Church Schools must provide more than basic literacy and numeracy

One only has to look at parts of our world today riven by conflict to see that creating understanding among different religious and faith traditions is integral to establishing peace and justice.

As an absolute minimum we need all schools to be ensuring that students are "religiate" as well as numerate and literate. That is to say our young people need to be able to understand and operate within the religious dimension of human life.

Church schools will seek more than this minimum. They will also endeavour to nurture students in the Christian faith as it is known in the Anglican tradition.

Both government and church schools have vital roles to play. It is my hope and prayer that Anglicans will be able to contribute constructively to discussion about education without becoming unnecessarily polarised and with a view to the well being of the whole community.