The survey results indicated distinct differences between the values systems of people from active Christian families, and those who professed no faith. The findings also suggested that whether the type of school attended was Christian, or not, did not have any great influence on the underlying social values of either Christian or Non-believer students.

The similarities in teacher values, whether they taught in Christian or secular schools, further suggested that, particularly from the perspective of religious influence, there would be little difference between the two types of schools. This suggestion was supported by the similarities of Christian students’ values systems regardless of the type of school the students attended and the even greater similarities between the values of the Non-believer students whether they attended Christian or secular schools.

Although schools might have had some effect on some aspects of students’ behaviours which were not values driven, this examination of values found no evidence of schools having had any effect on the underlying social value structures of their students. These student values seemed to have derived much more from the parents.

The results for parents and students, and particularly the similarities of difference between Christian and Non-believer groups, suggested that, for the schools examined, family influences were likely to be of far greater importance in determining a young person’s belief system than
was their school.