An end to collective worship in schools?

One of the resolutions debated at the annual conference of my trade union (the Association of Teachers and Lecturers), taking place in Liverpool this week, reads as follows:

THAT Conference believes that a daily act of worship should not be a statutory requirement in a secular school.

This resolution was defeated. The context of this resolution is a review that is currently being undertaken, by the DCSF, I think, of the law in this regard. Many large secondary schools simply disregard the law anyway; their assemblies often take place on a "year group" basis, and the last word you would use to describe them is "worship". Compliance with the law in primary schools is, I think, higher, with a greater openness to genuinely religious content.

My own thinking on this is that I am not attached to the idea of a compulsory act of worship. In so many situations, what happens in schools does not really match the intended act of worship of the legislation. However, I would also be equally opposed to the absence of religion, and religious practice, from the life of schools. I think Pope Benedict XVI talks about an "appropriate secularity" in the public sphere - by which he means that the public square should have a permissive and facilitating function with regard to the practice of religion, rather than defining and directive function. Whether members of ATL Conference understood the word "secular" in this sense, or in a sense of wanting to banish a religious presence entirely from schools, I do not know.

What I think I would like to see in non-religious schools are the same sort of chaplaincy arrangements that exist in hospitals and ports. These are multi-faith chaplaincies, that include within their briefs the idea of providing care for those of no religious belief as well as those of different religious beliefs. For some people the care is "pastoral" or "spiritual" rather than "religious"; for those of religious belief, that care is "religious". Often lead chaplains who are ministers of one or another denomination work with a team of volunteers of different denominations from the local community. I do know that, in my own local NHS Hospitals Trust, the presence and activity of the chaplaincy team is valued by many, both patients and staff.

Why shouldn't schools employ chaplains to lead generic multi-faith teams in the same way? The every day presence of people with religious faith in the schools could be far more effective pastorally than "assemblies", and, from OFSTED's point of view, it could contribute significantly to the "spiritual development" of pupils.