ABSTRACT
In The Future of an Illusion, Freud states that "the path from the infant at the breast to the civilized man is a long one". He points to the role of education and, more specifically, religious education in supporting the child in navigating this pathway. Amid declining faith in other institutions—including the church—schools have inherited increasing responsibilities for their congregation and have the societal task of providing tools for their subjects to survive in civilized society. Schools are also charged with safeguarding and providing a return on the emotional investment of parents; in contemporary and individualized society, children may be the only relationship that can be counted on. Policies, regulations, inspections, and targets were the organizational "support" that was offered to head teachers. Rigid prescription, itself an expression of social defences, gave rise to rigid task-performance and practices such as "teaching to the test".
