TEACH Journal of Christian Education

http://research.avondale.edu.au/teach

List of Papers (Total 397)

It's an Adventure: Pre-Service Teachers Serve and see in the NT

Summer starts early in the Northern Territory. This is what our students discovered during school placements that introduced them to the ministry of teaching in indigenous culture.

A "Must Read" for Christian Educators: The Latest in 'Revealing Jesus

The latest in a series of books about how teachers reveal Jesus to students can help safeguard Christian education in a changing society, says its editors.

Rick Warren and Ellen G. White on Christian Character Development: An Unexpected Meeting of Minds?

This article examines and discusses how two influential Christian authors from different eras perceive the importance and development of character in the lives of Christian believers. It is a discourse that is intended to offer 'food for thought

Implementing a Biblical Vision for Education: Challenges Facing Leaders from Primary Campuses of Christian Schools in Sydney, Australia

This article outlines the results of a recent study that investigated the challenges primary department leaders in Christian schools in Sydney are faced with as they seek to implement a biblical vision for education, along with strategies used to overcome the challenges. Competing Priorities was found to be the central challenge facing Christian school leaders as they seek to...

When is 'Social Science

How often do we hear the phrase “the research says” in our discussions about improving teaching and learning? What do we mean by the term ‘research’? For many of us, we use this concept under the assumption that something like the ‘scientific method’ has been used to describe educational reality in a way that can help us in our teaching. This thinking, in turn, sits under our...

Becoming Better People: Children's Perceptions of how a School's Garden Program has Impacted their Actualisation of Values

Education is perceived, among other things, to be a character-building enterprise. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, a renewed emphasis on character development through values education has been on the agendas of Australian schools. Many schools now offer programs designed to inculcate values into the lives of students. Although values literacy is widespread in...

Where to go for a Christian Research Degree? Part 2 of a two-part Report

Avondale University is committed to providing quality higher research degrees. Data on candidate and graduate experiences from the institution and across the sector are central in shaping good practice and informing policy, processes and systems designed to support candidate and supervisor research training (TEQSA, 2018) and employment opportunities (Bentley & Meek, 2018). This...

Wellbeing Notebook: Implementing Wellbeing

Early in the naughties (90s) we asked the question 'How do our client see us?

Managing Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) from a Christian School's Perspective

Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) was at first, anecdotally, considered to be unacceptable behaviour by children who had been poorly managed. However, by 1980 a specific definition and description had been made. ODD is a serious juvenile mental health concern causing extreme distress to both parents and educators. This paper has been written from a Christian perspective and...

Mr J and his 'Insta

Meet Aaron Johnston (BEd, 2008), who epitomises the bright future of teaching.

"Left Behind

Hardly a month or two go by without some "informed" commentator admonishing Australians that they are in danger of being "left behind." It is as though the country's inhabitants are being scripted as actors in a religious, dispensationalist, prophetic drama of sorts. Seemingly, we constantly are being analysed and compared to one or another nation - whether South-east Asian...

Geography Field Trips: Why Getting Dirty Matters

Geography, as taught in schools, traditionally engages students in field trips which have a 'hands-on

Reflections on Pedagogical Hospitality and Remote Learning

Teaching involves teachers acting as hospitable hosts who create learning spaces that welcome their students into learning. Much of the literature on pedagogical hospitality works from the assumption that the teacher is the host and the students are the guests. However, in the period of remote learning during the Covid19 pandemic, this was turned on its head when teachers became...

Time Travel: Teaching Australian History Through Speculative Fiction

When Mark Salber Phillip’s suggested that history could be written as a type of combinational genre, with traditional empirical elements and fictional, literary elements working together to create temporal distance between the reader and the events, he saw this as a way of forcing us to look more broadly at the meanings of history, rather than focusing on a singular event. Using...

Managing Unsatisfactory Teaching Performance in the Classroom: A Christian Approach

An area that is the cause of much angst and even heartache for educational leaders is the responsibility of managing unsatisfactory performance of staff members. This paper addresses the topic, and provides a step by step process that includes adherence to legislation, fairness for both leaders and employees, and more importantly, fairness for students who are the recipients of...

Creating a Trauma Informed College Campus

Trauma has no limits and does not discriminate based on one’s gender, ethnicity, social standing, educational background or religious affiliation. Those affected by trauma are not only present in our neighborhoods, homes and congregations, but also in every academic institution. This pervasive issue demands a seamless and intentional multilevel-organizational approach which...

Faith Narrative and Ethical Practice in the Literacy Field

What is the intersection between being a person of faith and a literacy teacher? How do educators experience literacy instruction when trying to connect their faith and practice? Using the lens of researchers Clandinin and Connelly (2000) these questions were explored from the perspective and experience of one of the co-authors. Three themes of Christian pedagogy emerged from the...

Rethinking Learning in a Lockdown: The Coronavirus Prompts this Principal to ask, "What Really Matters?

If you had asked me a year ago if we would be holding school at home and relying on technology to interact with our students, my answer would have been a resounding no. But in a short-time our lives have had to continue while being put on hold and in a lockdown during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Book Launch: Revealing Jesus in the Learning Environment

A book compiled by two Avondale academics launched on Thursday February 27, 2020 will encourage Christian educators in any learning environment to more naturally and creatively reveal Jesus to their students.

Dear First-Year Teacher

As an educator of pre-service teachers, I am often reminded of those first days in the classroom. If I could go back and speak to myself as a First-Year Teacher, this reflection is what I would say.

Anzacs were Secular but . . . Soldiers Steeped in Biblically-informed Worldview had Passive Belief in “diffusive Christianity”

It’s always tempting to see the past in terms of the present, to deny the past its difference. In Australia, perhaps that temptation has been hardest to resist when it comes to Anzac history. In popular imagination and representation, the Anzacs are routinely invested with the attitudes and beliefs of late 20th century and early 21st century Australia. We explain the motivations...

Education for What? An Essential Question Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis from an American Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown many schools around the country into turbulent waters. In a short period of time, many K – 12 Christian schools had to transition into the alternate universe known as virtual learning. Many educators have probably dabbled in virtual learning elements as a supplement to their normal pedagogical practice. Ironically, the challenges and questions...

A Response to – A Decade of Encounter

This study—A Decade of Encounter—research commissioned by Adventist Schools Australia, offers valuable data worthy of reflection as we enter a new decade of Encounter’s implementation within Australia. The time and effort invested in the collection of these voices from the field is valued and appreciated. Recent engagement with the researchers has brought rich discussion and a...