The recruitment of good teachers is vital for the future of our society

The Bishop of Blackburn, Alan Chesters

Citizenship is something which has always been at the heart of a Christian education, according to Cannon Peter Ballard, who is the director of education in the Lancashire diocese of the Church of England.

"Citizenship is in-bred in us. It is one of our main functions and if we're not good at teaching it we should pack up.

"Of course not all church schools meet the right standards in this, but we strive to."

Blunkett

The Education Secretary David Blunkett will address the congregation at Blackburn Cathedral in Lancashire when he attends an Evensong service on Sunday.

About five hundred teachers, head teachers and governors have been invited.

The Bishop of Blackburn, Alan Chesters, is using Education Sunday to draw attention to the need for more teachers to enter the profession.

Religious education under-pins our vision of how we want society to be

The Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols

He said he hoped that more people would feel "called by God to the ministry of teaching".

"My visits in the Diocese and as Chair of the Church of England Board of Education and the National Society convince me that the recruitment of good teachers is vital for the future of our society," the Bishop said.

Lancashire claims to have the highest concentration of voluntary-aided church schools among all the dioceses in England.

Fifty per cent of its schools are church schools, many of which were set up by philanthropists in the 19th Century to help educate children from poorer families.

Catholics

Roman Catholics will also celebrate teachers at Mass this Sunday. The Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, said citizenship was a very important theme of education.

"Active participation in society is an important part of our responsibility. So too is knowing the principles of truth, justice, peace and compassion on which a wholesome society can be built," he said.

Among the free churches - Christian churches which are not Church of England or Roman Catholic - only the Methodists run their own schools.

Community

But Gillian Wood, of the Free Church Council, says churches without their own schools still play a role in the community and in building citizenship.

"We like to support schools in the community and establish links as any volunteer can," she said.

"There is a community of the school and a community of the church and it's nice to show they can support each other."

She said Education Sunday was a chance to show teachers how much they are valued: "We need to support teachers and this is a good way of looking at the work they do."