Photo: Pixabay
Photo: Pixabay

Transformational Teaching: An Adventist Worldview

The transforming role that the Adventist teacher can play in the lives of their students.

South Pacific May 3, 2017

Diverse teams of experienced Australian Adventist teachers recently created subject-specific curriculum frameworks designed to show how each subject can be connected to the foundational worldview from which an Adventist teacher delivers the Australian National Curriculum. Although the frameworks were developed based on the Australian curriculum, it may be useful for teachers in other areas as well. Each framework provides a concise statement of principles, values, and threads that undergird and guide what we consider to be real, true and good.

This worldview is shaped and permeated with our belief that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). As the report says, “A Christian approach to curriculum embraces the fullness of God. . .  the Christian faith can and should be rendered in every classroom, in every subject, by every teacher and in the life of the school generally.”

We also believe strongly that each teacher must teach from within their own authentic Christian journey and that their experiential relationship with Jesus will permeate all they say and do. Rather than being Christians who happen to teach, Adventist teachers aim to teach in a Christian way. We wish to reveal a God who loves unconditionally. As Blamires says, “To think Christianly is to accept all things with the mind as related, directly or indirectly, to man’s eternal destiny as the redeemed and chosen child of God.”

Teaching is more than imparting information. Effective Christian teaching creates transformation. It takes Romans 12:1-2 as its focus and tries to nurture a discipleship response to God’s love in the lives of students. The “threads” used in the Values and Action Response sections of the framework are the qualities or characteristics we desire as responses from our students. They help provide cohesion and link the subjects to everyday living. The action responses and values will often overlap in various subject areas, and will help teachers encourage students to have a discipleship response to God’s love.

These documents are intended to be practical and succinct with a clear focus on the transforming role that the Adventist teacher can play in the lives of their students. It contains:

  • A challenge to maximise transformative teachable moments.
  • An Adventist curriculum overview statement.
  • A subject-specific rationale followed by the objectives for that Key Learning Area.
  • A section focused on how values and action responses, with appropriate essential questions, can challenge the teacher to maximise an Adventist worldview and seek transformational experiences for their students.
  • Three pro forma options for developing units with an embedded Adventist worldview based on the Understanding by Design curriculum model created by Wiggins and McTighe.
  • Sample units – for both primary and secondary – that illustrate how to integrate these elements.

George Knight notes in Educating for Eternity that, “The essential point that the Adventist educator must grasp is that the teaching of any topic in an Adventist school must not be a modification of the approach used in non-Christian schools.  It is rather a radical reorientation of that topic within the philosophical framework of Christianity.”

These Transformational Teaching documents (freely downloadable in Microsoft Word and PDF formats) are designed to assist teachers in intentionally including an Adventist Worldview in their Learning Areas.

To access the Transformational Teaching documents, click here


Note: Article written and posted in English

Author

David McClintock

David McClintock has served as a Bible teacher for most of his professional life. He has also been principal of six schools and a Conference and Union Education Director. He has twice returned full time to the High School Bible classroom from administration and has stepped back from being the Associate Education Director at the South Pacific Division when he was invited to be the principal at Avondale School, Australia, as school land is what he enjoys. He most enjoys engaging learners in knowing, loving and serving God. In July 2019, he was appointed the SPD Education Director.

    1 comments

  • | December 30, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    Saved as a favorite, I love your site!

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