All organisations can become safer places by having a culture which is open and healthy. The culture of Church of England bodies has, rightly, been highlighted as a contributory factor in poor responses to victims and survivors, as well as allowing the harm to occur in the first place. Open and healthy cultures and relationships within the institution and with safeguarding bodies help ensure that abuse is responded to well, including good care and support for victims and survivors. “Organisational culture” is an essential part of facilitating disclosure, and is a critical aspect for all church related bodies to get right. It is about the quality of the relationships and behaviours within the church community. Healthy cultures also recognise the effect of power imbalances arising from hierarchies within the Church while unhealthy cultures are negatively critical, closed and generate fear or apathy. It can be seen that there may be particular resonance here for TEIs, where staff will, by nature of their posts, be in a perceived position of power.
The characteristics of healthy and safe church cultures are set out in detail in the Responding Well to Victims and Survivors of Abuse House of Bishops’ Safeguarding Guidance but can be summarised as:
- Open and inclusive communication patterns;
- An absence of coercive/controlling behaviour, with poor behaviour challenged when it occurs;
- Inclusive and consultative leadership with safe boundaries;
- Devoting collective and individual time to reflect on behaviours and relationships.
Leaders in TEIs especially have a responsibility to display and to nurture these characteristics in their students, and equip them with the skills to develop these in others.
Particularly within a close mentoring relationship, there is the potential for the power imbalance to tip into spiritual abuse; for this reason staff in a TEI should not be spiritual directors or sacramental confessors to the ordinands in their college. Detailed information and examples of spiritual abuse can be found in the Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults guidance, but examples of this applied to the TEI context would be:
- A consistent pattern of highly controlling and directive mentorship;
- The use of scripture inappropriately to control the behaviour of others;
- Using God’s name to enforce the actions the mentor recommends;
- Making someone feel unable or afraid to disagree with any advice given;
- Presenting oneself as akin to a professional counsellor, anointed by God for this role, with equivalent skills and competencies.
All behaviour lies on a spectrum1 , and whilst the above examples outline one extreme end, people generally do not show up at this level. Rather, they progress from healthy behaviour through unhelpful and unhealthy behaviour before it becomes abusive. This is why healthy and open cultures are critical in identifying and addressing behaviour before it reaches the end of the scale.
Of particular importance to a TEI is the significant (real and perceived) power imbalance between ordinands and TEIs and dioceses. Being under authority is a condition of ministry and a reality in many walks of life; nonetheless, ordinands are aware that the decision to ordain them rests entirely with the ordaining bishop, and that this decision will be guided by reports written by their TEI. For many ordinands, this power imbalance may feel heightened by their having given up a job and income, moved away from home and support networks, often moving a family as well. It can continue as the ordinand prepares to move in to a house provided by the diocese.
This can have significant safeguarding implications, as ordinands may be unwilling to say or do anything which might suggest that they are troublemakers, or which could be reported in an unfavourable light, including making safeguarding disclosures or highlighting possible safeguarding violations. This makes attention to the creation of a healthy culture all the more important. This should include ensuring that every relevant policy document signposts multiple channels for reporting any concerns both internally and externally, such as directly to the DSA or statutory services.
- 1See A Spectrum of Behaviour (Oakley, L: 2021) in 4.2 Spiritual Abuse