Putting citizenship into practice: Sowing the seeds
The Arts: a pedagogical powerhouse
Framing narrative in the mathematics classroom
My top five
Please use the QR code or search on your podcast app.
If you do find anything helpful for others that you’ve heard, every share and review really helps.
In 2025 the makerspace podcast returns for season 2, and will focus on the theme of difference.
This is a current pressing challenge for our schools as we navigate issues of power, immigration, culture clashes, the nature of sin, how to navigate the complexities of colonisation, Indigenous engagement, and what it means to live for the Kingdom of Christ. We’re really looking forward to having this conversation out loud.
We had a fantastic time launching the MakerSpace podcast in 2024, releasing a full first season. The idea behind the program is to interview experts from across the globe, those that have done the deep-thinking on important topics as a guide to our network and beyond.
Thank you for listening! Sam Burrows
AACS Advocacy & Policy Summit
2-9pm Friday 21 March 2025, NSW Parliament House
AACS are pleased to announce the launch of our inaugral Advocacy and Policy Summit.
All leaders in Christian education are welcome! Join us for an exciting line up of speakers including:
• Max Jeganathan, Public Centre for Christianity
• Susan Carter MLC, NSW Shadow Assistant Attorney General
• John Anderson, Former Deputy Prime Minister …plus more!
To register: cen.edu.au/registration-cen-aacs-march-conferences/
SEND US AN ARTICLE
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A JOURNAL FOR CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS
The vision of the journal is to affirm the lordship of Christ in education. It aims to serve Christian educators, challenging them to a fuller understanding of their task and responsibilities; raising issues critical to the development of teaching and learning in a distinctively Christian way. The Journal is supported by Christian Education National.
The Christian Teachers Journal is published by teachers as a forum for the exchange of ideas and practices for teachers to advance the cause of Christ in education.
Views and opinions of writers and advertisers do not necessarily represent the position of this journal nor of the publisher.
EDITORIAL
Welcome to the first edition of The Christian Teachers Journal for 2025. We hope that these articles, revolving around the theme of teaching and learning, will be timely - whether you are up for a fresh challenge or just stopping for a cup of tea and wondering how (or what) to teach tomorrow.
Chris Garner’s article examines student-centred strategies to increase ownership of learning. Philip Taylor’s article follows, exploring how assessment can serve Christian formational purposes.
In “The Arts: A Pedagogical Powerhouse” Miriam Fisher challenges us to consider afresh the joyfully creative and collaborative yet cognitively complex potential of the arts.
Ruth Watson shares her personal reflections on her journey of implementing biblical perspectives into the mathematics classroom.
In this first “Insights From ITEC” instalment, Anne Knowles considers how to unsettle the status quo in order to move to “newly transformational practices which more clearly resonate with God’s story”. In reflecting on ITEC 2019, Jessica Farmer shares with us her practical application of unsettling and the opportunities this brought for more authentic practices of community.
Kristie Barber rounds out this edition with her “My Top Five” books on teaching and learning.
May these contributions be a blessing to you and in turn, your students.
On behalf of the CTJ editorial team,
Doug Allison
CONTENTS
Changing School Learning Culture with Learnership
Chris Garner
Distinctly Christian Assessment Practices
Philip Taylor
Insights From ITEC24 Part 1
Anne Knowles
Putting Citizenship Into Practice: Sowing the Seeds
Jessica Farmer
The Arts: A Pedagogical Powerhouse
Miriam Jessie Fisher
Searching for Words to Frame Mathematics Teaching
Ruth Watson
My Top Five
Kristie Barber
Changing School Learning Culture with Learnership
By Chris Garner
ABSTRACT How do you improve the thinking and learning culture of a school when the teachers have high-quality practice, but the students are not engaging meaningfully in the formational learning process?
Chris Garner reminds us that the formation of our students’ dispositions and attitudes to learning is a far bigger variable in student achievement. He shares his personal learning from implementing a Learnership Program in 2024 and how results showed improvements in student dispositions for learning such as risk-taking, problem-solving, and feedback engagement. The results from just one year at the college in Darwin highlight Learnership’s potential to cultivate skilful, selfdirected learners and transform school culture.
Christian education has undergone significant transformation over the past two decades, yet the focus in professional development remains heavily teacher focused. After all, didn’t John Hattie (2003) tell us that it is the teacher who makes the biggest impact on student achievement? Since Hattie’s seminal research on the influences of achievement was published, professional learning opportunities have largely centred on high-impact teaching strategies and collective teacher efficacy. This idea is reinforced by the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2011), which states that there is a broad consensus that teacher quality is the single most important in-school factor influencing student achievement.
However, it might surprise you that Hattie’s (2003) research shows that there is a far more significant factor for improving student achievement: the role of student engagement in their learning. Hattie shows that “students account for about 50% of the variance of achievement. It is what students bring to the table that predicts achievement more than any other variable” (p. 1). This prompts a critical question: how are our students engaging in the learning process within our schools?
This was the challenge we faced at Marrara Christian College in 2023: how could we improve the culture of thinking and learning where students were more meaningfully engaged in the formational learning activities? Admittedly, we were approaching this challenge in the same old way
that teachers are prone to do, looking for a new and better strategy. We read books, explored innovative programs and theories, attended various professional development (PD) events, completed online courses with Harvard, ran teacher PD, provided inquiry for improvements in teaching practice through our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and spoke with the students about it. We were striving to find a strategy to transform and improve our school’s culture of thinking and deeper learning, but we just hadn’t cracked the code for authentic change.
As often happens, the change we needed came from the simplest idea. We were in the middle of a school improvement focus on effective feedback—again, inspired by Hattie’s (2023) recommendations for improving outcomes—and I began
to ask myself: what good is the best feedback in the world if the students are not going to use it meaningfully? There was no doubt our teachers were producing improved and effective feedback, along with other forms of engaging pedagogy, but the students were lacking in disposition for their learning processes and thus not responding effectively to the feedback. From this small question of how to improve the way that students work with feedback, the goal for changing the learning culture became clear: we needed the students to have more ownership and agency to engage meaningfully in the formational learning tasks our teachers were providing.
In Visible Learning for Teachers Hattie (2012) highlighted the role of the learner and the need to teach them learning strategies when he wrote:
When students invoke learning rather than performance strategies, accept rather than discount feedback, set benchmarks for difficult rather than easy goals, compare their achievements to subject criteria rather than with that of other students, develop high rather than low efficacy to learning, and effect self-regulation and personal control rather than learned helplessness in the academic situation, then they are much more likely to realise achievement gains and invest in learning. These dispositions can be taught; they can be learned. (p. 46)
Any teaching strategy is only going to be as effective as the attitude, level of learning skills, and behaviours which the students bring to the table. At Marrara, we needed to focus more on our students’ learning strategies, not just the teachers’ strategies.
The concept of learnership
I realised that we needed a plan for teaching students how to improve in the way that they contribute to their own learning process. As Mansell (2008) describes the challenge we had was much like a holy grail of education, a much needed “improvement in the level of interaction between pupils and teachers” (p. 21).
As teaching and learning coordinator, I started to explore how we could have a better understanding of student agency so that students would improve in the way that they worked in class. When I asked teachers what they wanted their students to be like in the learning process, there was an overwhelming cry for student agency and ownership (although some used the words “taking responsibility” which I did not mistake for meaning just basic behaviour, but an improvement in their learning behaviours). When students avoid challenging work due to the fear of taking risks and making mistakes or ignore feedback and give up easily when there are difficulties, they are lacking agency. Without true agency,
students do not feel empowered to meaningfully engage in the face of challenge.
Developing student agency and fostering stronger learning dispositions became my pitch to the principal at the time. While I had originally been tasked with the goal of bringing in a program that would improve the culture of thinking, I began to feel like the answer was in a more student-centred approach. We needed to change the way that we help our students build their ownership in their learning and take charge of their own learning growth.
To begin to manage a change in the school’s learning culture, we needed to start from the ground up. Initially, I began a consultative approach to understand the issue with the learning culture which we were facing and to get a sense of what kind of shared language and goals we might need. I met with various groups of teachers, teacher aides, prefects, middle school leaders, parents, and wellbeing coordinators, and this helped to form a picture of what student agency needed to start to look like and what kind of learning attributes we wanted to see in our graduate students.
It became clear from these conversations that the current dispositions our students were bringing into the school were not improving the learning culture, and this needed to change. The older students told me how they wished they had been shown practical ways to think about themselves as learners in their younger years and thus been more equipped to face the challenges in their senior school years. The consultation process showed that we needed to be more explicit and resourceful in building stronger dispositions for learning across our college. This led to the development of a student learner profile, but even that was just a small piece of the puzzle.
In reflecting on the learner profile, I began to realise that we needed to think bigger about what we meant by
being a formational learning school. Simply adding a learner profile wasn’t going to work if our students’ hearts and minds were not calibrated towards their goals and virtues. Jamie Smith (2016) reminds us that formation is not about adding a strategy for learning and draws us back to the counter-formation of, in our case, the power of those rival mindsets and dispositions for good learning. We couldn’t counter the power of cultural liturgies with more information and teacher strategies, it was a matter of the hearts and minds of the student which needed reforming. “We can’t recalibrate the heart from the top down, through merely informational measures. The orientation of the heart happens from the bottom up, through the formation of our habits of desire” (p. 25). To be truly formational, we needed to nurture change in our students’ attributes and dispositions. As we had already seen with the lack of response to feedback, our students also needed to engage meaningfully with the formational learning activities they were being given. We needed a new way to think about and support how we can improve our students’ approach to learning, and this led me to the missing piece of our learning model: Learnership.
Introducing Learnership
I lean here on the work of James Anderson (2024) in his book Learnership: Raising the Status of Learning From an Act to an Art in Your School as this is what helped give our teachers shared language for agency and guided our students to understand how to engage more effectively in the learning process.
We needed to change the way that we help our students build their ownership in their learning and take charge of their own learning growth.
Like craftsmanship, Learnership is the skill of learning, and it empowers students to take charge of growing in their own learning process. Learnership helps us build the skills we need as lifelong learners in our real lives, such as learning to cook, improving a football kick, or learning to use new software. Having a framework for Learnership in your school helps both teachers and students understand how they can become more agile in their learning processes. It makes it easy to set goals for learning growth and supports improved outcomes both academically and in a student’s reallife contexts.
Importantly, developing Learnership skills helped us shift the focus in class from what students were simply producing (and we know how good some of them can be at that!) to how effectively they are learning. James Anderson’s (2024) work confirmed for me that the problem wasn’t one of teacher efficacy; we had a learning problem. Our students needed to move from simply producing work for the teacher in all their activities to growing by learning from their own involvement in the process. As John Holt (1984) states so clearly, “Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners” (n.p.).
The term Learnership became a vital addition to our vocabulary, reframing the student’s role as an active contributor rather than a passive recipient.
From a biblically-informed perspective, Learnership aligns with our holistic view of formation, extending beyond academic achievement to encompass spiritual, moral, and personal growth. Romans 12:2 calls for our transformation through the renewing of the mind, and with the principles of Learnership we had a framework for how we help students look at their own growth or fixed mindsets and think about themselves as learners. With visible resources for teaching about growth mindsets as the starting point for our
In reflecting on the learner profile, I began to realise that we needed to think bigger about what we meant by being a formational learning school.
new learning model, we then worked through activities in class to help students rethink the beliefs which they had each brought into school about themselves. This created safety for them to address beliefs which had been formed in the past, and look at new ways to develop agency for all that God has prepared in advance for them as His workmanship to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Having started the conversation with students about their mindsets as learners, we began to communicate with parents about the work we would be doing throughout 2024 to help students grow to become more skilful learners. It was essential for us to have shared language for this. By this stage we had shared language around what student agency meant, now we needed a common way of clearly identifying where a student was at in their learnership skills, and what it would look like when they improved in those skills, without making it personal about the child. Our shared language for learnership was primarily guided by Anderson’s (2024) Learnership Matrix. Anderson describes his Learnership Matrix a bit like a set of “Learning Standards for Students” (p. 4), describing five key characteristics of learning and provides descriptions for six levels of growth, much like a continuum of practice. For the first time, teachers were now able to work with parents with clear language for where their child was at in their different skills for learning, and help students to see clear and simple goals for where they needed to go next in those skills, much like a craftsman who is actively working to refine and hone their skill set for their craft.
Implementation of our Learnership Program
In designing our framework for Learnership to be part of our pastoral care class model, we divided the elements from James Anderson’s (2024) Learnership matrix into a fourterm sequence of:
Understanding learning: A focus on developing a growth mindset, undoing fixed ideas about yourself as a learner, and practical ways to become a skilful learner.
• Habits of mind: Fostering improved dispositions for positive learning behaviours, knowing how to use the 16 Habits of Mind in different thinking and learning situations, and developing mastery with them to tackle complex tasks.
Challenges and mistakes: Understanding the nature of challenges as a growth opportunity, becoming comfortable with the discomfort of being in your learning zone, and embracing mistakes and seeking feedback as valuable sources of information to help you improve.
• Growing in agency: Understanding and developing agency in your own life, working on the skills needed to use time and energy more effectively in class for learning growth.
From the early days of consultation, we had now come a long way in understanding how Learnership was the framework we needed. All I had to do was train, prepare, and resource our teachers to incorporate lessons for these topics both in the pastoral care group classes and embed the Learnership principles into their own subject content and lessons.
Findings from the first year of implementation
By the end of 2024, results from teacher feedback and student surveys showed significant improvements in the areas we had originally identified. Our year 7 to12 students completed surveys over the year to track the way they felt about themselves as learners.
They were able to tell us in their own words how they were growing in their learning skills and dispositions for learning, and the results were overwhelmingly positive. The student responses showed a clear increase in student engagement in learning tasks, resilience in challenging tasks, and an increase in their sense of ownership over their learning.
Some of the key results from the Learnership Program:
• Decreased reliance on teacher direction: Our students began to show more independence, reflecting on how they would rely less on teachers to solve problems in their tasks.
• Increased willingness to take risks: By the end of the year, fewer students were only choosing the easiest tasks. They were growing in confidence and a willingness to engage in more challenging activities.
• A shift away from risk avoidance: Students showed an increase in embracing mistakes as part of the learning process and were willing to try a few new things in their various learning activities.
• Increased openness to problemsolving: More students began to feel more adaptable when faced with difficulties and were using problemsolving approaches they had learned from previous classes and from using the Habits of Mind.
Increased engagement with feedback: We saw a significant rise in students actively reflecting on and remembering teacher feedback and reviewing their mistakes. We also saw an increase in students actively seeking clarification when feedback was unclear, showing a growing value for feedback as an opportunity for improvement.
• Growth in students’ mastery of the Habits of Mind: Feedback from teachers in PLCs also indicated students’ self-directed use of the
Habits of Mind. Teachers noted instances of students persisting through maths challenges or working on seeking accuracy in their geographical explanations when they would have normally given up quite easily.
Conclusion
By including a Learnership focus across teaching and learning at Marrara Christian College, we have begun to see a paradigm shift. Having shared language and resources for nurturing agency helped us to reframe students as active participants in their learning. By fostering learning skills of metacognition, self-reflection, resilience, and collaboration, the program has begun to develop a culture of skilful learning, yielding measurable improvements in engagement, performance, and an improved school culture of thinking. Learnership by James Anderson (2024) is an outstanding book that offers a way to rethink empowering students as self-directed learners, preparing them for the challenges of the future. As schools seek to foster holistic growth, the principles of Learnership can provide a robust framework for achieving these goals.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
You can find out more about James Anderson’s Learnership by visiting his website: www.jamesanderson.com.au
References
Anderson, J. (2021). Learnership = skilful learning: The common denominator (pp. 4-5). The Mathematical Association of Victoria.
Anderson, J. (2024). Learnership: Raising the status of learning from an act to an art in your school. James Anderson.
Anderson, J. (n.d.). Learnership: The skill of learning. James Anderson.
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. AITSL.
Hattie, J. A. C. (2003, October). Teachers make a difference: What is the research evidence? Paper presented at the Building Teacher Quality: What does the research tell us? ACER Research Conference, Australia. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. Routledge. Holt, J. C. (1984). How students learn. Growing without schooling: The Complete Collection, 1. HoltGWS LLC.
Mansell, W. (2008). Pupil self-assessment is top way to improve. Times Educational Supplement.
Smith, J. K. (2016). You are what you love: The spiritual power of habit. Brazos Press.
1. What if education wasn’t about producing work about the content, but how our students are growing in the skills of how to engage meaningfully with it? Discuss with your team. What changes might need to be made?
2. How effectively does your school’s current approach encourage students to take ownership of their learning processes and engage meaningfully in the learning? To what extent does this concern your team?
3. How would a framework (such as the Learnership Matrix) for understanding student growth in their learning skills benefit your school community?
Chris Garner is a teaching and learning leader with Northern Territory Christian Schools with a focus in curriculum development, assessment, and pedagogy for formational learning. He lives in Darwin with his wife and two beautiful girls. He enjoys a good laksa, walking his dogs on the beach, and living in the tropics.
DISTINCTLY CHRISTIAN ASSESSMENT PRACTICES
By Philip Taylor
ABSTRACT This article is adapted from a Master of Education (Leadership) research thesis completed in late 2023. The case study addresses assessment as a point of significant tension for Christian teachers and their distinctly Christian purpose for education. The study sought to (1) understand how assessment can serve Christian formational purposes; (2) identify the current practices of a sample of teachers at Rehoboth Christian College; and (3) provide opportunity and direction for further developing practices in cooperation with God’s Spirit.
A STORY
[The following is a fictional scenario about a fictional student that is informed by the research findings of this Case Study.]
Connor is in year 8. At the start of a new unit of work he is given an assessment outline and told to put those dates in his diary. Each assessment has a name, a number, and a weighting. Connor hears that their final test is worth 15% of their year mark. He then experiences the ebbs and flows of daily school life until it is two weeks before the final test. He is reminded that he needs to prepare for it and given some strategies to help him study well. He comes to class the day of the test having stayed up late the night before studying hard and feeling pretty stressed. He enters the room and takes a seat. It’s noisy and then it’s not. There’s a crisp white test paper on his desk, a place for his name, and some information about marks and time. The teacher says something, and some kids laughed but Connor was too nervous to notice.
A timer goes on the board, and there’s the noise of pages turning. After the test the kids are talking and discussing what was hard and what was easy, everyone jockeying for status either as the one who knew all the things or the one who didn’t know but didn’t care. Connor is joining in but knows that he is neither of those. One week later the test is returned, there’s a mark on the top, it’s highly annotated, and Connor’s even has an encouragement for his excellent effort. As the test is handed back everyone is laser focused on their mark, some students turn it over and act as though they don’t care, some look ecstatic, some look disappointed. Two students ask to go to the toilet. The teacher spends a half hour going through the marking key with the class and making sure they know how the marks are allocated and why some things got marks and other things didn’t. Connor leaves knowing what he did well and what he should have done, but the next lesson they start a new topic, and the feedback drifts off into the ether of long-term memories never actively retrieved.
The formational power of practices
This story articulates some common experiences for students in school and much of what is described is good. However, I wonder how the practices implicit in the story may have interacted with other observations I’ve made; students decrying “why do we need to learn, reports have been finalised?”, or students who seem stressed beyond what they can cope with by the pressures of assessment. What are the rhythms and rituals of our assessment practices that currently lead students to view learning as a means to a mark, or that might reinforce assessment as something teachers do to students in order to generate a grade? What are the repeated habits that are shaping and reinforcing what our students see, and what they see as valuable (Watkins, 2022)? Brouwer in Kornelis (2018) contends that “the
assessment and evaluation practices we adopt can point to the kind of life we believe Christ calls us to live or they can proclaim another way of being in the world” (n.p.). What are we intentionally, or perhaps more importantly, unintentionally implementing around a tool (assessment) that is so value laden that it readily becomes a point of identity and comparison, a tool that has the potential to shape how students interact with God’s world?
Considering this formational—and therefore deformational—power of practices has shifted my attention from the content of my assessments to the way that I talk about, present, and guide my students through cycles of teaching and learning (Smith, 2013). Thinking this way has made more palpable the tension between a biblical vision of reality and the story often told through our assessment
practices. It has made clearer a gap between our approach to every other aspect of distinctly Christian schooling and how we practice assessment. It was a significant part of the motive to conduct a case study and spend time asking the question at my school, “are our assessment practices distinctly Christian?”.
What are the rhythms and rituals of our assessment practices that currently lead students to view learning as a means to a mark, or that might reinforce assessment as something teachers do to students in order to generate a grade?
… to be truly transformational, assessment practices should also promote Christian virtue, provide opportunity for authentic deep learning, for discipleship responses that seek to foster a deep love of God, shape worldview, and connect with people and context.
A brief outline of what is meant by distinctly Christian assessment practice: A biblical foundation
Assessment is part of being human and is employed by God for the good of those being tested (BibleProject, 2020; Edlin, 2014; Exodus 16:4, 20:20; Hebrews 12:4-17; Pennington, 2020). From this lens, assessment can be viewed as an opportunity for growth that values learners as imagebearers of God, capable of knowing, though limited and distorted by sin (BibleProject, 2020; Pennington, 2020). “Image-bearer” is not something that is achieved by humans, it is a status received from God (Watkin, 2022). As God’s images, Adam and Eve set to cultivating and ordering creation— improving and growing (Genesis 2; Watkin, 2022). Being images of God affirms the dignity, value, and honour of all human beings (Watkin, 2022). Distortion by sin reminds us, among other things, that in the test there is a danger—a danger that we follow our own desires, follow what looks “good to our eyes”—and the test becomes a temptation that we need deliverance from (Genesis 3; Matthew 6:13). Consequently, assessment should not be comparative or status defining; rather, it should focus on what each individual does with the talents they have received as a gift (Edlin, 2014; Matthew 25:1430). Identity ought not to be formed through comparative evaluation and grading (Edlin, 2014; Pennington, 2020), rather, “assessment is most effective when enacted in a loving community of learners who recognize that performance does not determine worth in God’s eyes” (Pennington, 2020, p. 365).
Formative
and transformational
In the world of education, formative assessment is defined as assessment for learning that occurs within the teaching and learning process (Hanscamp et al., 2019; Shuichi, 2016) and is “any assessment for which the first priority … is to serve the purpose of promoting student learning” (Black et al., 2004, p. 10). Assessment is formative in both purpose and function if it is used to adapt teacher instruction to meet the learning needs of students (Black & Wiliam, 2009). Formative assessment produces clear benefits in student learning, self-efficacy, agency, self-evaluation, and for raising standards (Black et al., 2004; Green, 2019; Menzies et al., 2020).
Consequently, formative assessment, with its focus on growth and enlisting student agency, is well situated to align with biblically-informed assessment practice (Edlin, 2014; Hanscamp et al., 2019; Kornelis, 2018).
However, to be truly transformational, assessment practices should also promote Christian virtue, provide opportunity for authentic deep learning, for discipleship responses that seek to foster a deep love of God, shape worldview, and connect with people and context (Davis, 2019; Smith et al., 2021; White, 2017). For our practices to be holistic they ought to address and integrate the head, heart, and hand (Hanscamp et al., 2019). Assessment practices must embody justice and transparency, and support individual students (Pennington, 2020). Along similar lines, feedback and reporting should highlight progress, celebrate learning, and minimise comparison (Pennington, 2022). Assessment practice should declare that “we live in an economy of grace, not one of competition, scarcity, and greed” (Baggett, 2021, para. 13).
Development
Figure 1
Assessment
Model (Adapted from Box et al., 2015, p. 961)
A CASE STUDY Analysis of data
In a recent article, Webb and Ullrich (2024) highlighted the importance of “with-ness” (p. 12) for developing a restorative culture in the classroom. In the same mind, when conducting this case study, I wanted to acknowledge that assessment is something educators do with their students, not to them. As a result, I sought to gather data about our assessment practices both through surveys and conversations with staff, but also through discussions and surveys with students about their experience of assessment. To contextualise the data collected I adapted the assessment development model put forward by Box et al. (2015) that highlights the role
of educator beliefs about assessment, its purposes, their methods of planning, and the contextual elements of their school and educational system on the story they are telling through assessment implementation; the what, how, when, with whom, where, and to what end assessment is used.
Emergent themes
From the synthesis of data collected from six year 8 teacher surveys and interviews, along with 21 year 8 student surveys and two year 8 student focus groups, the following six key themes emerged:
[Staff assessment practices are summarised in Figure 2 and student experiences are summarised in Figure 3.]
1. RCC staff hold a biblical perspective of the learner which was evident in their emphasis on justice, fairness, student support, and care for individuals. This holistic view of the learner is, however, in tension with their assessment practices due to contextual factors such as curriculum requirements. Consequently, most thinking by staff is focused on the content of an assessment, and intentional assessment practices are primarily intellectual.
2. Staff implemented assessments aimed at student growth, including formative practices, feedback, and praise of progress. However, staff and students both instinctively thought of weighted, end-of-topic
Figure 2
Assessment Development Model: Synthesis of Staff Assessment Practices.
assessments before they considered formative ones. Student experience is that feedback was provided with little opportunity to act upon it, and that high achievement is more visibly praised than progress.
3. There were divergent practices that were intentionally formational, but they were not the norm. These practices usually linked to worldview formation or relational practices (Smith et al., 2021). There was limited evidence of intentional assessment practices that connect to the meta-narrative of Scripture. The “why” of assessment was usually connected with curriculum and skills.
4. Most teachers did not naturally consider practices liturgically, and this requires a shift in thinking from the predominantly content-driven approach.
5. Student discussion around assessment focused on marks. It is likely that there are practices being used unintentionally that reinforce this, or contextual elements that staff feel they are unable to change that reinforce this.
6. Staff enacted unintentional practices that were often formational because teachers teach who they are. Given the opportunity to reflect during interviews resulted in several teachers identifying practices they wanted to intentionally enact.
The findings of this case study celebrated that staff at Rehoboth Christian College continually and clearly communicate to their students a biblical view of the learner and that students feel cared for by their teachers because of this.
Celebrate, modify, and continually develop
The findings of this case study celebrated that staff at Rehoboth Christian College continually and clearly communicate to their students a biblical view of the learner and that students feel cared for by their teachers because of this. The findings also celebrate an understanding from students that assessment is helpful, and usually necessary for learning. However, as with all things, there is opportunity afforded by clarifying how things are that can help us move toward a more biblically-informed set of practices around assessment. The following are five suggested modifications to what is being done, along with a recommendation for how the assessment development model might be employed by a community of teachers to help develop their collective efficacy with distinctly Christian assessment practices.
Recommended modifications
1. Modify student self-reflections both during and after assessment so that they invite introspective practices (Smith et al., 2021). Ask students to reflect on their motivation, what they learnt, who they will share their learning with, what it taught them about themselves, what it revealed to them about their Creator, what they will do differently because of their learning.
2. Modify feedback to incorporate the holistic—praise and direction regarding habits, attitudes, and learning behaviours—and to emphasise the transferrable over improving the current task. A small group of staff could think of the sorts of habits, attitudes, and learning behaviours we are looking for and what that might look like.
3. Modify communication to connect students to a bigger narrative that emphasises a biblical
Figure 3
Assessment Development Model: Synthesis of Student Experience of Assessment.
understanding of the function of assessment. There is a challenge to out-narrate the dominant narrative that presents assessment as status defining, identity forming, and marks as the end that learning is working toward. A team of teachers could think through the sorts of routines and communications we make before, after, and during assessments to ensure we are consistent, clear, and truthful.
4. Incorporate spiritual disciplines throughout the assessment cycle not just before a test. How can our spiritual practices help to authentically communicate that all of life is a gift, including assessment (Pennington, 2020), that He is the giver of all gifts, and that the gifts are for Christ’s sake (Bonhoeffer, 1954)? Where is the place of solitude, or community, or sharing, or prayer together and prayer alone?
This includes teacher practices such as praying before marking student work and considering the spiritual weightiness of the work they are holding (Baggett, 2021; Pennington, 2022).
5. Demonstrate that assessment is done with students by involving students in the collection of evidence of learning through formative assessment. An example of this could be the use of student portfolios.
Developing shared understanding and collective efficacy
Professional learning (PL) to provide opportunity to shift teacher thinking to consider the effect of formational practices is recommended. There is significant literature on what effective PL looks like (Dinham, 2016; Edlin, 2014) and in our school context, teams within teams (for example, year 8
humanities teachers) provide a space for exploring collaboratively this conceptual shift and implementing changes. The Hub model commended by Sherrington and Caviglioli (2020) can be used to emphasise the commonality of formational practices across all subject areas that can then be contextualised by specific teachers. Smith et al. (2021), along with Lamb et al. (2021) provide helpful reading that could be used to support PL in this area and can drive discussion at the whole staff level focused on fostering and cultivating the virtues already identified in the learner profile. Lamb et al.’s argument that character virtues arise through habit presents fertile ground for a community of inquiry.
I also recommend that teams of teachers implement practice audits using the modified assessment development model shown above (Figure 4). Auditing practices within
Figure 4
Modified Assessment Development Model
teams of teachers who share their daily work provides space to consider the habits and rituals that may be misaligned or provide opportunity to be more intentional about the practices enacted. The model shown left has incorporated the Rehoboth Christian College purpose statement and learner profile, and both can be adapted to your school context.
A final word
It is important to name the risk that Christian educators can err into thinking that practices alone can change hearts. This is not the case, and practices given a power they do not hold can become tyrannical (Tripp, 2016). My aim, our aim, is to work in cooperation with the Spirit that has the power to change hearts, and to speak the Word that we have received through Jesus the Christ. Returning to the opening story, I wonder if readers who are practitioners could re-write it using the insights from this research and the wisdom of the community of educators who have been thinking through the habits and rituals that shape us. I’d love to hear you tell it. May the God who made us and who has called us to our work equip and empower us to do so faithfully.
References
Baggett, M. (2021). Grading as spiritual discipline. Christian Scholar’s Review BibleProject. (2020). Why does God repeatedly test humans in the Bible? BibleProject Team.
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5–31.
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2004). Working inside the black box: Assessment for learning in the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan , 86 (1), 8–21. Bonhoeffer, D. (1954). Life together: The classic exploration of Christian community. HarperCollins.
Box, C., Skoog, G., & Dabbs, J. M. (2015). A case study of teacher personal practice assessment theories and complexities of implementing formative assessment. American Educational Research Journal , 52(5), 956–983.
Davis, L. (2019). Using formative assessments to form Christian readers. International Journal of Christianity & Education , 23 (1), 36–48.
Dinham, S. (2016). Leading learning and teaching. ACER Press. (Ch 1–2; 6–12).
Green, F. (2019). An exploration into the value of formative assessment and the barriers associated with the implementation of formative strategies. In M. KowalczukWalêdziak, A. Korzeniecka-Bondar, W. Danilewicz, & G. Lauwers (Eds.), Rethinking teacher education for the 21st Century: Trends, challenges and new directions (1st ed., pp. 203–222). Verlag Barbara Budrich.
Hanscamp, M., Clarke, D., Mustin, A., & Parker, C. (2019). Transformation by design: Crafting formational learning: A teaching practice resource for Christian schools. Christian Education National.
Kornelis, P. (2018). What if assessment was a gift? Centre for the advancement of Christian education.
Lamb, M., Brant, J., & Brooks, E. (2021). How is virtue cultivated? Seven strategies for postgraduate character development. Journal of Character Education 17(1), 81-108. Menzies L., Millard, W., Shaw, B ., & Mulcahy, E. (2020). Making waves: A better future for assessment. The Centre for Education and Youth. Pearson.
Pennington, R. (2020). Assessment as science and story: A roadmap for Christian higher
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
education. Christian Higher Education , 19 (5), 365–384.
Sherrington, T., & Caviglioli, O. (2020). Teaching walkthrus: Five step guides to instructional coaching. John Catt Educational.
Shuichi, N. (2016). The possibilities and limitations of assessment for learning: Exploring the theory of formative assessment and the notion of “closing the learning gap”. Educational Studies in Japan, 10, 79-91.
Smith, D. I., Green, B., Kurkechian, M., & Cheng, A. (2021). Assessing Christian learning: Towards a practices-based approach to faith, vocation, and assessment. International Journal of Christianity & Education, 25 (2), 151–168.
Smith, J. K. A. (2013). Alternative liturgy. Christian Century, 130 (5), 30–33.
Smith, J. K. A. (2016). You are what you love: The spiritual power of habit . Brazos Press. Tripp, P. D. (2016). Parenting. Crossway. Watkins, C. (2022). Biblical critical theory: How the Bible’s unfolding story makes sense of modern life and culture. Zondervan Academic.
Webb, O., & Ullrich, L. (2024). Student behaviour: A window into understanding learning readiness. Christian Teachers Journal , 32(3), 10–14.
White, T. (2017). Transforming assessment. Christian Teachers Journal , 25 (2), 14–17.
1. What would it look like for your assessment practices to be in cooperation with the Spirit? What modifications could you make to your current practices?
2. Use the modified assessment development model (Figure 4) and audit your assessment practices as part of a community of teachers. Who could you do this with? What support might you need? Where might there be opportunity for conversations about the common practices of teaching?
3. Does re-thinking the practices around assessment require you to overhaul traditional assessments or can they be modified? For the ATAR teacher, what can you take from this to counter the narrative of scarcity, competition, and a mercenary approach to learning?
Philip Taylor has been teaching for 10 years and recently completed his Master of Education (Leadership) through the National Institute. For the majority of his teaching career, he has worked as head of science at Rehoboth Christian College in Western Australia and has just recently taken on the role of deputy of teaching and learning.
Disrupting Thinking and Practice for Better Teaching and Student Formation
By Anne Knowles
The International Transforming Education Conference, ITEC, held in July 2024 was themed nova diem: the Lordship of Christ in this “new day” of Christian education. Educating for hope in this cultural moment means knowing God’s Word and seeking His promises to explore biblically-sound teaching, innovative pedagogy and practice, and to looking at what we do and what we might change. Delegates were encouraged to engage with better practice that inspires and brings glory to God. To act on conference ideas, not just hear them, means disrupting our thinking and practice, moving beyond cultural observation and into the riches of the Scriptures to truly understand the challenges of transformation (Roman 12:2). This means moving from the settled calm of a seemingly well-functioning classroom to unsettling the status quo, to the chaos of change and the newly transformed practice which more clearly resonates with God’s Story.
With thanks to Anne Knowles (TEC researcher) for her initial inspiration and work on this content, over the four 2025 editions of CTJ, a selection of the “disruptive” key ideas shared at the conference will be presented, supported by the Sketch Group illustrations.
As part of the ITEC three-day program, concepts of “being fully present”, “withness”, and “flourishing together” resonated through keynote, strand, elective, and snapshot presentations. This suggested disruption was imminent as such notions do not fit naturally into the backdrop of a cultural moment of “increasing intolerance for the gospel, and for those who embrace it , a post-pandemic world of increasingly humanistic endeavours” (ITEC24 promo, 2024).
The many presentations reminded us that what happens in our classrooms must align firstly with God’s Story, asking are our students aware that the Kingdom Story is different to the secular one around us.
If not, then disruption is needed towards changing our thinking and practice.
“How’s the water?”
Are our students aware that the Kingdom story is different to the secular one?
As David Loewen, executive director of the Society of Christian Schools in British Columbia, implored, “We do not want students to be like the fish that doesn’t recognise what it’s swimming in” (Loewen, 2024).
“What water?”
Back to beginnings: Key Ideas, Dr David I. Smith
How does your year or teaching and learning unit begin?
Smith (2024a) argued that first impressions in the classroom—the first 30 seconds of an encounter—set the pattern for what story is being told. A beginning to a new school year or subject that has an administrative focus, and the setting of guidelines and rules can suggest bureaucracy is what matters most in that classroom. Instead, focusing on
content first—and the story such content sits in—can suggest what is to be learned is what matters. While not unexpected in a classroom, students matter more than administration, and they need to see this in the beginnings of teaching and learning. Starting time with students with a greeting, with acts of hospitality, and welcoming students into the classroom, while disruptive to course goals, can help inform and direct students to the “main” Story we wish our teaching and learning to be part of.
Do activities explicitly support mutual concern?
The interactions a teacher’s practices elicit must lead students to connect and invest in each other’s wellbeing—to collaborate despite differences among the cohort. Group work should not be, as one student suggested, “more like individual work on a big assignment separately” (student cited by Smith, 2024a).
Smith argued that a desire to know the other and to meet their needs and the Christ-like humility that leads to accurate selfperception, opens the door to such authentic community, and to being fully present with one another. Such disruption in practice requires intentional intellectual humility (Wilstermann et.al., 2022; Santas, 2023); the “learning together about what works, what is kind,… what communicates love and belonging … in our classroom” (Teacher quote, Smith 2024a).
Smith advocated scaffolding students’ commitment to one another’s learning environment, where students explicitly support and have responsibility for others. This includes disrupting classroom patterns and flow. This may require, for example, uncoupling those who always work together and educating students in t he good habits that support success in team-based projects ( Wilstermann et al., 2022; Smith, 2024a), such as:
• asking questions,
• admitting ignorance or mistakes,
• asking for help when needed, and
• displaying patience when others need help.
We can actually learn from the stranger (Smith, 2009; 2024c).
Importantly, Smith noted that communityengaged learning experiences require students to focus beyond cultural awareness to learn and practice cultural humility; an openness to the other particularly in relation to identity (Hook, et al., 2013). Lowering expectation that one’s own culture seems superior can help students truly hear the voice of others (Santas, 2023).
Leading with humility
We can actually learn from the stranger (Smith, 2009; 2024c). Commitment to approaching others with hospitality (Leviticus 19:34), how to relate to people not the same as you (Acts 21:17), is deeply rooted in Jesus’ model of ministry (Matthew 25:31-46). We need to help students go beyond secular conceptions of tolerance, to be hospitable, to connect with community, to lead with humility.
Grounding classrooms in the practice of Christian hospitality means asking what:
• is kind? is inclusive?
cultivates positivity?
• can help us collaborate despite differences?
This was the focus of Smith’s (2024c) strand session on civic hospitality. He described and shared a number of curriculum snapshots which focused on humanity, developing Christlike character, and stories recognising dehumanisation and reactions to those with different views. Smith caused listeners to ask do we “hit, hug, handshake, heal?” (Smith, 2024c), that is, show anger, empathy, set aggression aside, or accept the other. As reactions have to do with bias, and as hospitality is living with difference, Smith’s stories suggested using different versions and perspectives of experiences to help students explore opinions, recognise biased thinking, and see how the same issues can be approached differently (Smith, 2024c; Jipp, 2017; Oden, 2001; Smith, 2009).
Flourishing communities: Key Ideas, Dr Lynn Swaner
We flourish together: connecting and belonging Embracing the African philosophy of “ubuntu” was the way Dr Lynn Swaner explained that “we flourish together not alone” (Swaner, 2024). This idea begins with the premise “I am because we are”, which Swaner notes is a counterweight to individualism (for example, Paulsen, 2020).
Connecting in the classroom means using practices which cultivate attentiveness, communication, and hospitality, to being fully present to those around us and desiring to know them truly (for example, Luke 9:57-62).
Fostering a culture of belonging is central to flourishing in schools (Swaner, 2024; see also Eric Carter’s dimensions of belonging in Turner, 2019).
References
Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., Worthington, E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2013). Cultural humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 60 (3), 353–366.
Jipp, J. W. (2017). Saved by faith and hospitality. Eerdmans Publishing.
Leighland Christian School. (2024). Innovation at Leighland Christian School’s TAS [Snapshot session]. ITEC24.
Loewen, D. (2024). The gospel and Christian education: Following the Lamb in the formation of our schools [Keynote]. ITEC2024.
Oden, A.G. (2001). And you welcomed me: A sourcebook on hospitality in early Christianity. Abingdon Press.
Santas, A. (2023, July 24). Embrace, humility, and belonging in the undergraduate science curriculum Christian Scholars.
Smith, D. (2024a). Everyday Christian teaching Part 1 [Keynote]. ITEC24.
Smith, D. (2024b). Everyday Christian teaching Part 2 [Keynote]. ITEC24
Smith, D. (2024c). Civic hospitality and learning to live amongst differences [Strand session]. ITEC24.
Smith, D. I. (2009). Learning from the stranger: Christian faith and culture diversity. Eerdmans Publishing.
Swaner, L. (2024). Flourishing together: Research and practice in Christian schools [Keynote]. I TEC24.
Swaner, L (2022). Flourishing together: A Christian vision for students, educators and schools. Eerdmans Publishing.
Turner, E. (2019, May 24). Carter explores what it means to be a community of belonging for people with disabilities. Notables. Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
Wilstermann, A., Baker, R., & Yonker, J. (2022, June 13-14). Mentoring for virtues in community: Practices for successful work in teams [Workshop materials]. Calvin University.
Sketch images used in this article were drawn by Sketch group at the ITEC24 conference.
Swaner reported that in Christian schools which flourish, asking students about themselves, while hard to fit in and sometimes uncomfortable, leads to feelings of kindness and empathy and creates a path of love (Swaner, 2024).
Faith in action
Flourishing Christian schools were associated strongly with seeing faith in action—notably as responsiveness to special needs and community engagement and modelling love of neighbour (Swaner, 2022). An example came from Leighland Christian School (2024), where their Pedagogy of Play required making something for someone else, such as year 7 and 8 students who made soft sculptures for prep students, to the preps’ specifications.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Disrupting the status quo: How can we, as educators, intentionally disrupt established classroom routines to reflect the Kingdom Story more clearly, rather than the secular narratives surrounding us? What specific practices might need re-evaluation to foster Christ-centered transformation in students?
2. Building Christ-like community: Considering the concept of “flourishing together”, how can we better cultivate a classroom environment of hospitality, humility, and mutual concern? What strategies might help students move beyond superficial collaboration to a deeper sense of belonging and responsibility for one another?
3. Faith in action in practice: Reflecting on examples like the Pedagogy of Play at Leighland Christian School, how can we design learning experiences that embody faith in action and encourage students to connect their work to serving others meaningfully? How might such practices shape both their academic and spiritual formation, understanding the purpose of education within God’s Story?
Anne Knowles is an education contractor with the Pacific Group of Christian Schools (PGOCS) as part of The Excellence Centre (TEC), which partners with educators in transforming the thinking and practice of Christian education. She has been involved with Christian education since 1986 and has taught from primary to tertiary in STEM, PDHPE, and latin, focusing on educating high ability students. Her PhD in behaviour genetics and life-long interest in educational enquiry, statistics, and Christian schooling inform her current research which relates to students contributing to their own and others’ flourishing, by showing shifts in prosocial behavior, using drawings as data to eschew AI integrity issues in assessment.
PUTTING CITIZENSHIP INTO PRACTICE
SOWING THE SEEDS
BY JESSICA FARMER
In 2019 I attended the International Transforming Education Conference (ITEC19) in Adelaide and listened to keynote Jefferson Bethke speak. He shared about his little boy collecting treasures when they were out walking and how he was asked at the end of the walk to take just one treasure with him and leave the rest behind, because his pockets couldn’t hold everything. Jefferson used this analogy to give advice on how we should approach a conference; there are so many good things on offer, but you can’t fit everything in your pocket, so pick one thing and take it with you and leave the rest behind. This rang true for me and was the one thing I took from ITEC19.
At ITEC24 I was intentional about attending all of David Smith’s talks. Whilst in all honesty, I find the On Christian Teaching (Smith, 2018) book and the sessions we’ve spent reading this as a staff a bit hard to engage with, I find Smith’s ideals on classrooms and how we should be doing our job inspiring. In one of the presentations at ITEC24, David spoke about citizenship, and it resonated with me.
Growing up I would spend my afternoons riding my bike with friends. We just had to make sure we were home by the time the streetlights came on. And when a new family moved into our small community, we were encouraged to go and knock on their door and ask if their kids wanted to play with us, often before our parents had met the parents of the new kid.
These days, our children have a firmer understanding of stranger danger
David spoke about how we teach our students to be tolerant of others who are different. But we don’t teach them to value those differences.
than they would on how to ask a new person to play. The thought of sending a child to a stranger’s house to knock on the door without an adult would be considered irresponsible and dangerous. All this to say, as David Smith pointed out, a major part of citizenship skill development has been lost in the name of safety.
David spoke about how we teach our students to be tolerant of others who are different. But we don’t teach them to value those differences. And in all honesty, it is also likely how we choose to live also, tolerating others, not actively loving them. He highlighted verses from both the Old and New Testament such as Deuteronomy 10:19; “You shall also love the stranger … ” and Matthew 25:35; “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me”. Smith pointed out how living out our faith means loving and welcoming others, arguing that is what we need to be teaching our students.
In my homegroup, I have what some call the “easy year 11s”. They are respectful (typically), quietly-spoken, and generally “nice kids”. However, they have set friendship groups which they adhere to strongly, dividing the class into two or three social groups. They tolerate the kids in the class who are different to them, but that is where it stops ... or did stop.
In his presentation, David described an example he had used in his teaching practice, whereby he moved his furniture around and set up his class in groups of four or so students. He then went on to tell them that they were responsible for the other members of the group and outlined what that looked like in an attempt to teach them how to be godly citizens. I listened to him as he spoke and thought, “I want to do that!”.
So, I came back from attending the ITEC conference to my classroom at school and rearranged my desks. I grouped the students into table groups of four (and one group of five),
One morning, a student decided to open up and share about her mother’s illness, and ask us for prayer, even though she isn’t certain what she believes about God. She wanted to share with her “11F family”.
and intentionally split up friendship groups, not to manage behaviour but to give them opportunities to be a citizen of the homegroup 11F. On the first day back of the school term after ITEC, I explained the new set up to the students. I told them this would be their group for the rest of the year and that they were responsible for each other, in the same way I am responsible for all of them. Over the next six weeks I have been nothing short of amazed and so proud! The following shares the changes I have seen take place.
Firstly, anytime someone in the students’ table group is absent, the student absent receives an email from another student of their group checking in on them and letting them know they are missed. Sometimes this takes me prompting them, but they soon started to get the practice happening for themselves. When I asked my class soon after about their experiences in 11F homegroup, it was this practice— of being noticed and cared for when absent—that they commented on the most. One of the girls in the homegroup mentioned that she has received emails from a very quiet boy in the class, who was just touching base and checking in on her with kindness. Another girl commented that when she has been feeling lonely, she even considered not attending school just to get an email from one of the group!
The year 11 students started to bring in snacks to share with their table groups (and won’t share with the others, even
their closest friends). Sometimes I bring in snacks for everyone which is of course appreciated. We decided to have a pooled lunch together later in the term because community happens best over food! The boys in the class wholeheartedly agree!
They also each take a turn sharing their story on a Thursday morning to the whole group. One day, one of the students was assigned to share, but he was very apprehensive. I told him I could ask him leading questions, but then he was absent on the day allocated. I assumed he had skipped out on school on purpose to avoid sharing. Instead, when he did attend the following morning, he asked when it would be his turn to share. After he had spoken, the class applauded. On another day I had a student volunteer to share her story in our usual story time. Neither student is typically outspoken nor volunteers much information to share without prompting.
Recently I was absent from school for a few days due to an injury. I received an email on the weekend after from my class (with one student as the delegated emailer) checking in on me, just as I had developed the practice for them to do with their peers. They let me know they were praying for me. This brought me to tears because I could see that what I practice with them, they were now able and willing to do independently. It was working!
One morning, a student decided to open up and share about her mother’s illness, and ask us for prayer, even though she isn’t certain what she believes about God. She wanted to share with her “11F family”. Immediately, and consistently, my class has been praying for her family, and I have been praying for a tiny seed of faith that I can see is starting to shoot and grow.
We have begun an artwork together, where each table group is contributing a panel. We all bring something precious, unique, and special to
the group and that in turn creates something truly beautiful. Whilst this sounds “fluffy” and “feel good” I have been amazed how well they have gotten on board with the concept, and even the boys are investing time and energy into it.
None of this is to say that it has been perfect. Times when we can’t be together, or are in a situation out of the ordinary, seem to shake their routine and rhythm of what we are working to be. But gently prompting them seems to get them back to thinking about being a citizen of 11F. And in all honesty, I have had one student absolutely refuse to be a part of what we are doing. Whilst it has broken my heart to see a child whose own heart is already so hardened and jaded, it has also opened opportunities to teach the class about loving well when someone seems unlovable … and being a good citizen because it is what we are called to be, not because of how others react.
As I missed out on the opportunity to join my homegroup on camp, the first day the year 11s got back from camp I had decorated our classroom and held a mini welcome home party complete with cupcakes. As we did the roll that morning and I asked them for the highlight from the last week, two of them said it was “coming home to a welcome home party”. One expanded that they felt like they had been missed and were wanted in our 11F family.
What I have been blessed to witness is a group of teenagers learning what it means to live and work in community with each other. This has been 100% due to David Smith and what he
Whilst this sounds “fluffy” and “feel good” I have been amazed how well they have gotten on board with the concept, and even the boys are investing time and energy into it.
shared. A lot of the time, some of the ideas presented at conferences are too big to implement or leave us feeling overwhelmed … but this idea of practicing citizenship really was so simple and so fruitful!
What has touched my heart the most is God’s provision and timing. Had David Smith not shared this technique, and had God not prompted my heart when He did at ITEC24 during the school holidays, I would not have implemented this practice and started cultivating this culture when I did. Because the God of the universe loves my kids more than me, He made sure that we had the practices in place before my student was forced to say goodbye to her dad. And because of that, she received emails each day from her classmates. We have prayed for her diligently and lit a candle daily for her family. The students organised collecting schoolwork for her, attended her dad’s funeral, and have all stood by her offering support.
I have been blessed by this new season in my class more than I thought possible.
Jessica Farmer is the key teacher of agriculture and the farm manager at Horizon Christian School, Balaklava, South Australia. She has a strong interest in agricultural education, as well as genetic advancements in livestock, and has developed the country’s first Piebald Merino stud. Jessica is also the homegroup teacher for a group of year 11 students. She loves the opportunity to speak Jesus into their lives and build a sense of family. Outside work, Jessica enjoys spending time growing plants, doing pyrography, or enjoying her horses, camels, and dogs with her husband Matt.
The Arts: A Pedagogical Powerhouse
By Miriam Jessie Fisher
ABSTRACT The arts, both performing and visual, are often seen as cognitively lesser subjects in the school curriculum. Where governments criticise falling literacy and numeracy standards and industry pushes STEM subjects, the arts are all but ignored, or more often, minimised in favour of “more important” subjects. This article argues for the critical place the arts have in education as a location for important life skills and cognitive development. It points to the relational and transformational value of the arts and demonstrates the cultural and theological value for the arts in schools.
Education in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australia often reports on literacy and numeracy achievements, (“A Bigger Problem”, 2024; How Bad at Reading Are New Zealand Children?, 2024; Belot, 2023) prompting government or state-led policies to challenge any hint of declining trends. Tertiary and industry are actively promoting STEM subjects and careers—successfully so, if the 2025 plans for 470+ students leaving our local high school are anything to go by. Overwhelmingly, the graduating students going on to higher study were enrolled in degrees and qualifications in sciences, medicine, technology, engineering and the like (of all the students who crossed the stage only three were planning to get a teaching qualification! But that is an issue for a different article). So why are arts so quickly dismissed as a critical focus in teaching spaces? Why do we still favour rational, logic-driven ways of
recording and valuing student learning, particularly in a world that requires the kind of thinking and skills the arts are thoroughly able to teach?
In Arts and the Creation of Mind (2002), Elliot Eisner argues a case for the arts. He persuasively dispels the belief that “the arts are somehow intellectually undemanding” (p. xi). The book offers a compelling, research-based argument for the value of the arts in education.
I have been a classroom and specialist arts teacher, and professional development provider in England, Adelaide, and across Aotearoa, and have a background in performance and creative arts. Research, education, faith, and thought are intimately intertwined in my life. This article envisions reclaiming a value for the arts in education, especially as Christian practitioners. Below I sketch key values I recognise in arts education. Inexhaustive, I hope they
will stimulate critical thought about how the arts enhance teaching in an educational environment.
Critical life skills, non-critical environment
Employers consistently highlight critical thinking, flexibility, collaboration, creativity, communication, innovation, and adaptability as desirable attributes for their employees. All of these attributes are hallmark outcomes and skills of a sound arts program. Analysis and discussion along with critical decisions about what to include or exclude from a short drama or work of visual art are essential to the final outcome. Improvisation occurs in all art forms and teaches students to take risks with their ideas; turning a pool noodle into a horse, a trumpet, a halo can all be correct. Innovation as a disposition is to be celebrated.
The arts engage sophisticated, complex thinking skills (Roy et al., 2019). When someone makes art, they must first see, comprehend, interpret, and then translate what they understand into a new form. This is nuanced understanding, comprehension at the highest level. This is what makes artistic practice a compelling way of engaging with and communicating knowledge. For both the maker and the viewer, “art becomes a catalyst for epistemological reflection” (Craft, 2018, p. 201). To take knowledge and synthesise it, before communicating it in an entirely new form, requires complicated cognitive work. To take an idea that comes in written form and abstract it, whilst maintaining its essential elements, requires comprehension, problem solving, and technical expertise. The engagement of the senses, the ability to genuinely comprehend, the promotion of imagination, to critique, edit, and analyse are significant cognitive skills. The art maker is required to deal “with multiple demands simultaneously” (Eisner, 2002, p. 15), perception is being refined, “imagination stimulated, judgement fostered, and technical skills developed. Given the complexities of these demands, it is ironic that the arts should be widely regarded as noncognitive” (p. 15). The arts are not a “soft option” for students unable to engage with the complexities of “real subjects”. They do however, make room for students who see and experience the world in neurodiverse ways.
The arts also teach concrete, technical skills. Reading music, capturing perspective, voice projection, and body control are useful, transferable skills. Skills are developed, honed, and perfected over hours. These skills and their acquisition, especially being able to see what one could not do, but now can, are essential in developing learner self-concept and a growth mindset. “What I could not do six months ago, I can now do with confidence” is a powerful educational self-perception. Of course, all subjects offer this, but the arts can make them particularly visible, or audible. Inviting a student to remember they could not get a consistent sound from their recorder at the beginning of the year and now they can read music and play a pleasing tune
Why do we still favour rational, logic-driven ways of recording and valuing student learning, particularly in a world that requires the kind of thinking and skills the arts are thoroughly able to teach?
is a tangible way of communicating their capability as a learner.
Arts allow for outcomes that are diverse and variable. In a system that tends towards a certain type of knowledge, arts exemplify that answers and solutions can be broad and that problems can be seen and solved in different ways. The world requires creativity and new solutions. Campbell (2002) argues, our education culture places a great deal of value on pieces of paper ...[diplomas, certificates, etc] none of these paper artifacts is particularly predictive of success … especially when [a] discipline requires a high level of creativity. (p. 93)
Creativity and new approaches are vital in a world where dominantculture narratives have informed not just the answer to problems, but the selection of the problem in the first place, and the lens through which it is viewed. Imaginative process is central to cognitive life (Eisner, 2002). “What might be” is the key to a future-focused educational environment. It is a space where learners are empowered to view the breadth of their cognitive abilities and somatic skills as relevant to the world. Arts teach us there are many solutions to a particular problem. They make risk-taking low stakes, and they celebrate new, flexible, and unexpected approaches. As Eisner (2002) notes, “This is what scientists and artists do; they perceive what is, but imagine what might be, and then use their knowledge, their technical skills, and their sensibilities to pursue what they have imagined” (p. 199).
Collaboration is an essential life skill. In dance and drama particularly, collaboration allows students to achieve things they absolutely
cannot do alone. This subverts how children and teachers think in an education system that has prized and rewarded individual attainment as the pinnacle of success. Any collaborative task demands communication, compromise, and generosity of sharing. These are difficult skills that continue to evade many adults, perfectly practiced repeatedly in the arts class. In a world increasingly divided, and the high call of Christian community to love across culture, gender, and socioeconomic conditions (Galatians 3:28), these opportunities for microcosms of offering, receiving, listening, and speaking train us towards practices of Kingdom community.
Culture and communication
As a creator God is abundant. Eden includes not just trees for their productive values but ones that are merely a delight to behold (Genesis 2:9). The mandate given to humanity in Genesis 1:28 is not only about procreation. The words speak to calling forth abundance, potential, creating, not ex-nihilo as God does, but creating as creatures imbued with creative abilities. The arts are generous. They allow students to be creators, to connect to their knowledge, enact self-expression, and offer the expertise they possess by nature of their embodied, lived experiences. In multi-cultural classrooms diverse arts experiences related to students’ cultures centre the knowledge they bring, helpfully tipping the balance of a colonised system. In a time when we are acutely aware of our shortcomings in education as not just culturally competent but culturally welcoming and celebratory, the arts offer us a way in—a window, a place in which we may be taught a language that is both universal and culturally specific. Students are offered mirrors in which they see their cultural beauty, brilliance, and boldness reminding them they know things too; they too have a community that champions them. Makoto Fujimura (2020) calls artists “border-stalkers” (p. 59); those who can translate and cross cultural, geographical, and language boundaries. The arts open doorways into new cultural viewpoints and celebration.
When someone makes art, they must first see, comprehend, interpret, and then translate what they understand into a new form. This is nuanced understanding, comprehension at the highest level.
Arts spring from context; they are located and read historically and culturally. They offer a vehicle for both understanding context and expressing context. The world of arts is as broad as human expression: language, land, values, spiritual understanding are all expressed through arts. A teaching space rich and varied in the arts allows for exploration and interrogation of different historical and cultural viewpoints. These experiences create frameworks for understanding ourselves as cultural beings. This allows students to bring cultural riches to the classroom and to experience themselves as both cultural and personal in their expression (Johnson, 2011).
Art then can allow a development of cross-cultural communication that is more nuanced and flexible than we may have previously experienced. Eisner (2002) notes, “In the arts, individuality rather than uniformity is prized. Surprise is not only permitted; it is pursued. Individual signature matters” (p. 166). In this way artistic cultural expression holds together individual uniqueness and universal human expressions. This beautiful complexity is essential for crosscultural understanding. Art offers us an example of this.
Arts are cultural teachers. They allow a critique of traditional ways of measuring knowledge that have emphasised didactic, individualistic, logical styles over and above intuitive, connected, communal, and creative ways of experiencing and expressing knowledge. Here Indigenous scholars are critical in reminding us about the forms through which knowledge may be expressed. Jenny Lee reminds us
that far from being relegated to fiction and fable, pūrākau (myths) contain “philosophical thought, epistemological constructs, cultural codes, and worldviews” (Lee, 2009, p. 1) that are fundamental to Māori identity and can be “understood as a pedagogical-based anthology of literature” (p. 1). It is vital that we take the pedagogical nature of cultural arts as part of the power of art practice and experience.
Joy, formation, and transformation
Whilst the preceding ideas make a case for the cognitive value and “marketability” of the arts in education, it would be remiss to ignore the holistic value of the arts and its role in people’s formation. The therapeutic value of the arts is widely researched, “arts on prescription” for those with mental wellbeing needs and the elderly is recording compelling results. For example, UNICEF (2024) has used art as a therapy for children from war-torn countries, allowing them to express the truth of their experiences and to articulate through visual arts and poetry their dreams for a future of peace. The children witness and instruct. Science clearly records how dance and music affect body and neurology (Rehfeld et al., 2018; Roy et al., 2019). Spending time in arts-rich environments, and the state of calmness and emotional release invited in arts practice are of huge benefit to children.
Rather than following a non-Christian spirituality that aims to empty the mind, the arts invite the kind of attention to the beauty and wonder in the created world and in artistry, akin to the Psalmist’s “when I consider the heavens and the work of your hands …” (Psalm 8:3). As students spend time making a work, refining and synthesising what they want to communicate, they are not just developing crucial communication and higher-order thinking skills, they are also being deeply formed by the meditation on the knowledge they are hoping to express. In this way the arts are formative intellectually and in embodied ways—the vocal cords, fingertips, muscles, sight are all attuned to understanding. The whole body might know.
A final thought on a theology of the arts
There is much to be said on the theological value of the arts. Living in a culture saturated with individualism and capitalistic impulses we lose sight too often of God’s vision for a world that is flourishing, a world not motivated by the acquisition of power, belongings, or prestige, but one in which truth, beauty, and goodness are central aspects. Hans Urs Von Balthasar’s (1989) work on reclaiming beauty as one of the three transcendentals is helpful here. C. S. Lewis (2000) reminds us of the power of story and imagination to “steal past [the] watchful dragons” (p. 528) of a too sombre approach to theological ideas. Cultivating wonder, awe, and an eye for beauty is naturally done in arts teaching. When paying attention to the local arts contexts—critiquing and exploring their messages, and in actual creation of the arts. N. T. Wright (2011a) advocates strongly for the role of the arts as a “highway to the centre of a reality” (p. 201) pregnant with more to know and understand of God. Wright also offers us a vision that poetry, teaching, dancing, and other forms of making are part of working for the now, but not yet, Kingdom of God (2011b). Young people are not devoid of a call to participate in these practices. Christian art makers can hold and communicate the realities of fallenness and hope (Wright, 2011a). The arts then allow children to witness to both their Christian hope and to hold the pain and fragility of a world they inhabit as incarnationally as the adults around them. The desire to create and our creativity are frequently discussed in explorations of what it means to be imago dei. I highlight the incredible role of the arts in missio dei. People come to the arts ready to be invited to wonder; in this way the arts might provide Christian schools a meaningful way to contribute to conversations about spirituality, hope, and faith in ways extended families and the wider community may readily engage with.
Conclusion
The arts are too easily dismissed in the classroom, perhaps because the school lacks conviction about the critical role
they have to offer, or because teachers feel ill-equipped to teach them and consign them to end of year assembly items or downloaded activities to accompany “real teaching”. However, they are a rich source of learning, allowing students to develop higherorder thinking skills in non-critical, supportive learning environments. To pursue a career in the arts, creating beauty, truth telling, continuing the mandate of calling forth what lies yet to be conceived is not an unworthy pursuit for Christians, students, or adults. We understand the value of artmaking as more than just beauty in this moment but indeed as acts that “will find [a] way … through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation” (Wright, 2011b, p. 219). It is not a waste of time to teach arts, encourage students towards meaningful vocations in arts, or to enjoy world-edifying arts of many kinds.
Good arts teaching connects students to their own, and others’ cultures, and provides opportunities to collaborate and connect. They might offer their work to others as a way of communicating, being generative, and speaking truth in embodied ways. Arts teaching is demanding in terms of management, organisation, and the cultivation and creation of a classroom environment that celebrates what we each bring. It invites us to think critically and collaboratively. These are all hallmarks of a stimulating and meaningful learning environment. The arts are pedagogical powerhouses, developing cognitive and relational skills vital for successful negotiation through the world, and they can and ought to both challenge and delight us.
References
“A bigger problem”: Low pass rates for new NCEA tests cause concern. (2024, December 4). NZ Herald. https://www. nzherald.co.nz/nz/low-pass-rates-innew-online-ncea-literacy-numeracytests-worry-secondary-teachers/ UIMEJPVJZRGEVNYISX4FBDAJUU/
Balthasar, H. U. von. (1989). The Glory of the Lord: A Theological aesthetics—The New covenant (J. Fessio & J. K. Riches, Eds., Vol. 7). Ignatius Press; Crossroad Publications.
Belot, H. (2023, April 13). Warning decline in Australia’s adult literacy being hidden by lack of data. The Guardian. https://www. theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/ apr/13/warning-decline-in-australiasadult-literacy-being-hidden-by-lack-ofdata
Campbell, D. G. (2002). Seeing: When art and faith intersect . Univ. Press of America.
Craft, J. A. (2018). Placemaking and the arts: Cultivating the Christian life. InterVarsity Press.
Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind . Yale University Press.
How bad at reading are New Zealand children? (2024, May 3). RNZ . https://www.rnz. co.nz/news/national/515829/how-bad-atreading-are-new-zealand-children
Johnson, L. (2011). Drinking from the same well: Cross-cultural concerns in pastoral care and counseling. Pickwick Publications.
Lee, J. (2009). Decolonising Māori narratives: Pūrākau as a method. MAI Review, 2. http:// www.review.mai.ac.nz/mrindex/MR/ article/view/242/268.html
Rehfeld, K., Lüders, A., Hökelmann, A., Lessmann, V., Kaufmann, J., Brigadski, T., Müller, P., & Müller, N. G. (2018). Dance training is superior to repetitive physical exercise in inducing brain plasticity in the elderly. PloS One , 13 (7), e0196636. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196636
Roy, D. M. S., Baker, W. J., & Hamilton, A. (2019). Teaching the arts: Early childhood and primary education (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Wright, N. T. (2011a). Simply Christian . SPCK. Wright, N. T. (2011b). Surprised by hope. SPCK.
Miriam Jessie Fisher is an interdisciplinary lecturer in education and theology, and poet and textile artist at Laidlaw College in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. Her research interests include creativity and arts in education, spirituality and formation, and engagement between theology, the arts, and imagination. Her work focuses on recovering and celebrating women in the Bible through research, poetry, and textiles. This has included hand stitching every word spoken by women in the Bible. She is interested in creative educational practices and theological expression that honours the context of Aotearoa, the richness of bicultural partnerships, Te Reo me ona tikanga Māori, and New Zealand sign language and Deaf culture.
Searching for Words to Frame Mathematics Teaching
By Ruth Watson
ABSTRACT My time studying with the National Institute for Christian Education and my struggle to implement a biblical perspective into the mathematics classroom can be summed up as a search for words. My gifts lie in mathematics, not English, which made academic communication a challenge during my Master’s studies. However, studying and reading others’ words has shown me that the words I wrestled with in assignments can be used in the classroom. Whether planning teaching units or developing professional content for staff, these words deepen my understanding and approach to teaching mathematics from a Christian perspective. Words shape my story as I look at the world through the lens of mathematics, revealing my unique role in God’s creation, and this has become my authentic story that I can bring to the classroom.
When I was a student at school, I liked mathematics. I was taught traditional “textbook maths” and enjoyed the process of manipulating numbers to solve problems. However, my education didn’t reveal the broader real-world applications of mathematics beyond maths-related careers. As I didn’t study pure mathematics at university, I never encountered mathematical models—the concept that maths can be used to understand real-life phenomena. When I became a mathematics teacher, I had limited experience from which to build my practice beyond faithfully using the gifts that God had given me (Romans 12:6–8).
When I began at Marrara Christian College in 2010, I was confronted with the need to teach mathematics from a biblical perspective. I turned to passages in the Bible such as Genesis 1 and Job 38 that revealed the mathematical structure and order used by God in creating the world. This provided an overarching perspective for teaching students. Recognising mathematics as a useful tool for serving others, I sought to build units of student work around this. However, I struggled to find the authentic words to answer the question, “Why are we learning this?” especially when covering abstract topics such as algebra. I resorted to borrowing the words from past teachers, although
I cringed at some of the tacky applications but didn’t have the right words to respond. When a Christian school leader told me that he exempted mathematics teachers from addressing biblical perspectives due to content heaviness and time constraints (personal communication, September 5, 2017), I realised it was time to find the words to frame my teaching! So I enrolled to study at the National Institute for Christian Education.
The subject Worldview and Educational Practice gave me the words to name the dualist model prevalent in Christian education where faith, learning, and real life are often compartmentalised. I observed the struggle teachers faced to teach mathematics from a Christian perspective. The reluctance to deviate from traditional textbook-based methods often arose from a perception that mathematics is inherently neutral. Together with the pressure to meet the content requirements of an overcrowded curriculum (perceived as neutral), this left us feeling there was little time left to “add on” a biblical worldview. A tension arose between Christian discipleship and mathematics education; the two worlds I was seeking to bridge. I came to understand that I had been living out a story without the words to articulate it, and so I began to identify the worldviews present in our culture and contrast them with a worldview informed by the Bible. For instance, the economic worldview, envisioning a student’s future built around their utility for the economy, or the scientific worldview, with tangible, measured, predicted, and proven aspects, that stand in opposition to a spiritual interpretation of the world. Rather than attempting to balance the two narratives and hold the secular and sacred separately, I recognised that the biblical story should underpin everything I do. Reflecting on God’s words in Colossians 1, I was reminded that God’s dominion “isn’t limited to ‘religious’ bits. It reaches into every nook and cranny of the school yard and
I struggled to find the authentic words to answer the question, “Why are we learning this?” especially when covering abstract topics such as algebra.
throughout His creation” (Dickens et al., 2017, p. 10), shaping my approach to mathematics, pedagogy, and curriculum.
The Biblical Foundations of Christian Education subject equipped me with authentic, biblically-based words to answer questions about life’s purpose, teaching, learning, and mathematics. God’s progressive and unique revelation, His words, culminating when the Word became flesh (John 1:14), encapsulate both wisdom and knowledge. Goldsworthy (2008) helped me to understand that Jesus Christ is the Lion, glorified and reigning. He alone unlocks the Kingdom of God for humans to make its reality known. He is also the Lamb, sacrificed for humanity’s sins, making it possible for humans to dwell fully, freely, and forever in God’s holy presence, in the new creation (Revelation 5). True education grows out of biblically authentic faith, propels students towards “comprehensive discipleship of the Lord, integrates Christian confession, and prepares students to live this reality in every aspect of life” (Zylstra, 2004, p. 98).
During the Perspectives of Teaching Mathematics elective subject, I explored the words and perspectives of other academics and mathematicians while prayerfully seeking my own understanding. Pythagoras, for example, as described by Nickel (2001), “worshipped numbers as the full intelligibility and the generating source of all things” (p. 21), worshipping the created, not the Creator (Romans 1:25). This worldview persists today, as seen in the documentary The Code
(Childs, 2011). In contrast, Nickel shows that post-medieval scientists in Europe were motivated by biblical motivations and epistemology. Kepler integrated prayers and psalms of praise to God into his writings, while Galileo Galilei recognised God’s great works in the open book of heaven. Recent perspectives on mathematics vary: Gormas (2005) views it as socially constructed, while Ahlborn (2014) contends that mathematics is inherently woven into the universe by God, emphasising its certainty. Jongsam (2007) strikes a balance, proposing that some aspects are God’s creative activity, divinely ordained, waiting to be discovered, while others emerge through human exploration of God’s reality and the search to fulfil the cultural mandate (Genesis 1:28–29). However, he also recognises the limitations of mathematics in describing all of reality. Formulating my own philosophy (Watson, 2024) equipped me with consistent language to engage with students, teachers, and the broader community, paving the way for me to construct a biblicallybased curriculum.
Through much prayer, I now began to search for the words to intentionally tell the biblical story in the mathematics classroom. As I explored authentic ways to do this and actively engage students in their learning, I was challenged by Beerens’ (2020) projectbased learning initiatives centred around real-world concerns and community service. However, these ideals are often time-consuming, prove difficult to replicate, and necessitate a fundamental shift in educational paradigms. Instead, challenged by J. K. A. Smith (2009), I sought a pedagogical approach that could reframe my existing practices in an “ordinary” classroom and integrate the biblical foundation into the daily rhythms of student learning.
I developed a framework for my practice organised under ten broad headings (Watson, 2023), integrating truth and worldview exploration within the realm of mathematics. It also celebrates the inherent beauty
of mathematical concepts and uses homework opportunities to foster family interactions. During a three-day course, my attention was constantly drawn to a solitary poster displaying Psalm 139, underscoring the power of posters to focus students’ attention on a central theme. Additionally, I employed content-rich hook lessons and thought-provoking discussion questions to engage students, along with holistic learning opportunities. These strategies still allow time for mastering curriculum-based mathematical skills.
The Transformation by Design framework (Dickens et al., 2017) was essential to start framing work units. However, I found that although we were increasingly incorporating biblical perspective “thinking” into our programs, it wasn’t being reflected in everyday classroom activities. As D. I. Smith (2018) notes, “Our declarations of faith strike up a stirring tune, but … gaps [often] appear between our aspirations and our practices” (p. 68). Similarly, students who had been trained in “school mathematics” either resented activities perceived to be irrelevant to exams or failed to link our attempts at real-world applications to “textbook mathematics”.
After several discarded attempts, I began developing unit outlines for students that aligned formational goals with mathematical outcomes based on “head, heart, and hands” (Hanscamp et al., 2019, p. 27) encompassing knowledge, deep reflection, and practical applications, to show students clearly “what is really valued” (Hanscamp et al., p. 95). A self-
assessment rubric sat alongside these outlines to provide a clear pathway for students to achieve these goals and show them what success “looked like” in terms of faith. Designing the curriculum backwards and writing the outlines in student-friendly language shifted the focus away from philosophy and encouraged me to implement these ideas in the classroom in planned and unplanned ways. This process prompted collaboration with colleagues as we grappled with how to make the links between the “big picture” and classroom practice through wrestling with how to create and implement such documents. Once implemented, the students themselves held me accountable to bring biblical perspective into the classroom! When undertaking formative classroom assessment practices, I was empowered to get to know each student, identify activities to move them forward in their learning journey (including their faith), and offer feedback through follow-up questions and authentic learning opportunities. I designed activities to prompt active student participation through reflection questions on homework and assessments related to realworld contexts. Grading was based on “thoughtful answers” rather than personal beliefs.
Rather than attempting to balance the two narratives and hold the secular and sacred separately, I recognised that the biblical story should underpin everything I do.
When I first began my studies, I encountered limited examples of teaching mathematics from a Christian perspective. To support transformation in teachers and, hence, their students (Romans 12:1-2), I realised that mathematics teachers need visual models. When available, we are usually willing to adapt these models with time, support, and mutual accountability. My prayer has always been that God would use my learning for His purposes. Motivated by Jesus Christ’s free gift of salvation, I wanted to be generous with all that He has given me, including my intellectual property, in line with David Smith’s (2019) challenge for our students. Therefore, I set about creating Christian Mathematics Teachers (christianmathsteachers.org/) as a
Through much prayer, I now began to search for the words to intentionally tell the biblical story in the mathematics classroom.
References
Ahlborn, L. H. (2014). A Christian philosophy of mathematics. In R. J. Edlin (Ed.), The cause of Christian education (4th ed., pp. 321–350). Dordt College Press.
platform to freely share my work. My hope is that God will equip Christian teachers with the words to shape their classroom narratives, and they, in turn, will build upon my work for the benefit of all.
Throughout my studies, finding academic words was elusive and difficult. Yet, through prayer, when I finally discovered the right words, they became the essential building blocks for my classroom narrative and for collaborating with others. Throughout my study I experienced the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit to light my path and provide me with the words that I was searching for. I found that to help students find purpose in and through their study, the context for learning needs to come from the “real world”, for “The wonder of creation … reveals a God who is not boring. Hence, true mathematics teaching should be taught in a room, not with mirrors on the walls, but with windows wide open to the outside world” (Nickel, 2001, p. 285).
Postman (1996) asserts that through the medium of narrative, we continuously shape our histories and futures. Without a narrative, life has no meaning and, therefore, no purpose, and “without a purpose, schools are houses of detention, not attention” (p. 7). My study has equipped me with the words to craft a narrative that illuminates the true purpose of learning: for students to be redeemed in God’s Kingdom, living life fully as God intended, shining as salt and light in their world and communities. Armed with deep mathematical understanding, my prayer is that they will worship and serve in God’s world, living to the glory of God.
Beerens, D. (2020, September 29). The many roads to Christian deeper learning: Project based learning. CACE | The Center for the Advancement of Christian Education. https://cace.org/the-many-roads-tochristian-deeper-learning-project-basedlearning/
Childs, D. (Director). (2011). The code: Numbers [Streaming video]. ClickView.
Dickens, K., Hanscamp, M., Mustin, A., Parker, C., Stok, J., & White, T. (2017). Transformation by design: The big picture. National Institute for Christian Education. Goldsworthy, G. (2008). The gospel in revelation. In The Goldsworthy trilogy Paternoster Press.
Gormas, J. (2005). A search for intellectual, relational and spiritual integrity: Secondary mathematics from a Christian perspective. Journal of Education and Christian Belief, 9(2), 121–138.
Hanscamp, M., Clarke, D., Mustin, A., & Parker, C. (2019). Transformation by design: Crafting formational learning. Christian Education National.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Jongsma, C. (2007). Mathematics: Always important, never enough: A Christian perspective on mathematics and mathematics education. Pro Rege, 35 (4), 21–38.
Nickel, J. (2001). Mathematics: Is God silent? Ross House.
Postman, N. (1996). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. Vintage. Smith, D. I. (2019, September). Re-imagining vocation, practices, and school assessment [PowerPoint slides]. ITEC 2019. https:// drive.google.com/file/d/1FywG7lBWGOW hFqKxBPxBQrBortGn5CVv/view
Smith, D. I. (2018). On Christian teaching: Practicing faith in the classroom. Eerdmans. Smith, J. K. A. (2009). Desiring the Kingdom Baker Academic.
Watson, R. (2023). 10 Worshipful practices for the mathematics classroom. The Christian Teachers Journal , 31(2), 24–28.
Watson R. (2024). A philosophy of mathematics. Christian mathematics teachers. https://christianmathsteachers. org/a-philosophy-of-mathematics/ Zylstra, C. E. (2004). When faith and life learning are one. In J. Ireland, R. Edlin, & K. Dickens (Eds.), Pointing the way: Directions for Christian education in a new millennium (pp. 89–98). National Institute for Christian Education.
1. How can educators effectively apply a biblical perspective in mathematics teaching without compromising the rigour and content requirements of the curriculum? Share examples or strategies you have used or seen to make this approach meaningful for students.
2. The article highlights the challenge of answering the question, “Why are we learning this?”. How can teachers provide a compelling faith-based narrative to connect abstract mathematical concepts to real-world applications and biblical truths?
3. Reflecting on the author’s journey, what role do professional development and personal commitment play in equipping educators to implement a biblicallyinformed view in their subject areas? How can schools foster an environment that encourages this transformation in practice?
Ruth Watson works at Marrara Christian College as a mathematics teacher and curriculum coach. She has just completed her Master of Education degree with the National Institute for Christian Education and has developed a website as a resource for mathematics teachers to help them teach mathematics from a biblical perspective. She is married with three adult children and lives in Darwin. Ruth loves going for walks on the beach at sunrise and sunset and exploring new places by bicycle with her husband (particularly if they involve a café). E: ruth.watson@ntschools.net W: christianmathsteachers.org
5 MY TOP
By Kristie Barber
Teaching and learning are what schools do. There are so many sources we can draw from to help us improve student learning outcomes as we consistently upskill and deepen our knowledge and understanding of approaches and practices. Teachers in Christian schools should regularly examine if they are reflecting God’s story and carrying out the cultural mandate—to grow and develop and care for God’s creation— through their practices. We must be intentionally reflective of our practices and frequently evaluate what story our practices are telling. It’s important that we don’t shy away from engaging with sources and materials because they are not necessarily Christian, but rather as Christian educators, we need to be discerning about the worldview assumptions embedded in the literature.
1The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades by Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler (2017).
If you are looking for a whole-school approach to deepen and develop students’ thinking in all learning areas and improve the quality of their written responses, this is a must-read.
The Writing Revolution (TWR) offers a clear method of instruction for teaching writing, known as the Hochman Method, unpacking each of the strategies used to construct the method. The method is even more impactful when coupled with TWR professional development sessions and guided discussion framework. Nevertheless, the text is accessible on its own, offering plenty of scaffolds and examples for prompt implementation in any classroom. It begins with sentence level strategies and progresses through to compositions and essays. Too often I hear literacy is the responsibility of English teachers, but I want to challenge that misconception: literacy is every teacher’s responsibility. A whole-team approach to teaching literacy will help students grow and develop in all areas of their learning.
The Writing Revolution provides consistent, evidence-informed methodology to deepening thinking and improving writing. The gem about TWR is the strategies and activities are readily applicable to all year levels and learning areas.
Curriculum Planning with Design Language: Building Elegant Courses and Units by Ken Badley (2019).
This text will enrich thinking and understanding about curriculum design principles in the context of Christian education. Badley’s work readily connects with biblical principles of curriculum design and implementation. Badley asserts that people need spaces to rest and breathe (see p. 93). He identifies these spaces as green spaces —not too dissimilar from parks and gardens in an urban or suburban setting—taking a breather helps support learning. He contends that margin days should be intentionally built into all curriculum courses (see p. 101) and that the longer-term benefits of green space—when designed correctly—are anything but lost instructional time. We are designed by God to work from a place of rest or Sabbath. Life is not a production line. Humans are not machines who are made to work 24/7 to produce things, deliver outcomes, and just move onto the next product. Green spaces “are a way to humanise the scales of what we are doing” (p. 96).
Other principles explored in Badley’s text include strong centres, boundaries, entrances and exits, coherence and connections , among others that resonate with practices we can be applying in our Christ-centred learning communities. A key takeaway from Badley’s principles is that all parts contribute to the functioning and effectiveness of the whole. The construct of connectedness is central to the effectiveness of Christian schools: our distinct learning communities must be united in mission and vision, and we help show this through the outworking of consistent practices and approaches to teaching and learning.
Tools
for Teachers: How to Teach, Lead, and Learn Like the World’s Best Educators
by Oliver Lovell
(2022).
Lovell synthesises research, ideas, and practices on a range of pertinent schoolingrelated topics into well-structured chapters using language that is accessible and relevant for teachers of any level of experience. Section 1 “ Teach” includes chapters on explicit instruction, behaviour management, motivation, regulation, and relationships. Section 2 “Lead” includes chapters on purpose, curriculum, and leadership. And Section 3 “Learn” presents a single chapter dedicated to reading and evaluating education research.
In the curriculum chapter, Lovell addresses coherence and its three dimensions: vertical, horizontal, and temporal and asserts, “as with any good story, the curriculum narrative that we take our students through must have coherence. Coherence is the connectedness that exists when different elements within a curriculum are aligned and mutually reinforcing” (p. 199). The three-fold curriculum coherence concept echoes what our type of Christian learning communities espouse: we teach from a biblical worldview, the complete biblical narrative. We don’t live out and apply a piecemeal approach, so why would we provide a bitsy approach towards curriculum and pedagogy? Lovell’s work highlights this exact point: “Coherence across all three of these dimensions helps students to form a cohesive and integrated picture of the world, helps the knowledge to stick, and avoids a ‘bitty’ experience of schooling” (p. 199). Lovell summarises the chapter with this reflection: “Curriculum is the first opportunity that we have to ensure our beliefs and purposes of school translate into the experiences of our students” (p. 203). We point students to Jesus through our learning contexts and help them discover their identity and role in His story; so, it stands to reason that we keep this top of mind through our approach to curriculum design and implementation.
The Cognitorium: A New Blog About Teaching, Teachers, Learners, and Learning
by Dr Nathaniel Swain www.nathanielswain.com/ cognitoriumblog
Dr Swain’s blog is excellent if you are committed to deepening your understanding of evidenceinformed practice and developing your knowledge of how our brains have been created. Swain’s blogs are founded on the Science of Learning; a body of research drawn from cognitive science, educational psychology, and neuroscience. As educators, we should know how the brain learns. While each imagebearer is unique, we share some commonalities, including a limited working memory and unlimited long-term memory capacity, and the need for spaced retrieval practice to lock in learning. “Whole class teaching, is not a one-size fits all” (27 June, 2024) was a recent stand-out blog. A key point made by Swain, one that was reassuring for any teacher who may have 26 or more students in their classroom, is that “we don’t have to get all students to the same finish line each lesson” (para. 8). When complemented with multitiered systems of support, further support and intervention can continue to work at closing gaps. Swain’s blog asserts responsive whole class teaching promotes excellence and equity. That sounds like something inclusive Christian learning communities ought to be looking into as we strive to practice hospitality and welcome in all learning spaces.
Five From Five
Facebook page and website www.fivefromfive.com.au
Five From Five’s Facebook page is a constant source of quality content including posts and articles from a wide range of well-reputed leaders in literacy, such as Natalie Wexler, Professor Pamela Snow, and researchers, including Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) and The Reading League, and podcasters, Melissa and Lori Love Literacy. While primarily posting literacy-related content “Five from Five aims to ensure all children receive effective, evidence-based reading instruction”. The offerings are regular and pertinent and would benefit teachers from other learning areas, not just English and the literacy space. Five From Five is worth adding to your “follow” list to add some further depth and substance about evidenceinformed teaching practice to your Facebook feed.
Kristie Barber currently serves as head of secondary at Foundation Christian College, Mandurah, WA. She is passionate about evidenceinformed teaching and learning practices so all students may develop as God intends and can reach their full learning potential. She is completing her Master of Education (Leadership) with the National Institute for Christian Education and plans to finish with research examining worldview assumptions in teaching and learning systems of delivery. She is an advocate for inclusive learning and believes that Christian schooling ought to be a place where all students are welcomed. Kristie recently moved with her husband from Melbourne to regional Western Australian so they could do daily life with family.
