3.7 Expansion

In 1969 there were some important revisions to the Readers' Canons including the opening of the ministry to women, the introduction of the blue scarf as the official dress of all Readers and the authority to preach at Holy Communion .

These changes marked the start of a period of ongoing change in Reader ministry and the publication of a series of modern texts such as Martineau's practical guide for the modern Reader.

The centrepiece of the revisions of the 1970's was the launch of a new training scheme which replaced the formal written examinations with an essay scheme (Hiscox p. 39). The scheme was not uniformly accepted and Morgan's scepticism of whether the scheme could make Readers more acceptable proved to be valid because the scheme was abandoned in 1989. Hiscox who is an educationalist believes that the material failed to reflect an understanding of curriculum development or the methods by which adults learn because the course was a set of leaflets which contained a list of recommended books and a series of questions rather than a scheme of work. In addition the decision to use the same material for the post-admission diploma, The Archbishops Diploma For Readers (ADipR) raised the question of whether consideration had been given to the potential differences between the training needed by potential candidates and experienced Readers.