Distinctively Christian Learning? 24 th November 2012

Two Strategies to Communicating Christian Truth Didactic Transmission Persuasion Monolithic Inquiry-based Interpretation Debate Accepts diversity

What Do You See? Old Woman or Young Woman?

A Matter of Interpretation? Old Woman or Young Woman?

A Matter of Interpretation? Professor Francis Collins – Director, Human Genome Project Professor Richard Dawkins – Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University

Where Does Christian Learning Happen? What happens to people’s thoughts when they die?

It’s All About Anthropology?  Mujahedeen alphabet  Taliban mathematics  Communist arithmetic

It’s All About Anthropology What would you have to believe about students to teach like this?

Reinhard Heydrich Heydrich was one of the architects of the “Final Solution”. He chaired the Wannsee Conference. Heydrich was educated at a Church School

It’s All About Anthropology What vision of who our pupils will become inspires our school?

CARDUS Survey Catholics were high achievers Protestants were good citizens, morally earnest and faithful church-goers Not much evidence of Christian cultural engagement Compliant

What Are You Doing In This Lesson? One responds: “I am cutting this stone in a perfectly square shape.” The other responds: “I am building a cathedral.” Their experiences of what they are doing and their sense of self in doing it are rather different. This difference is a function of imagination. As a result, they may be learning very different things from the same activity. (Wenger,1998, p.176)

The Distinctively Christian Classroom How are we managing the way students come to “see things”? What do we have to believe about our students to teach like this? What vision of who our pupils will become inspires our teaching? What do our pupils imagine they are doing?

Distinctively Christian? Origination Justification Interpretation Application Prioritization Motivation Their conclusions are accessible to, and can be utilised by, Christians and non-Christians alike (BHA)

Distinctively Christian? Faithfulness to the Christian tradition in the way that schools undertake the tasks of education Uniqueness by distinguishing Christian schools from every other kind of school

Models of Christian Schools Exclusively Christian (Gavin D’Costa, Bristol) Richly religiously pluralist (David Ford, Cambridge) Creation and redemption of learning (Perry Glanzer, Baylor)

The Significance of Jesus’ Resurrection With Jesus the future hope has come forwards into the present Tom Wright formerly Bishop of Durham

Christian Character Education: Virtue Reborn  an “eschatologically- driven” virtue ethic (p. 149)  character formed by God’s promised future (p. 51)

Building Character

Christian School: a Kind of Church? Signpost Community? Wisdom Community? Virtue community?

Christian Virtues Faith Hope Love

What if Learning…? Connecting Christian faith and teaching Seeing anew: How could a Christian understanding of God, people and the world provide a different way of seeing a lesson/unit? Choosing Engagement: How could the students engage with this new way of seeing? Reshaping practice: What changes to my practice do I need to make as a teacher? The approach

What if Learning…? Connecting Christian faith and teaching Seeing anew Decide on a lesson you would like to teach more Christianly. Think of how you might look at it from a different angle - more in line with Christian belief and ethos. For ideas refer to: Strategies for seeing anew

What if Learning…? Connecting Christian faith and teaching Choosing engagement Now think of ways in which learners could engage with this new way of seeing. What opportunities for participation do they have? If you need some ideas refer to: Strategies for choosing engagement

What if Learning…? Connecting Christian faith and teaching Reshaping practice What changes do you, as the teacher, need to make to your practice? Are there habits of the classroom that you need to change in the light of your new emphasis? For some ideas refer to: Strategies for reshaping practice

What if Learning…? Connecting Christian faith and teaching What if learning could be different? What if we could learn to see our teaching in a new way? What if we could begin with small changes – one moment at a time. ‘What if Learning…?’