It is a debate that has been simmering for decades: is religious instruction or secular teaching the best way to impart values to young New Zealanders?
There is a further question in this debate: should values be taught in schools at all and should teachers instead stick to traditional reading, writing and arithmetic?
The answers, leading educationalist Clarence van der Wel believes, are that schools can practise good values without students having to attend chapel; and it is not possible to provide a well-rounded education without a values system in place.
"In fact," says van der Wel, the director of schools at ACG Education, New Zealand's largest independent school group,"our families expect us to teach and practise values without having to be affiliated to a church.
"When ACG started 20 years ago, we made a deliberate choice to be secular, we wanted to focus purely on education and not be distracted by religious ceremony, so we don't have a religious affiliation.
"Instead each of our five schools has individual values but all are underpinned by strong family values, the essence of which is respect," he says. "We don't impose a particular belief system on our families but practise values common to all belief systems including honesty, integrity, respect and good manners.
"We strongly believe schools have a responsibility for this in partnership with parents and society."
Historically values have been taught in schools through religious instruction. Legislation giving state schools discretion to hold these classes was drafted in the 1960s when up to 90 per cent of the population was affiliated to Christianity.
This gave bible teaching legitimacy and allowed it to meet a social need, Jude Barback, editor of the New Zealand Education Review said in a 2012 article. However, New Zealand is now a diverse nation catering for people from all walks of life.
"Many schools no longer deem it appropriate to impart values in a religious context," she said. "In shying away from religion, is it possible New Zealand schools neglected values altogether?
"Certainly the demise of youth behaviour, as witnessed by those at the business end of youth and social welfare, seems to go hand-in-hand with the hands-off approach to values education," she said. "With that premise, perhaps it is a good thing values are increasingly being incorporated into classroom teaching again."
Barback said many are opposed to values being taught in schools, believing teachers should stick to more traditional elements of the curriculum.
van der Wel says the objective of ACG Schools is to develop well-rounded young people and provide them with an outstanding education to prepare them for university and beyond and sees no need for any religious affiliation to achieve this.
In fact, he believes, schools with strong religious affiliation can deter students with different faiths or beliefs. Modern New Zealand is multi-cultural and multi-religious and it is important schools reflect this.
"By being secular we take away that deterrent," he says, "We have many different religious backgrounds represented on our rolls, Hindu, Muslim, Christian among them, meaning our students have the opportunity to meet and learn about people from different backgrounds."
He says a key is to equip students with soft skills - respect for others along with the ability to get on with people and work well in groups - without which it is difficult for them to succeed in life.
"We try to teach them that if they treat people with dignity and respect, they will be treated back in the same way. It is about respect for one another, for teachers and teachers having respect for students - and character development."
van der Wel says values education is an integral part of the curriculum and is reinforced at school assemblies.
"We also have programmes where students meet regularly in a group with tutors where a whole range of values are discussed outside normal academic subjects," he says, "but overall we find practising values is more important than formally teaching them."
The national curriculum in New Zealand lists a series of values that are woven into classroom teaching. These include excellence, integrity, respect, appreciation of the diversity in cultures, languages and heritages and an understanding of fairness and social justice.
State primary and intermediate schools have limited discretion to offer classes in religious instruction by volunteers during periods where classes or the school as a whole is considered "closed". Student participation is voluntary and parents can request their children be exempt from the lessons.
Secondary school boards are entitled to include religion in the life of their school - although again attendance by students is not compulsory.
