Is Good Pedagogy the Core Priority for Faith-Based Schools?

      Why is Sound Pedagogy So Important?

Before we dive into more ideas on how we must see good pedagogy as important, it is worth acknowledging that faith-based schools are not necessarily inhabited by students who have a deep faith in God. Sadly, in some such schools we can't be sure even that all teachers have a deep faith which shapes their very lives.

As well, we also must realize that just being a faith-based school does not guarantee sound teaching, nor even that all teachers are dedicated to the promotion and encouragement of deep faith in their students. Some teachers simply assume that this is the role of School Chaplains. So, I sometimes wonder why, without this we bother promoting such schools at all? Let's face it, there are Christians who teach in state schools, and I've known some who have been wonderful.

My Lament that Few Christian Students go to Government Schools today

My wife and I were converted in the rural mid-sized town of Bathurst in Australia (I was 32 years old and the Son of Communist leaders). She was a teacher, and I had taken up my first post as a Lecturer in Education at the local university. Our eldest daughter attended school scripture for one hour a week in primary school. Here teacher was a beautiful Christian woman who had lost her husband just before we arrived. 

Sadly the teaching of Scripture in schools rarely occurs in Government secondary schools any more. When the teaching of Scripture ended in my Daughters' school they took it upon themselves to start meeting with those still interested at lunch time. As adults both go regularly to her children's school and in one case my daughter runs Scripture the children's school, while the other is a well known Christian who works in a university and is called up around the world to share the faith of Christ! This of course, it not due to me, but the grace of God!

 

While in some Christian schools, students do the same thing my as one of my daughters, it is limited to once a week, the children of one of my daughters picked up the baton and began a lunchtime meeting where the students cam with their lunches to share as they discuss God's word. What a sad indictment that even in Christian schools there can be limited teaching.

Summing up

I'm fortunate the above was the case for my daughters but take no self pride in given my background! Some Christian schools need to re-as
sess their priorities, and ensure that Scripture is still taught in their schools. We need to keep on challenging our teachers who are teachers and our Christian schools to ensure that the foundational reason for Christian Schools in the first place was to educate the whole child. Interesting the one Christian denomination that still keeps this as a priority are Catholic Schools! 

 

    

 

 

 

 

The Role of the Imagination in Story & Character Development

In 2024 I presented two keynote addresses to a national gathering of the 150 leaders of ‘Christian Schools Australia’. To do so, I drew on the ideas outlined in my book 'Pedagogy and Education for Life: A Christian Reframing of Teaching, Learning and Formation'. I suggested that Christian education and pedagogy must be rooted in an understanding of God's people in-between this life and the next.

 

As I suggest many times in my writing, we are shaped as we engage with others, and as we inhabit varied 'communities of practice'. That is, we move in and out of many situations and groups, all of which have an impact on us in varied ways. This is reality for our students as they attend our schools, and inhabit many groups. The term “Intertextuality” helps us to understand what this means. It was coined by cognitive anthropologist Julia Kristeva (1991).

 

It describes how we ‘inhabit’ the varied groups in life. And as we do we learn things, and take on many of the same concerns, passions, values and beliefs of the groups or ‘communities’. As teachers and school leaders, we need to understand this as we teach, educate and point students in wise directions for life.

  

1. Imagination and COMMUNITY

 

Martin Buber suggested as we build relationships, our ‘Character’ requires us to have and preserve a level of freedom, expressed in any human communion. Conversely, ‘compulsion’ illustrated by rules, can create disunion, sometimes humiliation, and hence rebelliousness.

  

In many ways, this is why the informal networks of life beat the formal structures of education hands down, in influencing the heart, life priorities, hopes and dreams. Why? Because in such less formal gatherings young people are able to ‘speak into’ the lives of their friends in ways that few teachers and even parents cannot. So, the varied communities our children inhabit, help to shape minds, lives, expectations, imaginations and hoped for futures.

 

Ironically, sometimes families (and some schools) only end up reinforcing the things that matter much less than faith in the living God. Even in faith-based schools, teachers and leaders can end up promoting worldly success, starting salaries for future jobs, career status, achievement etc. This is at the expense of faith and character, wise choices and growth. School for many, can become an annoying imposition that one endures, knowing that one day they can escape to find what they see as ‘true’ freedom. The communities that matter most can end up being outside the formal structures and life of school.

 

 

2. Creating different and more effective communities within our classrooms

 

What we need to consider as teachers and schools, is how we can build more effectively different within our classrooms and the school at large. That is, communities which can shape imaginations, and how our students use them.

 

But how can this be done? Let me offer a fuller vignette that might help to reinforce this key point. How can we assist our student imaginations to be shaped within our school communities of practice?

 

A number of years ago, I spent 12 months team teaching within a Year 1 classroom in Wagga Wagga, a wonderful town in inland Australia. My partner (Inta) was teaching in a Lutheran school, at a time when we were not plagued by the current education system’s desire to test children for the sake of testing. Rather, Inta’s key priority for these early learners was to embed them within an exciting classroom, that in its own way was a well-focused and exciting community that both taught and shaped at the same time.

 

 

One of my first observations as I entered the grade 1 classroom, was the rules within this classroom for 6 year old students in their second year at school weren’t dominant, and yet all seemed to know where the boundaries stood. As a result, there was movement, shared learning and intertextuality everywhere.

 

3. What do I mean by 'Intertextuality'? 

 

What is intertextuality, and why is it important? As I have already alluded, it is the relationship between one text or experience and another. By ‘text’ I’m using a term linguists use to refer to a spoken or written unit of meaning, of whatever length that forms a unified whole (a caption, headline, story, joke, play, essay, musical lyrics, letter etc). This term was first coined by philosopher Julia Kristeva in the 1960s. In essence, intertextuality involves “the connection or relationship between similar or related stories, images, songs, ideas and so on”. The interconnections we see can of course influence other learners to create very exciting classroom communities.

 

When I entered Inta’s classroom on my first day, it was obvious that the talk, drawing, writing, play etc, were being ‘collectively’ shaped as students read and wrote together, as extensions of their relationships with the teacher, and other students. Such interconnection didn’t stop within the classroom. I observed them in the playground, on the bus going home, and at home itself, with the texts playing a key role in establishing and extending their relationships. Sometimes the response of one child would lead naturally to the response of others.

 

 

I became involved very quickly and in my second week I read them the delightful book 'The Jolly Postman' (Ahlberg & Ahlberg, 1986). The children's interactions with the book as they sat on the floor in front of me was very exciting. They loved the book!

After finishing the book, I allowed time for students to chat about it, then sent them back to continue with a range of language activities (including writing). Within 10 minutes of reading the Jolly Postman, one student returned to show me a letter that she had written which was obviously inspired by the book we had just read (see PPT).  She announced:

 

“Look Mr Cairney, I've written my own Jolly Postman letter.  Chlorissa is writing one too.”

 

 

 

Within 20 minutes there were at least 10 letters in preparation, and by recess the whole class was writing "Jolly Postman" letters. Within a few days the class had produced many letters to favourite characters in books. 

 

 

The next day I was confronted by a small group of students who politely suggested (almost demanding): 

  

“Mr Cairney, we'll have to write our own Jolly Postman book.  Can we do one?”

 

And of course, Inta set about putting the wheels in motion to do just that. This was to dominate the next day or so at school. 

When it was time for me to leave the classroom after a few months I was presented with the class version of its own 'Jolly Postman' book. 

 

With the class letters inspired by ‘The Jolly Postman” Inta used the words from the book and the children's letters, and turned it into their own book, which they presented to me when I left them.

 

4  What can we learn from this example about imagination and character development?

 

This literacy lesson illustrates how classroom environments provide an opportunity for students to build textual histories, as they relate to others and share their experiences. These and other events in and outside school, help to shape them and to establish their hopes, dreams, values and priorities in life. As James Smith famously suggested, “we are what we love”. And this class had been inspired by Inta to love books!

 

This type of shared experience is a vital part of any classroom environment. Straight rows and "eyes to the front" and "heads down" will maintain discipline and focus on the teacher's agenda. This is of course is important and essential at times, but for younger learners, creativity and enthusiasm for reading, writing and even arithmetic (to use an old adage) are critical. So too, are creativity, joy in learning and collaboration with others, are also key skills for life.

 

 

The Importance and Nature of 'Double Listening'

The Importance of ‘Double Listening’ in Faith-based Schools (Revisited)

 

An Update - I posted on this topic in November (HERE) but I've posted this shorter version that might be more helpful for School staff to commence a discussion

 

While writing an article for a journal recently, I was reminded of John Stott’s concept of ‘Double Listening’. I believe it needs to be shared with faith-based teachers and schools. John Stott was an English Anglican priest and theologian, who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was the founder, director, and honorary president of the London Institute for Contemporary Studies. He wrote 40 books! His work was always filled with great wisdom.

In one of his many publications, ‘The Contemporary Christian: Applying God’s Word to Today’s World’ (1992: IVP), Stott introduced the concept of ‘Double Listening’. He shared, “we are called to the difficult and even painful task of ‘double listening’. That is, we need to listen carefully… both to the ancient Word and to the modern world, in order to relate the one to the other with a combination of fidelity and sensitivity.”

 

This concept resonates so clearly with my own work. Those who have read ‘Pedagogy and Education for Life’, will see immediately why I find his concept of ‘Double Listening’ so helpful. It sits comfortably with my call for faith-based teachers to think deeply and critically about how “…we shape the whole life of a community viewed from the standpoint of the kingdom of God?” (Cairney, 2018, p.30).

 

Why is Double Listening Important for Terachers?

 

Faith-based schools tread a tightrope while seeking to teach and shape their students with the World’s many competing voices and challenges. Even in the setting of a Christian school, there constant tension between preparing our students for the world, while also seeking to grow them as people. In my work, I give special emphasis to encouraging teachers, parents and students to see their faith as central to all of life and not to be distracted simply by success in the world. In any faith-based school, we need to encourage everyone to listen first to the Word of God, while also preparing students for life IN the world. That is, we seek to bring the Word to bear on the world, not the other way around.

 

In an interview in 1997 with Professor Derek Morris (Southern Adventist University, Tennessee), John Stott was asked to explain what he meant by ‘Double Listening’. He responded:

 

“By double listening, I mean listening, of course, to God and to the Word of God, but listening to the voices of the modern world as well. Now, I make it clear that in listening to the modern world, we are not listening with the same degree of respect as that with which we listen to the voice of God. We listen to Him in order to believe and obey what He says. We listen to the modern world, not in order to believe and obey what it says, but in order to understand its cries of pain, the sighs of the oppressed. And it seems to me that relevant communication grows out of this process of double listening.”

 

2.  How should faith-based schools respond to and learn from this challenge?

In ‘Pedagogy and Education for Life’ I argue that education in faith-based schools should always be situated in the “whole of life of the school”. This in turn is situated within our students’ complete lives that simultaneously transcend varied and multiple communities of practice. As teachers, we need to keep reminding ourselves that our students’ learning does not occur simply in our classrooms Things taught in the school are integrated and interpreted as part of daily life. Collectively, this perspective seeks to create “…classroom life with the potential to ‘speak’ to our students about what is important in the world of the classroom and school, and consequently, what matters in the world” (Cairney, 2018, p.31).

John Stott’s words might seem ‘quaint’ to some, but we must be careful not to quickly dismiss his bold claim. These words are very helpful for anyone who has faith in God, and is navigating a world that is increasingly hostile to all faiths. Stott’s comment relates directly to the key challenge all Christian schools to balance the obvious desire of parents, as students and teachers seeking success in life, with a desire to see them to seek faith and eternal hope in God.

An important complement to ‘Double Listening’ is the development of “standpoint” or point of view (Cairney, 2018, pp 27-29). This relates to the shared understandings students develop in multiple communities. A key role of the teachers in faith-based schools is to present and help shape viewpoints within classroom and school life. Students can be encouraged to orient their life to the Kingdom of God, not the ways of the world. This requires an all of school approach and the creation of community life that places faith and our hope in Christ at the centre.

3.  How does this concept relate to my work on “formation”?

First, we need to understand and embrace the concept of ‘Double Listening’ in our lives as Christians and teachers. We also need to observe and understand the world in which our students live, and the many ideologies that are spoken of, promoted and that ‘wash over’ them each day. As teachers (and parents), we need to be alert to the signs of varied ideologies shaping our students’ priorities and practices. But as well, we need to have the courage to push back on some of the ideas they embrace, and explain what the Bible teaches us about life’s priorities.

Second, we must not forget that a key part of our roles as teachers is to “orchestrate the meaning, language, and life of the classroom” (Cairney, 2018, p. 67). To observe the lives of our students is a key priority, but we also need to be active in attempting to shape our students to consider all of life in the context of God’s word to us.

 

But, one more comment is necessary. Schools must be careful not to create places so insulated from the world, that they become escapist ‘bubbles’ protecting them from the world. Schools can in a sense, become such separate worlds, that students aren’t really prepared for the wider world, where the cultures and priorities are so different, and where they have new autonomy.

 

The place of ‘Double Listening’ in schools is very important. As teachers, we must become such good listeners and observers that we are in a position to have an influence on the worldviews that students develop and how faith has a central role to play in shaping them.

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

---