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A Christian school is a Parochial school school run on Christianity principles or by a Christian organization. These schools often include religious education and worship in their curriculum. They may also have a distinct Christian mission or philosophy.
The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countries, there is a strict separation of church and state, so all religious schools are Private school; in others, there is an State religion whose teachings form an integral part of the state school; in yet others, the state subsidizes religious schools of various denominations.
To this end, Christian Churches have established schools around the world.
Over 4 million students, about 1 child in 12, attend religious schools, most of them Christian.
There is great variety in the educational and religious philosophies of these schools, as might be expected from the large number of religious denominations in the United States.
These conservative Evangelical schools are privately run, often in conjunction with a church or a denomination. Parents who want their children taught according to the principles of their church, can choose to send their children to such schools, but unless the school is subsidized by their church, or is part of a school choice or education voucher program funded by the government, they must pay tuition. Some American Evangelical schools are large and well-funded, while others are small and rely on volunteers from the community.
Some Evangelical schools, especially those sponsored by fundamentalist groups, do not accept government funding and subsidies because (in their opinion) they would put their school (and potentially their church) operations under more government scrutiny and legislation, which can lead to the government dictating their school's operation (and, possibly, the church's teachings on controversial subjects such as abortion or homosexuality). An example of this would be a requirement to adhere to a state's civil rights law, in exchange for the subsidy, this would conflict with a Christian school that has mandatory religious requirements for admission, or does not allow its students to opt out of attending religious services. Even though a school may accept no government money, it still must adhere to the state education curriculum, student academic performance standards, and state-mandated standardized testing scores (if any). It is also subject to standard inspection by government regulators for in-classroom teaching quality and teacher qualifications, possibly including visiting classes. Not accepting government money avoids government management of an Evangelical school, but does not remove governmental oversight.
Another large association of Evangelical schools is the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). ACSI serves 5,300 member schools in approximately 100 countries with an enrollment of nearly 1.2 million students. The American Association of Christian Schools, founded in 1972, brings together many conservative Evangelical schools. Members subscribe to a Statement of Faith based on Biblical literalism, creationism, and a rejection of ecumenism. AACS member schools enroll over 100,000 students. The AACS has an active lobbying program in Washington.
Another association of Evangelical schools is Christian Schools International, with approximately 500 schools and 100,000 students.
One movement among Evangelical schools in the U.S. is the return to the traditional subjects and form of education known as classical education. This growing movement is known as the Classical Christian School movement, represented by the Association of Classical & Christian Schools, with over 230 schools and colleges, and about 34,000 students.
Historically, Christian schools in Canada were run by private Catholic or Protestant organizations. As public education developed, the majority (usually Protestant) faith became represented by the public school, and the minority faith (usually Catholic) became represented by a separate school. Over time, the public schools became increasingly secularized as Canadian society became increasingly pluralistic.
Most provinces originally had separate school boards in each school district for Catholic and non-Catholic students. Many provinces have abolished this, but Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories retain the system. Where this occurs, the two schools are usually called the Catholic School Board and the Public School Board.
Many non-Catholic Christians send their children to separate Catholic schools, preferring their values and standards, despite not practicing the Catholic faith. Typically, such students are exempt from specific religious instruction classes.
The American model is also used on some private schools, usually run by Protestant denominations.
Public school boards (as distinct from Catholic boards) in Canada normally have no religious affiliation in modern times but may still accommodate religious instruction for Christians within their community. They may do this by creating an individual special purpose Christian school, or they may offer religious instruction within an otherwise secular school. This practice has become so prevalent in Alberta that many private Christian schools have been absorbed by their local public districts as "alternative Christian programs" within the public system. They are presently permitted to retain their philosophy, curriculum, and staffing while operating as fully funded public schools. In this regard, they have achieved some equality with Catholic schools.
These private schools can be associated with a number of different organizations. Some are affiliated with the Association of Christian Schools International, some with Christian Schools International, and some with other organizations. There are also provincial organizations like the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools a d the Prairie Association of Christian Schools.
The Church of England was historically a provider of many schools throughout England. Such schools (called 'Church of England schools') were partially absorbed into the state education system (in the Education Act 1944), with the church retaining an influence on the schools in return for its support in funding and staffing. Such schools are required to accept pupils regardless of religious background, though if they are oversubscribed, they can, and often do, give preference to applicants of the relevant faith. As of February 2017, there are 3,731 state schools and 906 academies in England that are church schools. Approximately one quarter of all primary schools in England are Church of England schools and 15 million people alive today went to a Church of England school.
Because of the availability of church-run schools and the tolerance for religious activity in state schools, private Christian schools are a relative rarity, but do exist throughout the country. One of the larger ones, the Liverpool Christian Fellowship School, made national headlines in 2001 when they led a campaign backed by forty other schools, to retain their right to use caning and other corporal punishments, which was outlawed in 1999. They intended to halt what they felt was a decline of discipline within schools. Other Christian schools include Kingsfold Christian School in Lancashire, Carmel Christian School in Bristol, Grangewood Independent School in London, Mannafields Christian School in Edinburgh, Emmanuel Christian School in Leicester, Derby & Walsall, & The River School in Worcester, among others.
In the second half of 2006 there were 6,318 Christian schools in the Netherlands; 4,955 primary schools, 1,054 high schools and 309 colleges and universities.
There are also Protestant-associated schools aimed at the children of expatriates, such as the International Academy of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded in 1993.
The modern Protestant Christian school movement began in Australia through the efforts of Dutch people Human migration who had enjoyed Christian schools for many decades in their home country.Deenick (ed.), J. (1991): A Church En Route: 40 Years Reformed Churches of Australia, Reformed Churches Publishing: 240. Most belonged to one of the Australian reformed churches of Dutch origin (the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia or the Free Reformed Churches of Australia, sometimes incorrectly called the Dutch Reformed Church, which is a name used in the Netherlands, South Africa and Sri Lanka but never in the Australian context). During the 1950s these migrants founded associations of parents who wanted to start Christian schools, A Church En Route: 240-1 and the first schools opened, at first without any government assistance, in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Free Reformed Church started the John Calvin School at Armadale, Western Australia which opened its doors on 2 December 1957 with 70 students. It was followed by schools in Albany, Western Australia (1962) and Launceston, Tasmania (1965). The Reformed Churches of Australia (which added 'Christian' to the beginning of their name only in the 1990s) opened their first school at Kingston, Tasmania in 1962. A Church En Route: 243 Their first schools were affiliated with a national body known at that time as the National Union of Christian Parent-Controlled Schools, A Church En Route: 244 which later became Christian Parent Controlled Schools Ltd. (CPCS), and in 2008 was again renamed to become Christian Education National.
Whereas the Free Reformed schools enrolled only students from that particular denomination, the Reformed Church-initiated schools were operated by associations of parents who individually belonged to a variety of Protestant churches and who worked collectively for their common aim. These schools were established not because of innate dissatisfaction with government schools, but because these parents wanted schools which would actively integrate their Christian faith into the whole school curriculum. The schools were operated by parent bodies apart from supervision of churches.
From the late 1970s, Christians from many other churches became increasingly concerned about standards and social change in government schools and started establishing Christian schools to provide an alternative education option. A Church En Route: 249 In this phase, many such schools were commenced not by parent associations but by churches themselves, although several parent groups from outside the Reformed Churches studied and adopted the parent-controlled model and have commenced schools which, while they have no Dutch or Reformed Church connections, have still affiliated themselves nationally with many schools which do.
The leading umbrella organizations include Anglican Schools Australia, Christian Schools Australia, Lutheran Education Australia (LEA), Christian Education National (formerly Christian Parent Controlled Schools Ltd), and the Australian Association of Christian Schools. This last body mainly functions as a political advisory and lobby group for Christian Education National as well as a number of Christian schools who are members independently.
A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that "there is a large and pervasive gap in educational attainment between Muslims and Christians in sub-Saharan Africa" as Muslim adults in this region are far less educated than their Christians counterparts, with scholars suggesting that this gap is due to the educational facilities that were created by Christian missionaries during the colonial era for fellow believers.
Many Druze and Muslims attend Christian schools in Israel, because Christian schools are high-performing and among the best schools in the country.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Protestant missionaries established schools and churches in Druze strongholds, with some Druze converting to Protestantism. In 1870 many Christian schools were opened in Lebanon, which were among the main centers of the Nahda and this led to the establishment of schools, universities, theater and printing presses. The remainder of the 19th century saw a relative period of stability, as Druze and Maronite groups focused on economic and cultural development which saw the founding of the American University of Beirut (Syrian Protestant College) and Saint Joseph University and a flowering of literary and political activity associated with the attempts to liberalize the Ottoman Empire.
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