An article has been released by Maria Varlet and was originally published in "Research in Brief" Fall, 2020, Volume 2, Issue 1 and is used with permission by ACSI.
A biblical worldview sees each learner as unique and made in the image of God."
Excerpt
At its heart, the goal of Christian education is to help each student to maximise their God-given gifts in order to reach their full potential and become ‘truly human’. This uniqueness extends to the ways in which they grow, develop and learn with Christian schools seeking to create opportunities for all students to do so. A ‘successful’ Christian school, therefore, would be one where students develop Christlike attributes and flourish in all areas of their lives...
...Against this backdrop, sits a very different narrative around success and excellence. The education system, born during the industrial era, was built on purposes that are politically and economically driven rather than based on ensuring the development of godly character and the promotion of a life of biblical flourishing for each individual student...
...The findings of this research showed that teachers experience the relationship between Christian ethos and assessment practice as one of tension: a struggle between competing systems of beliefs, values, and practices. Christian school teachers inhabit both the broader field of education and its subfield of Christian education and find themselves having to navigate opposing forces between the two. Participants identified that the exertion of economic power and pressure from the broader field of education, demands and requirements from regulatory bodies external to the school and parent expectations often sat at odds with the espoused Christian ethos of the school...
The pedagogic action of the teachers results in the favouring of some students over others."
You can download and read the full article in our Resource Library.
Navigating Tensions