G’day,

In addition to my previous response to Jeremy, let me quote Dr Grant Maple from today’s SMH.

“There is no coercive power in this, rather it is an attempt to bring all of the diocesan organisations into alignment in terms of what they are doing in the field of education,” said the director of the Anglican Education Commission, Grant Maple. “I realise it could create some difficulties where there are people who are serving on school councils who can’t sign the declaration. Ultimately it is a matter for the schools to decide how far to take it.”

Yours in Christ,
Mark

[quote author="Mark Tough"]
Again, my issue is that you should not advertise a school that employs such staff as being a “Christian” school, because having such staff detracts from that label. You cannot be assured in this situation that what will be taught will be undergirded by a Christian worldview.

What if such staff undertake to stick to that part of their brief which runs in tandem with the policies of the Christian school in question, and to refer pupils elsewhere within the school in the event of a conflict?

What determines a ‘conflict’?

I imagine that’d depend on the personalities and issues at hand.

[quote author="Mark Tough"]My point to the Synod last night was that if you want to claim to be a Christian school that teaches subjects from the perspective of a Christian worldview then you need to have Christian staff. Non-Christian staff have not come out of darkness into God’s wonderful light and so I find it hard to know how they could teach a Christian worldview properly.

I guess another issue might be raised by what is meant by “Christian staff”. Would members of the EB qualify? Mormons? Russian Orthodox adherents? Roman Catholics who embrace the Tridentine mass and the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome? Non-evangelical members of the Uniting Church?

[quote author="Trevor Mattiske"][quote author="Mark Tough"]My point to the Synod last night was that if you want to claim to be a Christian school that teaches subjects from the perspective of a Christian worldview then you need to have Christian staff. Non-Christian staff have not come out of darkness into God’s wonderful light and so I find it hard to know how they could teach a Christian worldview properly.

I guess another issue might be raised by what is meant by “Christian staff”. Would members of the EB qualify? Mormons? Russian Orthodox adherents? Roman Catholics who embrace the Tridentine mass and the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome? Non-evangelical members of the Uniting Church?

Personally speaking I would envisage Christian staff to be Evangelical Christians but not necessarily Anglicans.

Yours in Christ,
Mark

[quote author="Mark Tough"]The head of senior school at Tyndale comes to my church and he says that whilst this policy can be hard to implement, God has always provided the right staff needed.

Wow.  I must have been the “wrong staff”.  They brought me in for interview 2 years ago then took ages to reject me.

[quote author="michael jensen"]But I was very glad that Rod West at Trinity also employed many evangelical teachers.

They considered me last year for a chaplaincy role!

Don’t know if I would have wanted it - sounded like a very busy workload, and I’m only little...as anyone who’s seen me knows!

TZ.

From my memories of the policy statement (it was getting rather late last night, wasn’t it?), there were two issues that stood out to me - at rather opposite ends of the education spectrum, really.

1. The acknowledgement of the importance of university residential colleges - it’s good to say they’re important, but wouldn’t it be better to say something more substantial? As a beneficiary of the Christian ministry of one particular residential college, I’d like to see some teeth in that statement. It would be good for the diocese to be more proactive in supporting the Christian outreach of colleges that are active in ministry. It would also be good for the diocese to be encouraging any “nominal” colleges to become more active in Christian outreach/pastoral care/teaching etc. Additionally, I think as our population increases and so does the likelihood of additional uni campuses, we should be at the forefront of planting new Christian residential colleges. As far as I am aware, there have been no new Christian/Anglican residential colleges built since RMC (Macquarie). I am willing to be corrected on that!

2. I think our diocesan policy on education needs to be more sensitive to the varying education levels and proclivities in our diocese. There are many parishes where the majority of the congregation have tertiary training/undergraduate degrees, if not higher. The education needs of these groups are far different to those areas of the diocese where the majority of the population have achieved a year 10 level of education. These groups are far less likely to happily sit through long seminars or even 30 minute sermons with 4 key points. The policy mentioned a need to be sensitive to “learning styles”, but I think this issue actually goes beyond that. It requires a special attention to distilling the material, rather than simply modifying the method of delivery.

I’ve put a brief version of this thinking on my little blue comments slip, but I’d be keen to hear what other people think about this! :)

As far as I am aware, there have been no new Christian/Anglican residential colleges built since RMC (Macquarie). I am willing to be corrected on that!

Kris, I think that you might want to look at Wollongong Uni, for they began a residential Anglican college down there.

Another possibility that was briefly considered by a few people (though more a lead balloon) was to convert a disused Chesalon into a residential college for UWS… once again I stress it was not floated well, nor to the right people. The Chesalon was sold before it could be brought to the right people to consider it.

I think our diocesan policy on education needs to be more sensitive to the varying education levels and proclivities in our diocese.

Kris, should that be in the general policy for education of clergy, or should it be hammered home in the hermeneutics lessons within the specific teaching of the students?

I would have written a major thesis on this for you, but I found someone had… KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I can’t sit through a 40-50 minute sermon, let alone give too many of them. (I have been known to waffle some time, & thus extend an evening service sermon).

Oops, was that the bell already?

Move for an extension of time for another 3 minutes… or at least until the end of the 3rd paragraph.

Maybe a leading lay person should get a bell in church, & gives the minister a minute’s warning at 19 minutes, then rings it at 20 minutes. The minister then has to wait for a parishioner to move a motion for an extension of time, & then the congregation votes on it…

Now there’s a thought!!!

Should the education discussion be a new thread?

Might help.

Hello Peter.

Are you OK?

One of the concerns that I can see for Principals & Boards or Councils is the role of the Old Boys’ or Old Girls’… these groups often hold a lot of oomph. I notice that in the thread concerning NEGS that they were mentioned as a group of vital concern in the debate over whether NEGS is sold or not. The Past Students’ Associations in some schools are very powerful & have limited the functioning of some schools that I know, in such areas as changing parts of the uniform, choice of principal, use of finances. (Maybe that is also a practical reason why the principles did not state the ideals that Mark Tough prefers. ???) But that would be second guessing, & I don’t want to do that.

Here is the report in the paper on NEGS