An Authentic Australian Christian Approach to Education

By Dr Bryan Cowling

Posted on 04 June 2010

High on the priorities for educators in Australia is the need to create an authentic, Australian Christian approach to education. Such an approach must impact on formal and informal education from the cradle to the grave, including early childhood education, primary education, secondary and tertiary education, adult education, credentialed and non-credentialed education.

This is not about Christian education but a Christian approach to education. The term ‘Christian education' has become a cliché devoid of quality. It has come to mean almost anything  you want it to mean so long as it has a tenuous connection with Christianity. On the other hand, a Christian approach to education is one that is deeply informed by a biblical theology and worldview.

In my address to the Christian Schools National Policy Forum (May 24-26, 2010) held in Canberra, I argued that we should cease using the term ‘Christian education' as a descriptor of a certain sort of education and instead speak more holistically of a ‘Christian approach to education.'  For most of us associated with schools,  when we hear the term ‘Christian education' we think instinctively of that little bit of schooling  (perhaps including Chapel services, Biblical Studies lessons and voluntary Christian groups) that is tacked on to the mandated curriculum and major co-curricula activities in schools. Of course there are others who like to think that everything done in a Christian or Anglican school is Christian education simply because it happens in such a school.

I am arguing that we need to create an authentic Australian Christian approach to the whole of education, which in a school context includes not just the content of what is taught and learned, but the very essence of the curriculum mandated for each subject, the way we teach, assess and report on learning, the purpose and delivery of pastoral care, the style of leadership, indeed the essence or character of a school's culture. Education is much larger than schooling and goes well beyond just formal courses and programs. The teaching and learning that occurs before a child goes to school, the learning that occurs in the home, the church and the community during a person's school years, the learning, training and research that many of us engage in when we leave school, and not insignificant these days, the education in which ‘retired' people engage (as teachers, mentors and learners) all fall under the umbrella to which I am referring.

I use the word authentic for a number of reasons, not least because it incorporates the concepts of integrity, wholeness, consistency, completeness, trustworthiness, true to biblical principles and beliefs, integrated or infused. To be authentic the approach also must be owned by those who are pursuing it. There is no place for an approach that is borrowed or copied from elsewhere.

I used the word ‘Australian' because what we need for this new millennium is an approach developed by Australians, in Australia, for use in Australia. That is not to say we cannot learn lots from those who been doing the heavy-lifting for centuries in other countries. Quite the contrary. What we create here will be enriched by the insights from theologians, educational philosophers and educational practitioners and we must draw in a discerning way from them. But we must not simply copy them or force their wisdom into a context where it is not a good fit. This means we need to develop a much more sophisticated understanding of contemporary society in Australia so that our Christian approach to education is suitably aligned with it. One example of this is the extent of biblical illiteracy amongst ‘practising' Christians let alone the rest of society.

I have used the word ‘Christian' for which I realise some will be critical. It is a poor discriminator and some may argue that if it is used it should be nuanced in certain ways. I think, on balance, that the nuancing is a second-level task. I think the prior challenge is to establish the principle that the whole of education (in whatever context we are talking about: individual, home, school, college, church) is the subject of our study, not just the specifically ‘biblical' or ‘religious' bits.

Amongst the other elements of an authentic Australian Christian approach to education which need to be explored are:

• the place of narrative within the approach
• the bases of pedagogy
• recognition of stages of faith development
• the implications of pluralism
• the relationship between formal education and the church
• the place of research and scholarship within education
• the meaning of integration or integrity

Once developed, the authentic Australian Christian approach to education must be regarded as a work in progress, and it must also be presented in such a way as to regarded as plausible, even by those who may not subscribe to it. 

If you want to read more about the desired features of an authentic Australian Christian approach to education, click here.