Psychological types of female primary school teachers in Anglican state-maintained schools in England and Wales : implications for continuing professional development

A sample of 221 female primary school teachers in Anglican state-maintained schools in England and Wales completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS). The data demonstrated clear preferences for Extraversion (E) over Introversion (I), for Sensing (S) over Intuition (N), for Feeling (F) over Thinking (T) and for Judging (J) over Perceiving (P). The two predominant types among female primary school teachers were ESFJ (27.6%) and ISFJ (18.6%). These findings confirm earlier research among trainee female primary school teachers and help to clarify the main strengths and potential challenges facing primary schools in light of knowledge about the key psychological preferences of those who shape the classroom environment. These findings also generate new insights into teacher retention and career paths in primary schools

Inside Southwark Cathedral : a study in psychological-type profiling

A series of recent studies have begun to map the psychological-type profile of Anglican churchgoers in England and Wales. This study sets the profile of 120 men and 161 women attending Sunday services in Southwark Cathedral against the profile of 1169 men and 2135 women attending Anglican parish churches. These data found a significantly higher proportion of intuitive types and thinking types within the cathedral congregation and a significantly lower proportion of participants displaying the SJ temperament. The implications of these findings are discussed for appreciating the distinctive style of cathedral worship and of cathedral ministry

Introducing the congregational bonding social capital scale : a study among Anglican churchgoers in south London

As social capital theory comes to play a part in quantitative congregational studies, so there is the need for established and tested measures of different forms of social capital to be available for inclusion in surveys. This article reports on the psychometric properties of the newly proposed Congregational Bonding Social Capital Scale (CBSCS) tested among 23,884 adult churchgoers throughout the Anglican Diocese of Southwark in south London. The data support the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of this 7-item measure

Monitoring attitude toward Christianity among year 5 and year 6 students attending Church in Wales primary schools

This study argues that assessment of student attitudes provides insight into the culture and climate of schools. The Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity was employed to explore the Christian culture and climate of Anglican church primary schools within the state-maintained sector across Wales. The analysis drew on responses from 1,899 students from year 5 and year 6. The data demonstrated that the majority of students held a positive attitude toward Christianity, that female students held a more positive attitude than did male students, and that a significant decline in positive attitude toward Christianity took place over the two year groups

The internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity among 8- to 11-year-old students in Wales

The Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity was designed in the mid-1970s to assess individual differences in attitude through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood from the age of 8 years upwards. This study examines the internal consistency reliability, factor structure, and construct validity of the instrument 40 years later among 1511 year 4 students (8–9 years), 1544 year 5 students (9–10 years), and 1526 year 6 students (10–11 years) in Wales attending Church in Wales voluntary aided and voluntary controlled primary schools. The data support the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the instrument among the age range and commend the instrument for continued use in research

Assessing student attitude toward Christianity in Church in Wales primary schools : does aided status make a difference?

As a consequence of the 1944 Education Act church schools were given the choice of opting for voluntary controlled status or for voluntary aided status. In voluntary aided status the Church had more control but carried greater costs. Within England and Wales this distinction is still maintained. This study measures the attitude toward Christianity of 4,581 year 4, 5 and 6 students (8- to 11-years of age) attending 87 Church in Wales primary schools, and compares the responses of 1,678 students attending controlled schools with the responses of 2,903 students attending aided schools. After controlling for sex, age and frequency of church attendance, voluntary aided status is associated with a more positive attitude toward Christianity. In other words, aided status does make a difference to the attitudinal dimension of students’ religiosity

Modelling the effect of worship attendance and personal prayer on spiritual wellbeing among 9- to 11-year-old students attending Anglican church schools in Wales

This study employs a modified form of the Fisher 16-item Feeling Good, Living Life measure of spiritual wellbeing (assessing quality of relationships across four domains: self, family, nature, and God) among a sample of 1,328 students drawn from year five and year six classes within Church in Wales primary schools, alongside measures of frequency of worship attendance and frequency of personal prayer. The data demonstrate frequency of personal prayer is a much stronger predictor than frequency of worship attendance in respect of spiritual wellbeing. This finding is consistent with the view that personal prayer is a key factor in the formation of individual spirituality

What helps Christians grow? An exploratory study distinguishing among four distinctive pathways

This study draws on a detailed survey completed by 1,123 churchgoers attending churches within the West Midlands region of England in order to identify indicators of Christian growth and distinctive pathways to growth. Factor and reliability analyses distinguished between two indicators of Christian growth (depth of discipleship and strength of vocation) and four distinctive pathways to growth (growth through group activity, growth through Christian experience, growth through church worship, and growth through public engagement). Regression analyses, taking into account individual differences in sex, age, education, church support and challenges to faith, identified growth through Christian experience as the most important factor in helping Christians to grow, while public engagement added weight to depth of discipleship and group activities added weight to strength of vocation. The implications of these findings are discussed for future research and for Discipleship Learning programmes within the Church

Comparing the attitudes of Muslim and Christian year 5 and 6 students within four Anglican primary schools in Wales

This paper set out to explore and to compare the experiences and attitudes of self-identified Muslim students (N = 84) and self-identified Christian students (N = 87) attending the same Anglican primary schools in Wales within the context of the Student Voice Project. The data identified two distinct attitudinal trajectories, one assessed by the Scale of Attitude toward my School and the other assessed by the Scale of Attitude toward Religion in my School. No significant differences were found between Muslim and Christian students in terms of attitude toward their school. However, Muslim students recorded a significantly less positive attitude than Christian students toward religion in their school. These findings are interrogated against Anglican visions for their church primary schools within the state-maintained sector in England and Wales

Religious affect and personality among 9- to 13-year-old children in the Republic of Ireland : introducing the Junior Personality Scales in Three Dimensions (JPS3D)

This study builds on earlier research locating individual differences in religious affect within the three dimensional space proposed by Eysenck. The 18-item Junior Personality Scales in Three Dimensions (JPS3D) were designed to refine Eysenck’s conceptualisation of the three dimensions of personality and to improve measurement of these dimensions among children by employing a five-point rating scale. Data provided by 1048 students in fourth class, by 1044 students in fifth class, and by 1079 students in sixth class within Church of Ireland (Anglican) primary schools in the Republic of Ireland confirmed the clear factor structure of the 18 items on a varimax rotated solution, demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency reliability for the three indices in terms of Cronbach’s alpha, and supported construct validity. Positive religious affect was associated with lower toughmindedness scores and higher extraversion scores, but independent of anxiety scores