186
teachers) of all Christian (Protestant) secondary schools, to gather up-to-date information regarding their respective views on church involvement in education, and to compare to see if there are any marked variations among the different denominations. The findings from the questionnaires were further examined to analyze the relationship between the perceptions of involvement in education and other educational concerns such as 'the employment of Christian teachers in schools', 'the relationship between school and the sponsoring church', 'the aims of setting Religious Education or Biblical Knowledge as a school subject' and 'the organization of religious activities in schools'. The survey was undertaken by post. A total of 299 questionnaires were sent out and 164 copies returned. The return rate was 55%. All the information obtained was put into a computer for detailed analysis.
The second part of the study was a literature review. Materials about church involvement in education from publications of the various denominations were collected and reviewed so as to see if there are any unique denominational viewpoints on the objectives and ideals of church involvement in education. The target groups are limited to the six denominations which have set up most of the church schools in Hong Kong, viz: the Sheng Kung Hui, the Church of Christ in China, the Lutheran Church, the Tsung Tsin (Basel) Mission, the Methodist Church and the Baptist Convention.
The findings of this literature review show that there are in fact significant differences in the objectives of involvement in education among the various denominations. These findings are in accordance with the data obtained from the questionnaire survey, and they also confirm that the interviewees have enough representative status.
2
Findings and Discussion*
The findings obtained from ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and T-test both confirm that there are significant differences in the perceptions of objectives and ideals of church involvement in education amongst the various denominations.
Table 1 reveals that the Sheng Kung Hui has the highest percentage in the column 'regard education as very important' (40%). Although the percentage in 'regard education as quite important' is lower, it has