in society
1 1 . Teachers would be very committed to their work 12 . A bond woul d exist between the school , loc a l churches 1 3 . The school buildings & equipment would be adequate 14 . All necessary subj ects would be taught ( or o f fered ) 15 : Students would not be picked on for their be liefs
16 . Students would develop independence in learning 17 . Students would be encouraged to worship and pray 1 8 . Students woul d be given good career preparation 19 . Educational basics ( 3R ' s ) woul d be taught wel l 2 0 . The school would encourage honesty in s tudents
2 1 . The school would adhere to its ' statement of faith ' 2 2 . Teachers willing to talk with students & parents 2 3 . The school would encourage trustworthines s in s tudents 2 4 . Other people would recommend the s c hool 2 5 . Students would be encouraged to be creative
2 6 . Students with learning di f f iculties would get mor� help 2 7 . The school ' s name would help my c h i l d with j ob �rospects
-_. 2 8 .. ---Teachers would show a Christ-l ike example 2 9 �' The students would be taught Chris tian values 3 0 . Students would learn good work habits
3 1 . Leadership skills would be developed in s tudents 3 2 . Good pastoral c are of my chi l d 3 3 . The students would learn t o c are f o r each other 3 4 . Very naughty students would be expe lled
3 5 . The school would develop key competenc ies i n : a . language and communication b . mathematics c . s c ienti fic & technological understanding d . cultural understanding e . problem solving f . personal & interpersonal relations
3 6 . House/Team spirit would be fostered 3 7 . My child would get better exam ( & VCE ) results
_ . 3 8 . The school would have a Chri stian ' atmosphere ' 3 9 . A good place for my child to make friends 4 0 . Students would be encouraged to develop s e l f -control
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 ' 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 1 . Please � , in order o f importance to you , your expectatigns o f this Bchool . ( 1 = o f greatest importance , through to 8 - o f least importanc e )
a . academics e . Christian atmosphere b . s tudent j ob prospect s f . sport & - culture c . moral s tandards g . s tudent behaviour d . peer group ( friends ) h . teachers
' . .
PART IV : SCHOOL SUCCESS AND CAREER PLANNING. -7-If you have more than one child in years 9 - 1 2 , you will find multiple copies of PART IV of the survey . Please check the Year level and Sex on the form , to make sure you are filling in � right �.
CODE . . . . STUDENT ' S SEX a . Male b . Female YEAR
1 . How well Please /
did your child achieve , on average , one ' box' for each ' sub j ect ' l is ted in Y�ars 9 ' i 10 ) : below .
Not ' Subject '
Very Ex . good Ave . POOr Applicable
Engl ish Mathematics Science Geography/History Foreign language practical & others
2 . How do you ,� your child ' s chances of pas sing Year 121 please select one by circ ling the appropriate letter : a . excellent b . very good c . average d . poor
No e . poss ibility
3 . For a suitable career, does your child � to complete Year 127 a . Definitely Yes c . Unc ertain d . poss ibly No b . Poss ibly Yes e . Definitely No
4 . Does your child intend completing Year 127 a . Definitely Yes c . Uncertain d . pos sibly No b . Pos sibly Yes e . Definitely No
5 . Which ' §ubiects ' do you expect your child to do in Irs 11 & 121 Place a l in � of the 3 ' boxes ' , for each of Years 11 & 12 .
Year 11 , Year 12 . 'Sub1ec.t ' Oef- Pos s - Not Oef- Poss- Not r
inite ible likely inite ible likely ( One Maths , QB ( Two Maths , QB ( Terminal Maths ( Yr l l )
Biology Chemis try PhYSics Info . Tech .
, Foreign Language Religion in Society
6 . Please � in order of importance ( from 1 � highest to the ' anticipated rewards from work ' for your child :
meeting being useful interesting others well paid to others work
a . [ ] b . [ ] c . [ ] d . [ ]
7 . � your child ' s interest in each of the following : ( Place a J in one ' box ' , for each category, to � the
o f interes t . ) Very Non-Category Ex . good Ave . Poor existent
a . Artistic-Creative b . Clerical-Admin . c . Community service d . Computational e . Engineer-Technical f . Literary g . Manual-Practical h . Hedical i . 'Outdoor j . Personal contact k . Scientific
5 .. lowest )
'challenge e . [ ]
highest level
" .t';.
- 8 -B . BAnk order ( from 1 - highes t , t o 7 • lowest ) what you hope your
c hild will do immediately after leaving school . Please give detail . a . get a j ob
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . .
b . more study at TAFE , BUs . Col lege , etc . . . . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
c . more s tudy at Univers ity • . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . .
d . work & study part-tlme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e . have a long break ( 6 - 1 2 months ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . f . do volunteer work . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . • .
g . go to Bible Col lege . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9 . What do you expect to be your child ' s ma j or form o f employment. when he/she is Y2yr age? ( Please choose one )
A . Home duties by choice h . Sales and service b . Unemployed i . Machine operator/driver c . Managerial/Admin . j . Labourer/manual activities d . Profess ional with people e . Professional - technical
k . Farm owner 1 . Mus ician/artist
f . Tradesperson m . Other ( please spec i f y ) g . Clerical
10 . List pp to 3 careers ( in order o f preference ) that you would l ike to see your child doing in 10 years ' time :
Please indicate your child ' s level of cOmmitment to each ' career ' ;
4 = absolutely certain ; this is it l 3 = very interested , but not certain 2 - a definite pos s ibil ity
1 : maybe a possibil ity a � not sure if there ' s
interest
' Career ' choice
1 • . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . • . • . . . . • . • . . • . • • . • • .
2 • • • • • • • • • . • • • • . • • • • . . • • • • • • • • . . • • • • • . . .
3 • • • • • • . . . • • • • • . • • • • . . . • • • • • • • . • • • • . . . • •
" l evel of commitment
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
i -
1 1 . P lease indicate the imPortance you believe each of the following has been in influencing your child ' s career plans . * Please use the 5-point scale below !b�t tb� numb��§ m§AO ;
4 a most important 3 a very important 2 E of some importance 1 • of very little importance o • not at all important
a . parents 4 3 2 1 a b . �ers ( friends ) 4 3 2 1 0 c . pastor/priest/minister 4 3 2 1 0 d . prayer 4 3 2 1 0 e . careers teacher 4 3 2 1 0 f . other teachers 4 3 2 1 0
g . other careers advisers eg CES , etc 4 3 2 1 a
h . Job And Course explorer 4 3 2 1 0 1 - work experience 4 3 2 1 0
j . part-time j ob 4 3 2 1 0 k . academic results 4 3 2 1 0 1 . sex of student 4 3 2 1 0 m . religious beliefs 4 3 2 1 0 n . reces sion/unemployment 4 3 2 1 0
- 9 -12 . Which kind of person are xgy ? ( P lease choose � )
a . A person who judges new ideas by your feelings about them, rather than by abstract reasoning .
b . A person who likes to examine new ideas and test their truth by looking at the evidence .
c . A person who is DQt particularly concerned about ideas and theories , but prefers to concentrate on practical things .
13 . Which kind of person is your child? ( P lease choose � ) a . A person who j udges new ideas by their feelings about them,
rather than by abstract reasoning . b . A person who likes to examine new ideas and tes t their truth by
looking at the evidence . c . A person who is � particularly concerned about ideas and
theories , but prefers to concentrate on practical things .
14 . When comparing boys ' and girls ' careers , which do you believe? a. Boys ' careers are much more important than girls ' . b . Boys ' careers are s l ightly more important than girls ' . c . Boys ' and girls ' careers are o f equal importance . d . Girls ' careers are s l ightly more important than boys ' . e . Girls ' careers are much more important than boys ' .
15 . There are some careers only boys should do .
that should only be for girls , and others that
1 6 .
a . Strongly Agree b . Agree
c . Don ' t Know d . Disagree e . Strongly Dis agree
Do you think your level of f aith has any importance regarding your child ' s career plans ?
a . Not relevant , as I have no ' faith ' b . Never thought about it c ., There is _ no connection d . My ( Christian ) f aith gives guidance for my c hild ' s c areer e . Career plans contradict Christian faith at some points
.. "' .. "' . .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. "' .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. "' .. .. "' .. "' .. "' . . . .. . .. .. .. ..
If you have �, please answer these 6 questions .
I n these questions you might want to choose many of the items given .
As I am interested in what is MOST IMPORTANT to you , please choose only � items in each question ; by placing a 1 alongside the mos t important , a 2 alongside the second-mos t important .
I . There are many ways o f talking about God and what God means to us . Choose the 1 of the following that are HOST important to you . Put a 1 alongs ide the most important : a 2 alongside your next choice . 1 a . Judge [ ] g . Absolute Good
1 b . Creator & Sustainer of the [ 1 h . Almighty & Eternal God universe [ ] i . Indefinable Spiritual Being
c . - Ever-present Helper [ ) j . Redeemer d . Personal Spiritual Power [ ) k . God is beyond description
or Presence [ ) 1 . I have no definite ideas e . Personal Friend about God f . Comforter m . Other . . • • • • • • • . . • . • . • • • • •
II . There are many words used to describe Jesus and why he is important . Choose the 2 of the following that are MOST important to you . ( 1 - 1st importance : 2 = 2 nd importance )
) a . Revealer [ ] f . Saviour ) b . Example [ ] g . Kind and good person 1 c . Friend [ ) h . God in human form ) d . Teacher [ ] i . I have no definite ideas about Jesus ) e . Healer [ ) j . Other . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . • • . • • • . . . . • • • •
- 1 0 -I I I . Which of the following do you think are HOST important in a
Christian ' s life? Choose only 1; 1 - lst , 2= 2nd importance . a . Keeping the Ten Commandments b . Being involved in a church c . Helping other people d. Working , for social ju stice e . Being caring and cons iderate o f others f . Having a personal relationship with God g . Believing the Bible as the inspired Word of God h . Speaking in tongues , prophesy, healing i . Having as surance of s a lvation j ,' Attending ma s s , eucharis t , or a service of worship regularly k. Bringing others to know Chris t 1 . Fol lowing the teaching of Jesus m. Other . • . • . . . . . • . • • • • . . . • . . . . • • • . . • • • . . . . . . . . . . .
IV . � the Christian faith help you in daily life in any of the following ways ? Choos e a maximum o f 2 ; l=lst , 2�2nd importance .
] a . Understanding the world as a meaningful place ] b . Values to live by and standards to hold on to 1 c . Access to a loving 'God who is wil l ing to help in every-day life 1 d. Inner s trength and courage ] e . Inner peace and tranquill ity ] f . Understanding we are important as children of God ] g . Fellowship and a sense of belonging 1 h . Opportunities to s hare with God in His work ] i . Understanding of human l i fe as purposeful ] j . Other . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . . • . . . • . . . . . . . • . • • • . . . . • • • • • • • • • • •
) k . The Christian faith does n ' t help me in daily life
V . What do you be lieve is MOST important among the things which the chyrch does? Choose up to 2 ; l=l s t , 2=2nd impor�ance .
-]-a . Educating people in the Chris tian faith ] b. Converting people - getting them to accept Christ as Saviour ] c . Challenging social evil and injustices ] d . , Controlling the behaviour and morals of people by promoting
Christian values e . Seeking unity with other Christians and churches f . Worshipping through prayer and the sacraments g . Giving meaning , purpose and direction to l i fe , particul arly in
times of cris i s .
h . Providing fellowship through soc ial activities i . ' Encouraging and supporting the faith o f the local congregation j . Caring - personally or through wel fare agenc ies k . Other • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . . . . • . • • • • • • • • . • • • . • • . • . . •
VI . � do you think the MOST important task o f a minister or pries t in a local church shQuld be? Choose up to 2 ; I-1st , 2=2nd importance .
[ ] a . Social reformer - attacking social injustices [ ] b . Educator - teaching people about the Christian faith
. [ ] c . Pastor - visiting and he lping people as a friend [ ] d . Evangelist - converting others [ ] e . Preacher - expounding the Word of God [ ] f . Scholar - an authority on rel igious matters [ ] g . Counsellor - helping people with problems and crises [ ] h . Organiser - supervis ing the work of church or parish [ ] i . Priest - conducting worship and administering the sacraments [ ] j . Other . . • • . . • . • • • • • • • . . . . . . • . • • • • • . • . . . . . . . . . . • . .
'
. . . • • . • • • . .
[ ] k . Ministers or priests should have no particular ro l e , but s hould . serve in their s ituations according to their abil ities and the needs of the s ituation
Once again , THANKIOU for completing this survey . Your help is much appreciated . John W . Fisher .
122
APPENDIX D
Cluster Values for Religiosity Factors
The initial values for each beliefs' factor were entered into the SPSSX
QUICKCLUSTER program at four selected levels, for each of the students' and parents' groups. The final values were comparable between groups, with similar size and order of increases between levels (see Table D. 1) . Table D.l Cluster Values for Religiosity Factors
Religiosity factors Public Private Salience of practice practice belief Experience Belief
CLUSCOM Ii Groups init fin. init fin init. fin. init fm. init. fin. VII Student 20 18.3 10 9.20 2 1 1 8.8 10 6.73 27 24.0 1 5
Father 24 2 1 .2 9 10.0 22 1 9.7 10 8.2 27 25.6 27 Mother 21 1 9.9 10 9.9 18 19.2 8 8.2 24 24.8 38
H Student 14 13.3 8 5.7 1 9 1 5.4 4 4.8 1 9 2 1 . 1 39·
Father 15 15 .3 7 7.2 15 15.1 6 6.2 22 23.6 22
Mother 14 12.7 4 7.2 14 14.6 5 5 . 1 21 21 .9 30 M Student 4 5.9 2 2.6 1 1 9.4 1 2.5 1 5 16.2 29
Father 8 6.0 5 2.5 12 8.8 1 2.2 1 3 14.4 22 Mother 4 8.0 5 4.6 12 1 1 .8 1 .. 3.2 16 14.2 17
L Student 0 1 .7 1 .9 3 4.5 0 .7 3 6.9 17
Father 1 2.6 1 .9 3 3.3 0 1 .0 0 4.3 15
Mother 1 2.4 2 1 .3 5 4.8 0 1 . 1 2 6.9 9
Note: init. = initial value, fin. = final value for cluster groups
A complex scoring system. was derived from Hughes' and Blombery's description of their four religiosity scales ( 1990: 1 5 1 -3), to give a quantitative Access-Value religiosity measure (A VREL) (see Table D.2). Table D.2 Final Cluster Values for the A VREL Religiosity Measure
Access Religiosity Groups Values Religiosity Groups AVREL Gp Conversionism Devotionalism Conventionalism Principlism !'! Level 1 - VII Student 12.6 10.6 -2.8 -3.4 5 Father 13.8 1 1 .4 4.2 -5. 3 1 1 Mother 14.3 1 1 . 1 4.8 -6.4 9
Level 2 - H Student 10. 1 9 .1 .7 2.5 35
Father 10.7 9.8 0 .9 28
Mother 10.5 1 1 .4 -.4 1 .2 43
Level 3 - M Student 6.4 6.6 4.5 6.7 4 1
Father 6.0 6.5 4.8 7.8 24
Mother 5.9 5.8 4.0 7.4 27
Level 4 - L Student 3.4 3.3 6.3 12.3 19
Father 1 . 1 .2 8.2 14.4 23 Mother 2.7 1 .5 8.8 15.1 1 5
123
APPENDIX E
The NEFOS Instrument
Previous work in Christian Community Schools in NSW (Kallmier, 1988, Baker, 1990) was used as the basis for developing an instrument to investigate Nine Expectation Factors Of Schools (NEFOS).
NEFOS uses a 5-point Likert scale to elicit each respondent's opinion on 42 items representing the nine expectation factors:
1 . School's prestige! standing in society 2. Students' personal expression ( creativity/ leadership) 3. Academic standards 4. Quality of teachers 5. Student behaviour 6. Preparing students for employment 7. Moral standards 8. Religious nature (Christian atmosphere) 9. Friends (peer group)
The 5-point scale: 4 = most important to me 3 = very important to me 2 = of some importance to me
1 = of very little importance r
to me o = not at all important to me
It takes about ten minutes for parents and intending-secondary school students to complete NEFOS. This instrument is best given to potential school families immediately prior to their interview, to be completed individually. Each can be scored bY' office staff, then given to the administrator to be used in the interview process. It takes about two minutes to 'score' each questionnaire.
The mean 'factor value' can be compared with the 'summary factor score' for each of the nine factors. Significant variations can be followed up in the interview process to help determine the idealism, realism and practicality of each interviewee's expectations, as well as the congruence of expectations between the parents and their child/reno
NINE EXPECTATION FACTORS OF SCHOOLS (N.E.F. Q . S)
What do you expect of THIS SCHOOL? INSTRUCTIONS 1 * P lease express your opinion on the s tatements below . * Alongs ide each s tatement there are 5 numbers , which represent 5
poss ible attitudes to the statement . * Put a X through the QHt. number c l o s e s t to your attitude for each
statement .
What the numbers mean : 4 - most "important to me 3 - very important to me
1 s o f very l ittle importance to me o � not at a l l important to me
2 - of s ome importance to me
1 . The s c hool uniform wou ld look good 2 . S tudents would learn respect for authority 3 . Better values than tho s e taught in other schools 4 . S tudents would have a helpfUl peer group 5 . Students would have a better chance of getting into unl
6 . School ' s moral standards /beliefs would be s imilar to mine 7 . Students would be encouraged to learn obedience to God 8 . Suitably qua l i f ied s t a f f for each sub j ect 9 . The school would give s tudents good s tanding in soc iety
1 0 . Teachers would be very committed to their work
1 1 . A bond wou ld exist between the school & local churches 12 . All necess ary sub j ects would be tau ght ( or o f fered ) 1 3 . Students wou l d not be picked on for their be liefs 14 . S tudents would develop independence in learning 1 5 . Students would be encouraged to worship and pray :
r
16 . Students would be given good c areer preparation 17 . Educational basics ( 3R ' S ) would be taught well l B . The school would encourage honesty in s tudents 1 9 . The school would stick to its ' statement of f aith ' 2 0 . Teachers willing to talk with s tudents & parents
2 1 . The s c hool would encourage trustworthiness in students 2 2 . Other people would recommend the school 2 3 . Students would be encouraged to be creative 2 4 . Students with learning d i f f iculties would get more help 2 5 . The s c hool ' s name would help s tudents with j ob prospect s
2 6 . Teachers would s how a Christ- like example 2 7 . The s tudents would be taught Christian values 2 B . Students would l earn good work habits 2 9 . Leadership s ki l l s would be developed i n s tudents 3 0 . Good pastoral care of s tudents 3 1 ." The s tudents would learn to c a re for each other
3 2 . The s c hool would develop good s ki l l s i n students in l a . l a nguage and communication b . mathematics c . s c ientific & techno logical understanding d . cultural unders tanding e . problem s o lving f . personal & interpersonal relat ions
3 3 . House /Team spirit woul d be fos tered 3 4 . Students would get better exam ( & VeE ) results 35 . The s chool would have a Chris tian ' atmosphere ' 3 6 . A good place for s tudents to make friends 3 7 . Students would be encouraged to develop s e l f-control
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 I 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 I 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 I 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 I 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 I 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 r 0 4 3 2 I 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0 4 3 2 1 0
( OFFICE USE : 10 PRS XPR ACO STU
SUMMARy FACTORS - EXPECTATIONS OF SCHOOL
PRP . MRL RLG FRI
Please indicate how important each of the fol lowing factors are to you , regarding your expectations of the schoo l r
* Please express your opinion on the statements below . * Alongside each statement there are 5 numbers , which represent 5
pos s ible attitudes to the statement . * Put a X through the QNt number c losest to your attitude for each
statement .
Wb�t tb� numb�,s m��D : 4 = most important to me 1 = o f very l ittle importance to 3 • very important to me 0 • not at all important to me 2 of some importance to me
1 - School ' s prestige/standing in society
2 . Students ' personal expres s ion ( creativity/leadership )
3 . Academic standards
4 . Quality of teachers
5 . Student . behaviour
6 . Preparing students for employment
7 . Moral standards . . . - - - - - --
8 . ' Christian atmosphere
9 . Peer group ( friends )
Thankyou for completing this survey .
r'
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
me
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
2 1 0
NINE EXPECTATION FACTORS OF SCHOOLS ( N . E . F . O .S )
SCORE KEY Developed , by John W . Fis her , Heathdale Christian Col lege , 1 9 9 3 .
SCORING INSTRUCTIONS
Calculate the � value for each o f the � FACTORS ( -Factor Value ) . This is done by adding the scores for the items associated with each factor , then dividing by the number of items answered for each factor . The divisors below show the maximum number o f items per factor .
1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 .
6 . 7 . 8 . 9 .
1 0 .
1 1 . 12 . 1 3 . 14 . 1 5 .
1 6 . 1 7 . 1 8 . 19 . 2 0 .
2 1 . 2 2 . 2 3 .
' 2 4 . 2 5 .
2 6 . 2 7 . 2 8 . 2 9 . 3 0 . 3 1 .
32 .
3 3 . 3 4 . 35 . 3 6 . 3 7 .
PRS / 4
1<
1<
•
1<
a . b . c . d . e . f .
XPR /3
1<
1<
1<
ACD /5
1<
•
1<
1<
TCH / 5
1<
1<
1<
1<
1<
STU / 4
1<
1<
•
1<
PRP /7
1<
1< 1< 1< 1< 1< 1<
MEL / 4
1<
1<
1<
r
RLG / 6
1<
, 1<
1<
1<
•
FRI / 4
1<
1<
1<
•
( OFFICE USE : 10 _ _ _ ) Mean Factor Value
PRS XPR ACO TCH STU PRP MRL RLG FRI
The fewer items completed per factor , the less confidence that can be placed in the Factor Value as a valid indicator of the respondent ' s opinion in that area .
Compare the mean Factor Values , above , with the Summary Factor scores below . If there is a variation of more than one unit , for any factor, it would be worthwhile to use follow-up questions with the respondent to determine the reasons .
SUMMARY FACTORS - EXPECTATIONS OF SCHOOL The respondents are asked to indicate how important each of the following factors are to them, regarding their expectations of THI S SCHOOL ( ie the one you are s tudying ) :
What the numbers mean :· 4 • most important 3 = very important
1 - of very l ittle importance o e not at all important
2 = of some importance
1 . School ' s EBeStige/standing in society
2 . Students ' personal eXEBess ion ( creativity/leade�hip )
. . . 3 _ �a.Qemic standards
4 . Quality of Iea�ers
5 . �dent behaviour
6 . EReEaring students for employment
7 . MoBa� standards
B . Christian atmosphere - RWG 9 . Peer group (l.Bl.ends )
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
4 3 2 1 0
This instrument was developed as part of post-graduate studies in education at The University of Melbourne , supervised by M. Seiffert .
Please � written feedback on its use/usefulness to : John W . Fisher Heathdale Christian College PO Box 1 0 4 2 WERRIBEE PLAZA V I C 3 0 3 0 Phone ( 03 ) 7 4 9 1522 Fax ( 03 ) 7 4 B 6 2 5 7
128
APPENDIX F
Values of ReliabiUty Variables for CLUSCOM & NEFOS
The agreement within factors is not as strong for the students as it is for the parents' groups. Considered overall, the factor groups offer a good distribution of items into a smaller number of manageable units for comparison purposes in this study (see Table F.l for CLUSCOM and Table F.2 for NEFOS).
Table F.l Scale-testing co-efficients for the CLUSCOM Religiosity Measures
CLUSCOM groups Student Father Mother
Item-total Alpha Item-total Alpha Item-total Alpha CLUSCOM correlations if item correlations if item correlations if item Factorl Items deleted deleted deleted
Public practice Bl .n .82 .87 .91 .80 .88
B2 .85 .74 .89 .86 .85 .83
B3 .39 .82 .69 .89 .63 .87
B4 .68 .78 .78 .88 .78 .84 B5 .65 .79 .76 .89 .70 .87
B6 .64 .78 .84 . 87 .75 .85
Scale alpha .82 .90 .88
Private practice B7 .69 .74 .86 .89 � .74 .78
" 138 .71 .72 .89 .88 .73 .81
BIO' .65 .79 .86 .91 .78 .79
Scale alpha .82 .93 .85
Salience of belief B l l .69 .82 .85 .91 .72 .83
B12 .54 .83 .82 .91 .66 .83
B13 .63 .82 .74 .92 .67 .83
B14 .73 .81 .78 .92 .70 .83
B l 5 .74 .81 .86 .91 .65 .84
B16 .63 .82 .86 .91 .64 .83
Bl7 .57 .83 .67 .93 .49 c .86
BI8 .34 .87 .61 .93 .56 .85
Scale alpha .84 .93 .86
EIperience B9 .39 .46 .74 .81 .51 .71
B I 9 .35 .48 .74 .81 .60 .63
B20 .39 .32 .78 .71 .63 .55
Scale alpha .52 .84 .73
Bellef B23 .43 .82 .92 .98 .87 .96
B24 .59 .80 .95 .98 .88 .96
B25 .65 .79 .87 .98 .79 .96
B26 .55 .80 .94 .98 .88 .96
B27 .64 .80 .94 .98 .90 .96
B28 .61 .80 .92 .98 .86 .96
B29 .47 .81 .93 .98 .81 .96
B30 .56 .81 .95 .98 .89 .96
B3 1 .38 .83 .92 . 98 .85 .96
Scale alpha .82 .98 .96
;;?�*1 129
-· ·i·�'!'�·· · . ": ." l " t ' :: . �. :
Table F.2 Scale testing co�emcients (or NEFOS Student Father Mother
NEFOS Item-total Alpha if Item-total Alpha if item-total Alpha if Factor/ Item carr. item del. carr. item del. carr. item del. PRS
El .27 .66 .43 .86 .5 1 .74 EI0 .41 .56 .59 .78 .64 .67 E24 .43 .54 .81 .68 .49 .75 E27 .53 .45 .74 .71 .65 .66 Scale alpha .63 .81 .77
STU E3 .48 .62 .39 .69 .45 .66 E16 .48 .62 .54 .59 .4 1 .69 E30 .37 .69 .43 .67 .48 .64 E40 .57 .56 .58 .57 .61 .55 Scale alpha .. . 69 .70 .70
PRP E 1 8 .61 .81 .53 .88 .41 .85 E35a .70 .80 .67 . 87 .50 .84 E35b .70 .79 .72 .86 .77 .80 E35c .66 .80 .81 .85 .80 .79 E35d .57 .81 .67 .87 .56 .83 E35e .61 .81 .70 . .86 .72 .81 E35f .32 .86 .63 .87 .47 .84 Scale alpha .83 .88 .84
XPR E25 .35 .54 .65 .69 .68 .68 E3 1 .44 .41 .66 .69 .61 .76 E36 .39 .49 .59 .76 .66 .72 Scale alpha .58 .79 .80
ACD E6 .44 .64 .57 .77 .51 r .72 E14 -.52- .61 .70 .73 .47 .71 E19 .48 .62 .36 .82 .52 .71 E26 .33 .70 .65 .74 .50 .70 E37 .48 .62 .67 .73 .68 .62 Scale alpha .69 .80 .74
TCH E9 .58 .80 .43 .60 .39 .70 El l _63 .79 .48 .59 .51 .67 E22 .62 .79 .52 .57 .47 .68 E28 .69 .77 .34 .66 .49 .67 E32 .61 .80 .41 .61 .64 .59 Scale alpha .83 .66 .71
MRL E4 .56 .67 .47 .74 .42 .56 E7 .42 .76 .47 .79 .58 .44
E20 .54 .68 .74 .62 .42 .59 E23 .65 . 62 .65 .65 .34 . .61 Scale alpha .74 .75 .63
RLG E8 .83 .91 . 87 .92 .85 .85 E12 .68 .93 ' .76 .94 .57 .90 E17 .82 .91 .90 .92 .81 .86 E21 .85 . 91 .80 .93 .72 .87 E29 .75 .92 .83 .93 .66 .88 E38 .82 .91 .81 .93 .71 .88
. Scale alpha .93 .94 .89 FRI
E5 .45 .60 .57 .52 .69 .63 E 1 5 .51 .56 .35 .68 .36 .81 E33 .45 .60 .42 .62 .62 .68
E39 .40 .64 .48 . 58 .61 .67 Scale alpha .67 .67 .76
130
APPENDIX G
Scores for Religiosity Items
Table G.I Scores for Religiosity Items
Scores corresponding to responses: Belief a b c d e f g h i j Items
BI 0 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 B2 0 1 2 3 4 5
B3 0 2 I 3
B4 0 2 I 3
B5 3 2 1 0 0 0
B6 0 1 2 3 4
B7 0 1 2 3 4
B8 4 3 2 1 0
B9 2 1 0 0
BIO 3 2 I 0
B l l 2 I 0 0
Bl2 0 I 2 3 0
B 1 3 0 I 2 3
B14 0 0 I 2 3
B 1 5 2 I 0 0
B16 3 2 I 0 0
Bl7 0 I 2 3 4
B I 8 2 3 1 0
B I 9 0 I 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 0
B20 5 4 3 2 I 0
B23 3 2 I 0 0
B24 3 2 I 0
B25 0 I 2 3 4 0 B26 3 2 0 1 0
B27 3 2 I 0 0
B28 3 2 0 1 0
B29 0 0 1 2 · 3 B30 0 1 3 2
B3I 2 3 1 0 0
B32 0 1 0 2 3
B33 3 2 0 I 0
B34 , 3 2 0 ' 1 0
B35 3 2 0 I 0
13 1
APPENDIX H
Crosstabulations of Student Ability by Country of Birth & Language
Table H.t Crosstabulation of Student Ability by Country of Birth
Boys Girls Ability/Group D.P. N ..,.," 12 Ph Ability/Group D.F. N 'j. ... . Q Phi
Language Language boys' fathers· 1 37 5.3 .02 .39 girls· I 55 5.1 .02 .30 boys' mothers· 1 40 7.4 .006 .43 girls' fathers· I 48 3.8 .05 .28
Maths boys' fathers· 37 5.2 .02 .37
General General ability ability boys' fathers· 1 37 7.5 .006 .45 girls' fathers· 1 48 5.0 .02 .32
boys' mothers· 1 40 6.7 .01 .41
Note: * == Australian born scored higher
Table B.2 Crosstabulation of Student Ability by Language
Boys Girls Ability/Group D.P. N '1-'" 12 Ph Ability/Group D.P. N ""/..'l. R Phi
Language Language boys· 1 44 17.3 .000 .63 girls· 1 55 7.7 .005 .37
boys' fathers· 1 37 1 9.3 .000 .72 girls' fathers· 1 48 8.7 .003 .43
boys' mothers· 1 40 1 9.9 .000 .71 girls' mothers· 1 52 7.8 .005 .39
Maths boys· 1 44 4.7 .03 .33
boys' fathers· 1 37 4.9 .03 .36
boys' mothers· 1 40 5.9 .02 .38
General General ability ability boys· 1 44 9.2 .002 .46 girls· , - 1 55 4.6 .03 .29
boys' fathers· 1 37 10.0 .001 .52 girls' fathers· 1 48 7.7 .006 - .40
boys' mothers· 1 40 1 1 .0 .001 .52 girls' mothers· 1 52 5.2 .02 .32
Note: * == English speaking background scored higher
APPENDIX I
Responses to Religiosity Items on BEACS Survey
B 1 . How often do you go to worship services?
T bl 1 1 R It Bl a e · esponses to em Group_ a b c d e students 19 7 3 5 5
fathers 14 9 2 3 5
mothers 8 7 1 1 3
f g* h* 9 30 22
0 22 3 1 9 29 34
n.r. N 12** 0 100 n.s . 0 86 . 025 h# 2 94 .005 h
132
Note: **SIgn Test of responses marked *, compared WIth group total. # h=high, I=low n.r. = no response
B2. About how many hours would you spend in worship services &/or activities organised by a church each week?
T bl 1 2 R t I B2 a e · esponses o tern Group. a b c· d* e* f* n.r. N Q students 29 23 29 17 2 0 0 100 n.s. fathers 24 12 28 1 1 3 8 0 86 n.s. mothers 14 2 1 25 20 10 2 2 94 .025 h
B3 . Do you regularly take part in any outreach activi�ies of a church? ( eg visitation, evangelism, community service! social justice/welfare)
T bl I 3 R t It B3 a e · esponses 0 em GrollI!. a* b c d students 84 1 1 2 3
fathers 54 8 2 2 1 mothers 5 1 12 12 15
n.r. N 12 0 100 .005 1 1 86 .005 1 4 94 .05 1
B4. Are you regularly involved in any group activities associated with a church?
T bl 1 4 R a e · esponses to Group a b* students 50 10 fathers 43 17
mothers 28 19
It B4 em c* d* 23 17
6 19
16 29
n.r. N 12 0 100 n.s. 1 86 n.s. 2 94 .005 h
B5. Do you try to exert a Christian influence with those around you?
T bl 1 5 R It B5 a e · esponses to em Group a* b* c d e students 6 27 40 12 fathers 2 1 37 1 2 11
mothers 12 53 19 7
f n.r. N 12 1 5 100 .005 1 5 86 .005 h 3 94 .005 h
133
B6. Which of the following best describes your readiness to alk to others about your faith?
T bl I 6 R t It B6 a e · esponses 0 em Group a b c d* students 22 12 25 34 fathers 6 20 8 26 mothers 4 17 7 42
e'" n.r. N D 6 1 100 .05 1
24 2 86 n.S .
23 3 94 . 005 h
B7. Which of the following best describes patterns of prayer in your daily life, at present?
T bl I 7 R t It B7 a e . es ponses 0 em Group a b c* d* students 16 40 16 10 fathers 14 25 13 6 mothers 5 18 12 27
e* n.r. N Q 18 0 100 n.S. 25 3 86 n.s.
3 1 1 94 .005 h
B8. How often do you read the Bible on your own? T bl I 8 R t It B8 a e · esponses 0 em
Group a* b* c* d students 14 13 7 38 fathers 32 9 3 16 mothers 37 13 12 20
e n.r. N p 28 0 100 .005 1
25 1 86 n.s .
10 4 94 . 005 h
B9. Which of these best describes your situation? T bl L9 R t It B9 a e esponses 0 em
Group a'" b'" c-d n.r. N n students 13 44 17 26 100 n.S. fathers 40 10 23 13 86 n.s. mothers 46 1 1 28 9 94 .025 h
B 10. Do you read Christian books and magazines? T bl I 10 R t It BIO a e · esponses 0 em
. Group a* b· c d n.T. students 18 28 22 32 0 fathers 29 25 14 18 a mothers 40 39 8 7 0
B 1 1 . Would you describe yourself as . . . T bl I 11 . R t It B11 a e · esponses 0 em
Group a* b c-d n.r. students 20 50 17 13 fathers 44 26 1 1 5 mothers 60 26 4 4
N 100
86
94
N Q 100 n.S. 86 .01 h 94 .005 h
12 .005 1
D.S. .005 h
B I2. How close do you feel to God most of the time? T bl I 12 R t I BI2 a e · esponses o tern
Group a b c* d* students 2 18 5 1 22 fathers 1 10 30 36 mothers 0 3 28 59
n.r. N Q 7 100 .005 h 9 86 .005 h
4 94 .005 h
. , r
B13 . Over the last year, have you grown in your understanding of the Christian faith? T bl I 13 R t It B13 a e · espouses 0 em
Group a b c* d* students 19 48 2 1 12
fathers 22 26 15 20
mothers 12 34 26 19
n.r. N Q 0 100 .005 1 3 86 .05 1
3 94 n.s.
B 14. Over the last year, have you made any changes in your actions and priorities as a result of Christian faith? T bl I 14 R t It B14 a e · esponses 0 em
Group a-b c d* e'"
students 7 2 1 45 19
fathers 3 17 33 19
mothers 0 17 44 27
n.r. 8
14 6
N U 100 .005 h 86 .05 h 94 .005 h
B15 . Which of the following most clearly reflects your opinion? T bl I 15 R t It B15 a e · esponses 0 em
Group a* b c-d n.r.
students 41 34 1 24
fathers 5 1 14 4 17
mothers 64 23 2 5
N · U 100 .05 1 86 .05 h 94 .005 h
B 16. How important is belief in 'life after death' in your daily living? T bl I 16 R t It B16 a e · espouses 0 em
Group a* b* c d-e n.r. students 20 36 1 1 5 28 fathers 28 1 8 2 1 6 1 3
mothers 46 2 1 8 2 17
N JL .
100 n.S. 86 n.s . 94 . 005 h
B 17. Besides my faith, I feel there are many more important things in my life T bl 1 17 R t · B17 a e · espouses 0 Item
Group a b c d* e* n.r. N Q students 1 1 12 34 27 14 2 100 .05 1 fathers 9 1 8 23 9 24 3 86 .025 1 mothers 1 1 22 10 19 26 6 94 n.S.
B 1 8. Which of the following do you think is MOST important to you, about religious faith? T bl I 18 R I B18 a e · esponses to tern
Group a b c d students 12 50 fo 27 fathers 7 3 1 7 39
mothers 9 43 10 32
n.r. N 1 100 2 86
0 94
134
135
B 19. Have you ever experienced a moment of decisive faith conunitmentl Christian conversion? T bl I 19 R t "t B19 a e · esponses o I ern
Group aj b c�g* h* i n.r. N 12 students 2 1 15 32 9 5 18 100 .05 1
fathers 18 16 35 1 1 3 3 86 n.s. mothers 10 19 51 9 2 3 94 .005 h
B20. have you ever had an experience of the presence of God (apart from conversion)? If so, select the most significant: T bl I 20 R I B20 a e · esponses to tern
Group a* b* . c* d* students 10 3 1 1 19 fathers 9 13 9 18 mothers 17 12 9 25
e g 1 1 44 7 24 9 2 1
n.r. N J! 2 100 n.s. 6 86 n.s . 1 94 . 005 h
B23 . Which statement comes closest to your view of the Bible? T bl 1 21 R t "t B23 a e · esponses O l ern
Group a* b* c doe n.r. N 12 students 19 36 5 34 6 100 .005 h fathers 27 37 1 19 1 86 .005 h
mothers 22 44 8 17 3 94 .005 h
B24. An important Christian belief is that Christ was fully God, fully human and physically rose from the dead. What do you think? T bl I 22 R I B24 a e · esponses to tern
Group -
-a* b c d students 73 16 0 2
fathers 60 13 3 2 mothers 76 10 3 1
r n.r. N _J! 9 100 .005 h 8 86 .005 h 4 94 .005 h
B25 . Another important Christian belief concerns eternal life. How do you think eternal life can be obtained? T bl I 23 R t It B25 a e " esponses 0 em
Group a b c d students 5 3 2 32 fathers 7 3 6 17 mothers 2 12 4 18
e* n.r. N J! 44 14 100 n.S. 41 12 86 n.s. 53 7 96 n.S.
B26. Do you believe in a divine judgement after death where some shall be rewarded and others punished?
.
T bl I 24 R t It B26 a e · esponses 0 em Group a* b c e d students 57 19 0 5 fathers 53 8 5 7 mothers 64 16 1 4
n.r. 19 13 9
N 12 100 n.S . 86 . 025 h 94 .005 h
B27. Do you believe in a personal God? T bl I 25 R t .t B27 a e · espouses 0 em
Group a* b c d,e n.r. N I! students 51 30 10 2 7 100 D.S . fathers 60 3 16 1 6 86 . 005 h mothers 77 5 10 0 2 94 .005 h
B28. Do you believe in the activity of evil spirits in this world? T bl I 26 R Ii It B28 a e · espouses or em
Group a* b c e d n.r. N I! students 63 19 3 1 14 100 .01 h fathers 55 14 4 5 8 86 .005 h mothers 73 1 1 1 4 5 94 .005 h
B29. What is your opinion of 'speaking in tongues'? T bl I 27 R t It B29 a e · espouses 0 em
Group a-b c* d* e* students 1 1 27 17 2 fathers 22 1 1 22 3 mothers 21 16 2 1 8
B30. I believe the world was made T bl I 28 R t It B30 a e · espouses 0 em
Group a b c* d students 2 4 86 4 fathers 9 10 51 13 mothers 2 10 68 12
D.r. N y 43 100 D.S. 38 86 D.S. 28 94 n.s.
n.r. N 12 4 100 .005 h 3 86 .05 h .-2 94 .005 h
B3 1 . Suppose you had to join a new church. Which ofthe following would you be most likely to join? T bl I 29 R t It B31 a e · espouses 0 em
Group a b c d-e students 7 28 6 2 fathers 10 44 3 6 mothers 23 36 8 2
n.r. N 57 100 23 86 25 94
B32. There is more good in the world than bad T bl I 30 R t I B32 a e · espouses 0 tern
Group SA A DK D* students 3 19 35 34 fathers 7 28 13 24 mothers 1 1 42 8 20
SD* n.r.
9 0 9 5 8 5
N 100 86 94
B33. Miracles happened just as described in the Bible T bl 1 31 R It B33 a e · espouses to em
Group SA* S* DK D students 32 39 25 4 fathers 37 24 16 3 mothers 52 24 9 3
SD n.r. N 0 0 100 2 4 86 1 5 94
I! .005 h n.s. .005 1
I! .005 h .005 h .005 h
136
137
B34 The Bible should be taken literally as the inspired Word of God T bl I 32 R t It B34 a e . esponses 0 em
Group SA· A· DK D students 34 40 17 8 fathers 30 24 15 8 mothers 43 28 4 12
SO n.r. N 1 0 100
4 5 86
3 4 94
B35 God directly controls what happens in the world T hi I 33 R It B35 a e . esponses to em
Group SA· A· DK D students 3 1 20 27 18 fathers 24 22 13 17 mothers 39 24 4 15
SO n.r. N 3 1 100 6 4 86 8 4 94
R .005 h .01 h .005 h
R n.s. n.s. .005 h
APPENDIX J
Details of Expectation Items
Table J.t Details of Expectation Items
Item EI E2 E3 E4 E5
E6 E7 E8 E9 EI0
El l E12 E13 E14 E15
E16 E17 E18 E19 E20
E21 E22 E23 E24 E25
E26 E27 E28 E29 EJO
E31 El2, E33 EJ4 E 35a 35b 3!5c 35d 35e 35f
E36 E37 E38 E39 E40
N 99 100 99 99 98
100 99 100 100 100
100 100 99 100 100
100 99 100 99 99
98
99 ' 100 99 \00
100 98
99 100 100
100 99 100 98
99 99 99 99 99 99
99 100 100 99 100
-
2. 1 1 2.35 2.99 3.07 2.87
3.23 2.5 2.65 3.31 2.83
3.3 2.13 3.21 3.38 3.07
2.92 2.34 3.48 3.15 3.09
2.54 3.01 2.99 2.5 3.06
3.08 2.79 2.68 2.65 3.12
3.05 2041 2.9 2.02
3.07 3.24 3.14 2.59 2.82 2.83
2.36 3.44 2.64 3.1 1 3.04
Students SO z R 1 . 1 ·2.01 44 1 . 1 ·1.42 41 .9 .33 22 .9 .55 15 .9 0 26
1.0 .99 7 1.1 -1 .02 37 1 .1 -.6 32 .9 1.21 4 .9 -.1 27
.9 1 . 1 8 5 L2 -2.02 43 .9 .94 8 .9 104 3 1.2 .55 15
.9 .14 24 1.2 -1 .43 42 .1 1 .67 1 .9 .78 9 .9 .61 13
1 . 1 -.9 36 1.0 .39 21 1.0 .33 22 1.0 -1.02 37 1.0 .52 18
1 .0 .58 14 1 . I -.22 30 1.2 -.52 3 1 1 . 1 -.6 32 .9 .69 12
.9 .5 19 1 .0 -1.24 39 .9 .09 25 1.2 -2.32 45
.9 .55 15
.9 1.02 6 1.0 .75 10 1.0 -.77 35 1 .1 -.14 29 1 .1 -. 1 1 28
1.2 -1.37 40 .9 1.56 2 1 . I -.62 34 .9 .66 1 1 .9 .47 20
Fathers N - SO z R 84 2043 U ·2.54 45 82 2.46 .9 -2.44 44 84 3.58 .5 1.03 8 83 3.64 .5 1.2 4 83 3.3 .1 . 16 22
84 2.83 1.0 -1.29 40 82 3.26 .1 .02 27 83 3.17 1.1 -.25 32 83 3.59 .5 1.05 7 84 2.88 1-1 -1.14 39
85 3.65 .6 1 .23 3 83 2.9 1.0 -1.07 38 85 3.18 .8 -.23 3 1 84 338 .1 Al 15 82 3.24 .8 -.02 28
85 335 .1 .32 20 86 3.07 1.0 -.56 36 84 3.62 .6 1 . 1 4 6 83 3.7 .5 1.39 2 84 3.7 .5 1.4 1
84 3.27 .9 .07 25 84 3.55 .6 .92 � 84 3.63 .5 1 .18 5 85 2.75 1.0 -1.54 41 84 3.21 .8 -.1 1 29
85 3.37 .8 .36 19 83 2.52 1 .0 -2.27 43 84 3.3 .9 .15 23 84 3.29 .8 . 1 1 24 84 3.49 .6 .74 1 1
85 3.38 .1 .39 16 85 3.07 .8 -.55 35 84 3.37 .1 .37 17 83 2.75 1 . 1 -1.56 42
85 3.33 .8 .24 21 85 3048 .1 .72 12 84 3.44 .1 .59 13 84 3.13 .8 -.37 34 84 3.54 .6 .89 10 84 3.37 .1 .37 17
85 3.0 .9 -.77 37 84 3.17 .9 -.26 33 84 3.26 .9 .04 26 84 3.19 .1 -. 18 30 84 3.44 .1 .59 13
138
Mothers N - SO z R 93 2.67 .9 ·2.09 43 92 2.55 .9 -2.47 44 90 3.57 .6 .67 1 1 93 3.65 .6 .92 6 90 3049 .1 043 1 8
89 2.94 1.0 -1.26 40 92 3.46 . 8 .33 23 89 3.54 .1 .59 12 93 3.66 .5 .95 5 90 2.82 1.1 -1.64 4 1
91 3.76 .4 1 .27 2 90 3.02 .9 -1.02 38 89 3.23 .6 -.39 34 91 3.58 .5 .72 10 86 3.43 .1 .25 27
91 3.44 .6 .28 26 92 3.27 .8 -.24 32 9\ 3.59 .5 .75 9 90 3.69 .5 1.05 3 93 3.81 .5 1 .42 1
81 3.52 .1 .52 16 91 3.62 .5 .82 7 92 3.66 .5 .97 4 81 3.15 .7 -.62 36 81 3.3 .1 -.1 6 30
89 3047 .6 .38 2 1 90 2.74 1.0 -1.88 42 92 3.53 .8 .57 13 92 3049 .1 043 18 92 3.61 .5 .8 8
93 3.27 .6 -.25 33 92 3.37 .1 .06 29 93 3.54 .5 .57 13 " 83 204 1.0 -2.96 45
90 3.49 .6 043 1 8 90 3.47 .6 .36 22 90 3.41 .63 . 1 9 28 91 3.12 .1 -.71 37 90 3.44 .6 .29 25 93 3.5 .1 AS 17
92 3.02 .8 -1.02 38 90 3.21 .8 -.43 35 91 3045 .1 .3 1 24 91 3.29 .1 -.2 3 1 92 3.53 .S .57 13
APPENDIX K
Expectation Items & Factors- t-Test Pairs between Groups
Table K.l t-Test Pairs on Expectation Items, between Groups
Item! Ops E1 I x f
a x m
fx m
E2 I x f
a x m
fx m
E3 I x f
B x m
fx m
E4 I x f
I x m
fx m
E5 a x f
a lt m
f x m
E6 I x f
e x m
f x m
E7
83 92 82
82 92 79
83 89 80
82 92 8 1
8 1 88 80
84 89 78
COn'
.01 -.07 .32
.27
.12
.23
-.06 .07 .30
.08
. 1 5
.33
-.01 .03 .43
.00
.17
.46
2·tail prob.
ns ns .003
.014 lIS .041
ns DB .007
ns ns .002
DB ns .000
ns ns .000
s x f 82 .06 .26 . 1 8
ns .013 ns
a x m 92 f x m - 79 E8 e x f
I x m
fx m
E9 a x f
a x m
f x m
EI0 a x f
8 x m
f x m
E l l I x f
e x m
fx m
E12 8,x f
a x m
fx m
En I x f
I x m
f x m
E14 " x f
a x m
f x m
E15 I x f
" x m
fx m
E16 I x f
I x m
f x m
83 . 19 ns 89 . 1 3 ns 78 .63 .000
83 -.03 ns 93 -.04 ns 8 1 .08 ns
84 .10 ns 90 .29 .005 79 .53 .000
85 -. 10 ns 91 -.1 5 ns 8 1 .22 .05
83 .12 ns 90 -.00 ns 80 .41 .000
84 " .02 ns 89 -.01 ns 81 .12 ns
84 .27 .012 91 .02 ns 8 1 . 19 III
82 -.08 lIS 86 -.09 lIS 76 .16 ns
85 . 1 8 IIlII 9 1 .13 IIlII 82 .27 .015
t- 2·tsil value prob.
1.94 .06# 3.75 .000 1 .43 .16#
1 .34 . 1 8# 1 .42 . 16# .21 .84#
5.4 .000 4.97 .000 .33 .74#
5.32 .000 5.43 , .000 .00 1 .00#
4.01 .000 5.35 .000 2.35 .021
2.59 .01 1 2.62 .010 .23 .82#
5.42 8.35 2.00
3.65 6.82 3.86
3.12 3.35 -.80
-.96 . 1 8 1.39
3.60 4.60 1.22,
5.61 6.51 .77
.45
.40
.48
.34 1.68 1.98
1.20 2.71 1.49
4.49 4.80 .70
.000
.000
.049
.000
.000
.000
.002
.00 1
.42#
.34#
.86#
. 17#
.001
.000
.23#
.000
.000
.45#
.66#
.69#
.64#
.74# . 10# .05#
.24#
.008
.14#
.000
.000
.49#
Item! Opt E17 a x f
I x m
fx m
EI8 B x f
a x m
fx m
E19 I x f
8 x m
f x m
E20 I x f a x m
f x m
E21 a x f
s x m
f x m
E22 a x f
s x m
fx m
E23
85 92 83
84 91 81
82 89 79
83 92 82
82 85 76
8J 91 8 1
a x f 84 8 x m 92 fx m 82 E24 I x f
8 x m
fx m
E25 s x f
s x m
fx m
E26 I x f
I x m
f x m
E27 a x f
s x m
f x m
E28 e x f
s x m
f x m
E29 a x f
8 x m
fx m
EJO e x f
8 x m
f x m
E31 a x f
I x m
fx m
£32 I x f
I x m
fx m
84 86 77
84 87 77
85 89 79
81 89 78
83 91 81
84 92 81
83 92 82
85 93 83
84 92 82
corr.
.17
.06
.58
.06
. 1 7
.39
.01 ·.05 .58
.04 -.04 .40
.32
.24
.70
.06 -. 16 .22
2-tail prob.
ns ns .000
ns ns .000
ns ' ns .000
ns ns .000
.004
.027
.000
ns ns .049
. 14 ns -.O� ns .32 ' .003
. 1 2 -.19 .29
-.06 .03 .12
.24
.09
.46
.06
.13
.46
.28
. 1 1
.42
. 1 4
.03
.55
-. 1 5 ·.06 .3 1
-.02 .01 .33
.01
.03
.37
lIS ns .0 1 1
ns lIS ns
.030 ns .000
ns ns .000
.012 ns .000
ns ns .000
lIS lIS .005
lIS IIlII .002
ns ns .001
tvalue
4.86 6.30 1.95
1.80 .98 1 .06
4.92 4.45 .26
5.67 6.42 1.14
5.79 7.87 2.78
4.65 4.81 1.00
6.08 5.70 -.19
1 .78 4.21 2.94
1 .60 1.47 .34
2.51 2.67 .74
1.07 .16 l.S2
5.23 6.47 2.46
4.87 5.87 2. 1 1
3.64 5.06 1 .22
3.25 1.90 1.75
5.17 7.13 2.58
2·tsil prob.
.000
.000
.05#
.08#
.33# .29#
.000
.000
.80#
.000
.000
. 1 6#
.000 .000 .007
.000
.000
.32#
.000
.000
.85#
.08#
.000
.004
. 1 1#
. 14#
.74#
.014
.009
.46#
.29# .88# . 13#
.000
.000
.0 16
.000
.000
.038
.000
.000
.23#
.002
.06#
.08#
.000
.000
.012
139
140
Item! N carr. 2-tail t- 2-tail Item! N carr. 2-tail t- 2-tai1
Cps prob. value prob. Ops prob. value prob. E33 E3Sf I x f 84 -.09 ns 4. 18 .000 a x f 83 .06 III 4.87 .000 8 x m 93 -.01 III 5.82 ,000 I x m 92 -.05 III US .000
f x m 82 Al .000 2.16 .034 fx m 82 Al .000 1.49 .1411
E34 E36 a x f 82 -.08 III 4.04 .000 a x f 84 -.04 ns 4.59 .000 S ll m 82 .19 III 2.95 .004 I x m 9 1 .06 1I8 5.06 .000
f ll m 72 .23 lIS 2.53 .014 fll m 82 047 .000 .00 1 .00# E35a E37 I ll f 84 -.05 lIS 2.56 .012 s x f 84 .06 lIS 2.20 .030 S ll m 89 .01 lIS 3.70 .000 S ll m 90 .24 .025 2.74 .007 f x m 80 .23 .044 1.44 .15# f x m 79 .51 .000 .26 .80# E35b E38 a x f 84 .03 lIS 2.30 .024 I x f 84 .38 .000 5.95 .000 S ll m 89 .07 IlS 1.85 .07# a ll m 91 .31 .003 7.13 .000 f x m 80 . 1 5 lIS Al .68# fx m 8 1 .57 .000 2.24 .028 E35c E39 I ll f 83 . -.04 lIS 2045 .016 s ll f 83 . 10 lIS 1.22 .23# s x m 89 .29 .006 2.44 .017 s x m 90 . 1 9 lIS 1 042 .16# h m 79 .02 IlS .25 .80# fx m 8 1 .44 .000 .78 .4411 E35d E40 a x f 83 .03 IlS 4.21 .000 a x f 84 -.15 IlS 3.68 .000 s x m 90 -.05 IlS 3.70 .000 s x m 92 .07 lIS 4.75 .000 fx m 80 .31 .005 .24 .81# fx m 8 1 .21 lIS 1 .04 .30# E35e I x f 83 .05 IlS 5.90 .000
s x m 89 . 1 1 IlS 5.06 .000 f x m 79 045 .000 1.69 . 10#
Note: s "" student, f= father, m = mother # = cannot reject null hypothesis of equal means
Table K.2
t-Test J:»ai� .. o'.' . �
xpectation Factors, between Groups r
Factorl N carr. 2-tai1 t- 2-tai1 Factor N carr. 2-tai1 t- 2-tai1
Cps prob. value prob. l Ops prob. value prob. PRS PRP s x f 85 .02 IlS 1.03 .30# s x f 86 .03 lIS 4.08 .000 s x m 93 .10 lIS 2.61 .01 1 s x m 94 .04 IlS 4.87 .000 fx m 83 049 .000 1.32 . 19# fx m 85 .34 .002 048 .63# XPR MRL I x f 85 .10 IlS 3.97 .000 a x f 84 .08 ns 7.5 1 .000 s x m 93 .07 IlS 3.96 .000 s x m 93 .01 lIS 8.70 .000 f x m 83 ,42 .000 .60 .55# fx m 82 .39 .000 1 .3 1 . 1 9# ACD RLO I x f 86 .08 os ,45 .65# s x f 86 .24 .024 5.94 .000 s x m 93 .13 IlS .98 .33# s x m 93 .20 lIS 8.25 .000 f x m 84 .64 .000 1.31 .20# f� m 84 .71 .000 3.08 .003 TCH FRI 8 x f 85 .01 IlS 5.53 .000 I x f 84 .02 IlS 3.68 .000 s x m 93 . 1 1 lIS 7.07 .000 s x m 93 -.02 IlS 5.48 .000 fx m 83 042 .000 2.85 .006 fx m 82 .55 .000 2.72 .008 STU s x f 85 .05 lIS 6.01 .000 s x m 93 .05 lIS 7.00 .000 fx m 83 048 .000 1.04 .30#
APPENDIX L
Crosstabulations of Expectations by Background
Table L.1 Crosstabulations of Expectations by Background Factorllteml background PRS
M ESB
F oce
M ace
E1 F oce
E l O
F AB
F ESB
M EDL F OCC M OCC
E24
F ESB
M ESB
F oce
E27
F AB
M AB
F ESB
M ESB
I �DL M EDL F oce
M ace
XPR M AB
F oce
E25
F AB
M AB
ACD F ace
E6 S AB
F AB
F ESB
F ace
DF N
1 92
1 85
1 93
84
1 84
1 84
1 90
1 84
1 90
1 85
1 86
1 85
1 83
1 90
1 83
1 89
1 83
1 90
1 83
1 90
1 93
1 85
1 84
1 87
86
1 100
1 84
1 84
1 84
,," l! Phi
7.5 .006 .29
17.6 .000 .46
9.1 .003 .3 1
5.4 .02 .25
5.9 .0 1 .27
4.3 .01 .23
5.5 .02 .25
1 1 .4 .001 . .37
7.3 .007 .28
4.8 .03 .24
3 .9 .05 .2 1
6.3 .01 .27
4.4 .04 .23
4.6 .03 .23
8.6 .003 .32
4.5 .03 .22
9.4 .002 .34
5.5 .02 .25
26.8 .000 .57
13.1 .000 '.38
13.5 .000 .38
4.5 .03 .23
5.3 .02 .25
7.7 .005 .30
3.8 .05 .21
6. 1 .01 .25
5.6 .02 .26
5.9 .02 .27
12. 1 .001 · .38
Note: S = student, F = father, M = mother AB = AustralianInon·Australian born
Factorllteml background E14
F ace
E26
S IQ F AB
F ace
E37 F AB
F ace
E3 S AB
E35d F ESB
E7
S IQ RLG E8
F ESB
M ESB
E17 F oce
FRI E5
F AB
E 1 5
F EDL F ace
E39 F ESB
E 1 3 F EDL F ace
E34
F AB
F oce
* = boys only
ESB = English/non·English speaking background EDL = Educational level aee "" Occupational status
DF N
84
1 44-1 85
1 85
1 84 1 84
99
84
98
1 83
1 88
1 ' 86 ..
1 83
1 82
1 82
1 84
1 85
1 85
1 34-1 83
1..1-
5.3
4.5 7.4 7.9
4.5
9.6
4.9
5.6
4.7
7.2
4.0
3.9
8.0
5.9
10.8
4.5
9.9
16.7
6.1
1 9.2
Except for E7, all NAB, NESB, lower ed. & ace. status had higher expectations.
141
Q Phi
.02 .25
.03 .32
.007 .30
.005 .30
.03 .23
.002 .34
.03 .22
.02 .26
.03 .22
.007 .29
.05 .2 1
.05 .21
.005 .31
.01 .27
.001 .36
.03 .23
.002 .34
.000 .44 c
.01 .42
.000 .48
APPENDIX M
Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels
Table Mol
Students' Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels
Students' CLUSCOM Relieiosity Levels Very Hllh
Exp. factor
PRS XPR ACD TCH STU PRP MRL RLO FRI
mean SD
N
mean
2.69 2.89 3.33 3.37 3. 18 3.09 3.23 3.12 3.37
Table Mo2
z
-1.97 -1. 1 .83 1.0 1 . 16 -.24 .40 -.07 .98
3.14 .23 IS
Hlah R mean Z
9 2.42 -2.13 8 2.84 -.36 3 3.27 1.46 1 3.03 .4S S 2.98 .23 7 3.08 .67 4 2.97 .20 6 2.77 -.64 2 2.9S .12
2.92 .24 39
Moderate R mean z R
9 2.60 -.91 8 7 2.79 -.22 7 1 3.28 l.S4 1 3 2.8S -.03 6
4 3.03 .6:; 2 2 3.02 .S8 3 S 2.90 .IS S 8 2.31 -1.99 9 6 2.92 .24 4
2.86 .28 29
Fathers' Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels
mean
2.67 2.80 3.12 2.S1 2.91 2.90 2.:;4 1.61 2.82
Fathers' CLUSCOM Relhrlosity Levels 'Very Higb
Exp. Factor
PRS XPR ACD
TCH STU PRP
MRL RLO
FRI
mean SD
N
mean
2.66 3.26 3.29 3.61 3.:;2 3.3S 3.71 3.67 3.37
Table Mo3
z R
-2.27 9 -.4 8
-.29 7
.72 3
.43 4 -. 1 1 6 1.04 1 .91 . 2 -.03 S
3.38 .32 27
mean
2.S2 3.06 3.08 3.49 3.46 3.33 3.S8 3.S7 3.14
High Moderate z R mean z R
-2.14 9 2.74 -l.S7 8 -.S4 8 3.20 -.01 6 -.48 7 3.46 .86 1 .71 3 3.3 1 .39 S .61 4 3.42 .75 3 .25 5 3.44 .82 2 .97 1 3.42 .74 4
. . 96 2 2.71 -1.68 9 -.32 6 3.1 1 -.29 7
3.25 3.20 .34 .30 22 22
Mothers' Expectation Factors by Religiosity Levels
mean
2.62 3.3 1 3.34 3.09 3.4S 3.46 3.48 2.30 3.28
Mothers' CLUSCOM Religiosity Levels
Exp. Factol'll
PRS XPR ACD TCH STU PRP MRL RLO
FRl
moan
so
N
Very High mean Z
2.83 -2.0 3.20 -.7S 3.37 -. 19 3.70 .92 3.60 .S8 3.29 -.46 3.15 1.1 1 3.68 .88 3.40 -.08
3.42 .30 38
Note: R= rank order
High R mean Z
9 2.6S -2.33 8 3.Q9 -.71 6 3.37 .31 2 j.36 .26 4 3.47 .66 7 3.46 .62 1 3.57 1.02 3 3.29 0 S 3.33 . I S
3.29 .27 30
Moderate R mean Z R mean
9 3.02 -1.85 9 2.94 8 3.24 -.7S 7 3.37 4 3.43 .21 6 3.33 S 3.42 1.0 3 3.42 2 3.S3 .73 4 3.S8 3 3.62 1 .19 1 3 .64 1 3.59 1.02 2 3.S6 7 3.19 -.97 8 2.67 6 3.43 .21 S 3.31
3.38
.20 17
142
Low z R
.04 6
.34 S 1.06 1 -.34 8 .S9 2 .:;6 3 -.2S 7 -2.4 9 .39 4
2.6:; .44 17
Low Z R
-1 .22 8 .39 S .46 4 -.IS 7 .73 3 .75 2 .80 1 -2.07 9 .32 6
3.IS .41 IS
Low Z R
-1 .16 8 . 18 S .07 6 .3S 4 .85 2 1 .02 1 .77 3 -2.03 9 -.02 7 3.31 .32 9
APPENDIX N
Expectation Items by Religiosity Levels
Table N.t Expectation Items by Religiosity Levels
Esp. Item El E2 E3 E4 E.:5
E6 E7 E8 E9 EIO
Ell E12 E13 El4 El5
E16 E17 E18 E19 E20
. E21 E22 E23 E24 E25
E26 E27 E28 E29 ElO
E31 El2 El3 El4
ElSa El5b E3Se El5d E3Se E35f
El6 El7 E38 E39 E40
mean SO
N
VH 2.2 2.4 3.27 3.73 3.33
3.13 3.0 3.07 3.67 2.87
3.47 2.67 3.29 3.47 3.67
2.87 3.21 3.47 3.4 3.2
3.43 3.5 3.0 2.67 3.33
3.2 3.14 3.47 3.33 3.34
3.4 2.93 3.13 2.29
2.86 3.21 2.93 2.64 2.86 3.2 1
1.86 3.47 3.2 3.33 3.33
3.12 .40 IS
CLUSCOM Groupsl Levels of Religios!ty Students Fathers H M L VH H M L VH 1.92 2.21 2.29 2.54 2.43 2.35 2.33 2.83 2.46 2.24 2.24 2.78 2.4 2.4 2.07 2.47 2.97 2.93 2.88 3.81 3.68 3.33 3.4 3.63 2.97 3.04 2.35 3.89 3.5' 3.4' 3.6 3.73 2.76 2.86 2.71 3.5 3.09 3.2 3.33 3.67
3.15 3.35 3.29 3.04 2.64 2.91 2.64 3.03 2.82 2.07 2.0 3.5 3.41 3.1 2.79 3.69 3.05 2.48 1.53 3.89 3.55 2.65 2.07 3.94 3.33 3.28 3.0 3.7 3.46 3.6 3.57 3.54 2.74 2.97 2.77 2.67 2.68 3.2 3.13 2.62
3.5 1 3.17 3.12 3.71 3.5 3.7 3.6 3.8 2.28 1.93 1.65 3.41 3.29 2.35 2.2 3.23 3.26 3.35 2.82 3.19 3.0 3.38 3.13 3.08 3.46 3.41 3.06 3.41 3.14 3.65 3.33 3.47 3.18 2.79 2.77 3.37 3.09 3.22 3.27 3.32
2.85 3.0 3.0 3.37 3.32 3.33 3.4 3.44 2.56 2. 14 1 .47 3.68 3.32 2.62 2.2 3.61 3.44 3.62 3.35 3.63 3.27 3.85 3.8 3.47 3.13 3.36 2.65 3.58 3.59 3.8 3.93 3.63 2.95 3.3 1 2.94 3.78 3.73 3.S 3.8 3.81 r
2.71 2.35 1.77 3.78 3.77 2.85 2.2 3.91 3.05 2.9 2.71 3.63 3.41 3.6 3.53 3.64. 3.05 3.07 2.71 3.7 3.5 3.6S 3.67 3.73 2.44 2.41 2.75 3.0 2.5 2.7 2.73 3.25 3.1S 2.97 2.77 3.3 3.09 3.25 3.2 3.34
3.13 2.93 3.12 3.26 3. 18 3.52 3.47 3.46 2.53 2.83 3.0 ' 2.69 2.22 2.7 2.4 2.82 2.9 2.54 1.71 3.89 3.64 2.9 2.27 3.89 2.9S 2.55 U3 3.85 3.55 2.7 2.67 3.81 3.08 3.21 2.88 3.48 3.36 3.6 2.6 3.64
2.87 3.14 3.0 3.48 3.09 3.52 3.4 3.27 2.46 2.35 ' 2.0 3.39 3.23 2.85 2.53 3.58 2.8 3.03 2.71 3.63 3.32 3.25 3.13 3.56 2.05 2.0 1.75 2.67 2.57 2.85 2.93 2.23
3 . 13 3.1 3.06 3.25 3.27 3.4 3.47 3. 18 3.28 3.21 3.24 3.52 3.27 3.67 3.47 3.27 3.13 3.24 3.18 3.52 3.32 3.55 3.33 3.21 2.8 2.38 2.41 3.33 3.09 2.95 3.07 2.97 2.82 2.83 2.77 3.56 3.46 3.55 3.6 3.44 3.0 2.72 2.29 3.56 3.32 3. 1 3.47 3.56
2.49 2.28 2.65 3.0 2.96 2.81 3.33 3.08 3.49 3.35 3.47 3.22 2.73 3.5 3.27 3.24 3.08 2.38 1.59 3.82 3.64 2.7 2.47 3.6S 3.08 3.04 3.12 3.41 3.23 3.0 3.0 3.39 3.03 3.0 2.89 3.56 3.36 3.35 3.47 3.64
2.92 2.83 2.60 3.42 3.20 3.18 3.09 3.39 .36 .44 .56 .3' .38 .41 .53 .38 39 29 17 27 22 22 IS 38
143
Mothe" H M L 2.39 2.71 3.0 2.57 2.47 3.0 3.45 3.65 3.56 3.6 3.71 3.33 3.36 3.53 3. 1 1
2.79 3.24 2.56 3.27 3.35 3.33 3.4 3.44 2.67 3.8 3.65 3.67 2.73 3.29 3.0
3.8 3.59 3.78 2.97 2.88 2.44 3.29 3.25 3.56 3.7 3.5 3.78 3.45 3.57 3.56
3.4 3.44 3.56 3.23 3.06 2.44 3.63 3.81 3.56 3.72 3.71 3.78 3.83 3.77 3.78
3.52 3.24 2.56 3.66 3.35 3.89 3.62 3.S3 3.78 3.03 3.06 3. 1 1 3.21 3.24 3.56
3.S 3.41 3.56 2.6 3.0 2.67 3.37 3.35 3.0 3.4 3.24 3.0 3.6 3.53 3.67
3.17 3.35 3.44 3.4 3.18 2.78 3.55 3.53 3.44 2.54 2.56 2.22
3.77 3.53 3.67 3.47 3.71 3.78 3.43 3.65 3.67 3.07 3.41 3.33 3.33 3.S3 3.67 2.97 3.71 3.78
2.87 3.12 3. 1 1 3.17 3.3S 3.0 3.43 3.38 2.7S 3.2 3.3 1 3. 1 1 3.43 3.47 3.56
3.30 3.36 3.28 .36 .30 .45 30 17 9
I S H E ATH DA L:: - "" � ·.: � :� C O ,- :=:: .'i ' C-.J 'l c '-C , � :r'
Heathdale Chns l I a n C..):I age- ;-:.,is b e e n 2 5 [ a 80tlsn eu �u -"=f1coufag e and 5uppOfl Christian pare n ! s ](,1 ( h e ni.lrlL�e and education cf ,heLf GfJlldren I n 'Nays consjstenl With their Chnstlan r aLth T :---. e C)llege IS nOf'letn�I,,;-5S a'laliable t o o ther members
o! the commurLlly, IOC2l� ar.d o�'erseas. ','mo, u nd 2!rstanding �hls panicular otJ�ec·
[ iliS'. a.re wLlIlng 10 suppor t l h e: COI�ege_ cino .na .... e their e h i!dren educated here.
I f you are a C �'HJ s t l a n aell e ..... er. or 'IOU are aCl!'1 e!)' see'kmg lr.e sl'/le of educalion we otter, l h e n H e i3: thdale IS : .Hobaoly L h � :::...:: h o o l for your e h l i d .
YOUR N EXT S T E P I f you are interested i n t M possibility 01 enrolling �our child a t H eathdale. please contact the school office.
L by mail: The Registrar, HeatMale Christian College. P,O. 80. 1 042. Werrribee Plaza 3030
2. by lelephone: (031 749 1 522
3. by lacsimile: (031 748 6257
Irs C E RTAI N LY T R U E
. . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . E D U CATI O N MATT E R S
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IT MATTERS A LOT
F I N D I NG THE R I G H T SCHOOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . A GOOD S C H O O L
W H AT M A KES A ''GOO�'' SCHOOL?
Th e qua Ii ty of th e teach i ng staH. and th eir a bll ity to t each and oi scip line e!focti.ely.
Th e qua I �ty of the ed ucaUon.al program s tieIng I a U Qh I
The "'good" lifa values communk=ated by th.e teachers tn the educative process.
WH ER E IS TH E R E A S C H OO L WH ER E YOU C A N G U A R ANTEE A L L THREE?
HEA TH DALE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE at Hoppers Crossing A co·educational. multi·denominational. Prep · Year 1 2 College.
== (II � -=c. � ti" "'0 = 0'" � > - . "'0 Q' '''O � M ., Z � I:;j ; >< ., tD 0 -o /") -= 0'" n .. " .... \C \C �
..... � �
C O N S I D E R TH E S E TW O C O N T R A ST E D S ETS
O F VAL U E S - W H I C H DO Y O U WA N T Y O U R
C H I L D TO E M B R A C E?
TH E G E N ERAL VIEW H ELD BY MOST A CHRISTIAN VI EW H EL 0 AT AU STRALIANS H EATH DALE
You h.ave to act in you r own in I erest Alwa yB aC1 in the in1 eres1 0' God's because "�ne else will rights ou sn ess an d justice.
Self fj rst and the-n on� ers; God is optional God co mm ands tna t we love Hi m fi rst a n.d in wnal eye r W1!!IIY you see him. then ou r n eig !lbOUf as much. as we care
for Qurse IveL
Neve r indOC1rinate chi I dren: we must allow God comm ands t he. � we go into al' 1h e each to rna ke up his or he' own mind abou1 world making disciples of all n Ilion s. spiri1 ual m a de rs. Therefore leading It eM lid to becom e a
believer;s a normal objOClrve al Healhdale.
Let people bei�e...,e what they wa nt to God eJ:Pf!!Cls tha1 parenls will grr"re t"'eir believe; each person ;s 1ree to make or life ch ild ren a solid s pifilual foundat 10('1 for life wh a teve r they wis h. based on His Word. 1M Bibfe.
Give you ngsters all tn e rn'orm a I ion you God asks tha t we teac h I bou I be a uty, ca n abou1 safe sex., A.I, 0, S. , etc...; and allo w pu,ttv an.d goodness "lhe good man sex. violence and horror to oominale enter· bring s good t h-ing S out or the good store d ta i nmen t because making mo ney is: wn a t up rn -his heart": 1h,s win mean warning rear!)' matters. about tn e f aJ se va lue s pe 0 pie ott en hoi d
Peop�e sho ul d become t-h eir own u niQ ue GO<:! asks us 10 mod el our be h aviour on sell, or be allowed 10 follow the trends and Ch�i st: we are caJ fed to be Ch-ristli ke in all 1a s hi ons oJ the group, 1hat we are, and all 1hat we do.
Everyo n e rs basica Ily good a nd will do the God says 1 hat pec pIe are basica Uy dis· right thing: soedfic instrucfion aboul how ObedienL ha,., ing a natural lende.,cy to do to live is n01 t'I &eessary: rirm clea r drs· wrong; t he �e lore 1 hey feq uire instruct i on ci plin e is nol lo be en couraged r Of it ] i mits and discip line in order 10 we as they 01J'lQ hL ; n d ivi dua I r reedom.
People are encouraged to be strong and God says Ihat !hose who will enter Ihe in d epe n den I, owing al legia nee to no-one: King dom of H eave n wij I be Ii ke ch i Idren • to be dependent on an-other rs 10 be thai is to1811y depe.nden1 upon their weak. Heavenly Falher. tMey wiJi nonefheless be
strong an.d capable in God·s sirength,
People tend 10 belreve in the nohan or an Goo says such lr1ings as: Do fo 01hers as eye 'or an eye and a �oo!h for a too!"': and yo u WQU Id have tn em do to yo u: jove your pa y baCk to an othe r as good as you ge! enemies, do good to tnem Ihat nale you, 1rom them.
-
i
1 I
Heathdaje is a schoo! in the Werribee 10calitywP"!,ch Motds 1hat all that is "good"' is sour· ced rn Ihe BibJe, the Word or GOd. The Bib�e rs the ' inal aulhorHy in at' matters relahng 10 what we believe, and how we choose to Ir..e.
No 51:,",001 is perlecl: eye.n a Chrrstia n school is imperlect 4 because i l js made up of poe opfe wh 0 are im pe rt ecL But ou r objective s are rig ht: to sha re with younosters t h a f
'10.. r lite withoul relerence 10 Jesus, God the Son. is without ultimate mea./"l�ng.
Christianity is not an optional e);tra a person can add on 10 ·'norma[" life. Life is only .. norma ,N i r GOd. the Cr B a tor and su sta i n 18'f of tha t !lfe tS ell! n1 ral to ,t: the Bi b� e teach es that this is lrulh.
Heathdaie h.as excelienl staH who are nol only effeclive leachers.. bul who seetl to mode I 10 r their 51 ude n I s u prig ht. Godly be hav1o-u r and it nit udes.
Healhdale's ctaSSfooms are places where learning and growing rather than stirring and dis ru pH n-g are the objecti'Yes,
H ea I hd a�e has I houg hH ul ly pia f'I n ad its ed uea I ional preg ram s in ord er to preca re sludenls loran enjoyable "now", and a. producti'Ye preparation 1 o r 1 h e ' uture,even an e1 ernal illture,
II I he approach 10 I i.;n g e. em pl;lied by Ih e slat e m enl s "" Ihe RIG H T HAN 0 SIDE 01 t'h-e 0 pposi1 e pa ge appeal 10 you. then the re is a strono possibi hty tha I He a I h da Ie Chrislian CoUege is a suilable school lor your children.
TH E PURPOSE OF A C H R I STIAN E D U CATI O N :
THE S F !: crFloS ;, 1 .... ::: Of jl-!-E COLu:n€ .... RE;
The purpose of a Chrtst tan Educa I pon is 10 deveiop the who Ie person. The school shares wi1 h th e home and the chu rch. in the nurlure Rnd educalion or chUdren, but the finat responsibili1y, given by God himselr js ee Oeu1erono m 'i 6 and Ephes ia ns 6 j n the 6i blel rests wit h I he pa ren ts. 1 1 fs a respons i biUty wh ici'l em braces the 10tal we trare 0' the en ild, an d includes spl rftu a L emo1ronal,academic.., physical and C1.I'ltural aspects. Pa re nts invite the Co11e-ge 10 jo i n with 1 he m if'! their task of deve loprng t he4 r chf'd�en,
1 TO' pro ... od I!' educa tt-on II p.rrmll)' and !UlcooClary Ie¥l!'I5 10r boys and ;irls from a. WIde r81't9!1 01 bl!cll;·
ore-Llnd'! .n .l n en .... rDnme-nt con Sf:l I .. nl .....,11'1 the Thet:lIoqica.1 F"1).IJ,j'IC:�a.IJO",1L 2. Tt) D'O"'tC.e II!!(lLlcaUo", wf'lolCn Atrlfm! !!I'll!' rltle'll'1l nc:e lOr .1'11" CbrJstiill'l G0&t>!'4 to Nc/'I In(h ... lClull.
J To DrOV1de l!-a-uC:llion ..... ni(::1'1 I'I� I'IJog.l'l1" n.e "Ih,. 01 i!'W!'ry maiY!duli, al'llCl luDoortl • ...", sTuCJenl as I"I<e or
si'lll!' de'l'e4oo!... In$.!.I"� In I!!IId'I eonc.m 1M fN,peeI for the nHOa, mill" IncI � d 0't�1'S. .. 10' I)f"(IYi(I!' t"dl..'Cal101"1. ......nId'l Il!!"llQ'!lJ\dtor:l an aporlllCialio"l or beluty. ogOOdl'lftS I ncI trutr\ :!!!i To pt"o\l'lICIt!I f-Cfu'C'; 1'01"'1 'W1'>ic:n !ll n!'!lse-s .a Il!'n:le DI t:.oommllnity. Ind �! IIInCOLl'raol's the- Cle�otlmt!l'It 01'
.no. ... t-ttLI .. 1 Qlns :50 1:1"'1.,1 st uCiel"'l1 I ...... 11 fl.!o Iblt' 10 mlil.l In !l'1ot(lrml"d .ne:! rIIt!ll)Ol'LsitHe eorrtritiullOn 10 tp.,e
CoHl!'ge. to I n.,,, loca' an! .. Il"Id to !OC1e'ly in 9i1!!'nent
6 -=-0 o'o'�iod-e t"oueatl(;l1'1. �I(;Pl I'\I.QI' ... i;h!S '1')e Importlnell!' ofilmflytill', rnpeocts eQuall.., 1.11 lorms of work. .a 1'1.(1 .... n.ICI'l nonoun tl'l-OSII!! .... n 0 :l1I!'e-1o; IUSIIee., ecI'UI-Hit)' and pelCI!!.
..
146
APPENDIX P
Student Contract Proposal
Whatever enrolment option is chosen, as a Christian school, Heathdale
would do well to consider implementing a student contract, before
acceptance, in which secondary students would be required to promise to
do their best:
a. in learning about Christ, His creation, and the students'
responsible action thereto;
b. in academic endeavours;
c. in homework;
d. in getting along with other people;
e. in sport; and
£ in representing the school.
This agreement would focus the students' attention on the essential
elements of the school's ethos. Perfection would not be expected of
students, but persistent failure to do their best in any of the above would
give grounds for discussion about continued enrolment in the school.
The students would hopefully learn to take responsibility for their attitudes
and actions, so (many of) the values desired by parents (and students)
would have a practical base for being upheld in Heathdale.
Minerva Access is the Institutional Repository of The University of Melbourne
Author/s:
Fisher, John W.
Title:
Background, religiosity and expectations of the parents and senior students in a Christian
school
Date:
1993
Citation:
Fisher, J. W. (1993). Background, religiosity and expectations of the parents and senior
students in a Christian school. Masters Research thesis, Institute of Education, The
University of Melbourne.
Publication Status:
Unpublished
Persistent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/11343/35601
File Description:
Background, religiosity and expectations of the parents and senior students in a Christian
school
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