My Training Incumbent Is Doing a Good Job: An Empirical Investigation of Personal, Religious and Psychological Factors Shaping Curates’ Evaluation of their Training Incumbent within the Anglican Church in England and Wales

Greg Smith,Leslie J Francis

doi:10.1017/s1740355321000450

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on detailed questionnaire data (including personal, religious and psychological factors) provided by 416 pairs of curates and training incumbents, the present study addresses two core research questions. The first research question develops and tests a new measure: the Smith Attitude toward Training Incumbents Scale (SATIS). The second research question explores the influence of personal, religious and psychological characteristics of both the curate and the training incumbent in predicting curates’ positive attitude toward the training incumbent. The data demonstrated that religious factors (Catholic or Evangelical, Liberal or Conservative, Charismatic or not Charismatic) were not significant. However, both personal and psychological factors of the curates themselves were significant. The curates who rated their training incumbent more highly were older and more emotionally stable. Personal factors were also significant for the training incumbents, but not psychological factors. The curates rated more highly the experience of working with younger training incumbents. The most satisfactory experience of curacy was associated with older and emotionally stable curates working with younger training incumbents.

Highlights

Training for ordained ministry within the Anglican Church in England and Wales has undergone considerable shifts during the past fifty years
22% of the curates and 27% of the training incumbents are classified as Catholic; 30% of the curates and 38% of the training incumbents are classified as Evangelical; and 48% of the curates and 36% of the training incumbents are classified as occupying the middle territory
31% of the curates and 33% of the training incumbents are classified as Liberal; 18% of the curates and 21% of the training incumbents are classified as conservative; and 51% of the curates and 46% of the training incumbents are classified as occupying the middle territory

Summary

Introduction

Training for ordained ministry within the Anglican Church in England and Wales has undergone considerable shifts during the past fifty years. With the added responsibilities for delivering phase two of IME it has become uncommon for training incumbents to have oversight of more than one curate at the same time Such changes in the role of training incumbents was heralded by the report, Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church, colloquially known as the Hind Report. This significant document identified the need for an overhaul of attitudes to parish-based training. Shaping the Future moved away from using ministers whom the bishop happened to like or was seeking to reward; away from the use of busy parishes that needed an extra pair of hands to assist with the ministerial workload; and towards appointing reflective practitioners, who were skilled trainers and could demonstrate an aptitude for the role. In Appendix 4, Shaping the Future set out clear criteria for those appointed to the role of training incumbents, and did so under the two following headings: training incumbent proforma, and future expectations

Methods

Results

Conclusion