Making a Difference in School Life
Every year the Teaching Awards, sometimes known as the teachers' Oscars, celebrate the work of teachers who are nominated by their colleagues and pupils. In every instance the reason someone wins an award is because of the impact of their life on their pupils. What's more, the celebrities who present the awards nearly all talk about one or more teachers who made a huge impact on their life. The awards show that teachers transform lives.
There are a number of ways in which we can be "fifth-act Christians" in school.
Click on the link and it will lead you directly to the relevant section.
Through the Curriculum
Through Quality of Relationships
Through Praying for Pupils and their Families
Through Being a Christian Colleague
Through Running Christian Clubs
You will find many examples to illustrate these in the stories told by Christian teachers.
Through Quality of Relationships
Tim Lawrence was my biology teacher. He also ran the Scout Group at school. On one trip he 'lost it' with us. I can't remember the cause, although I am sure it was a justified outburst, but I do remember him marching up and down shouting at us. There were four of us who were senior scouts and we decided that we were going to challenge him about the incident. We didn't like being shouted at like this. We arranged to meet him later in the week after school. We told him we were not happy. He stared at us for about two minutes with his penetrating glare. Then he quietly said "OK - what are we going to do about it?" Tim Lawrence became one of the most influential teachers I ever had. Why? Because he respected and trusted me and showed how you can choose to swallow pride in order to build a relationship.
Most Christian teachers regard the quality of their relationships with their pupils and colleagues as a key element in the difference they can make in schools. Their approach can be summed up in two ideas:
- Servant leadership - following Christ's example of leading by being the servant of others
- Integrity - the most widespread criticism of Christians is that they are hypocrites. Being a person of integrity is very important. If you are known as a Christian, people will expect this of you
This will show in a number of ways.
- Treating pupils with respect and trust
- Keeping promises
- Being fair and being just
- Wanting the best for pupils
- Being prepared to listen
- Providing support in times of difficulty
- Being involved in extra-curricular activities
- Celebrating pupils' successes
- Not holding grudges
- Not giving up on a difficult pupil
- Defending pupils against the system when necessary
- Working hard and doing a good job
None of this is the same as being 'matey' with pupils; you are not a youth worker. Rather it is about respecting your pupils and wanting to see each of them fulfil their God-given potential.
Through Praying for Pupils and their Families
Christian teachers will pray for pupils. Here is a story of how prayer was important in one teacher's dealings with a difficult situation. It is told by a teacher who specialises in supporting pupils who are deaf.
Oscar, a profoundly deaf six year old with emotional and behavioural needs, has a specialist Teaching Assistant (TA) to support him in school. Remarks by his mother at his Annual Review lead the Assistant to resign, jeopardising Oscar's education. His mother threatened a Judicial Review. The school and the support service for which I work seemed to look to me for answers. Earnest prayer was made but the school secretary says that this was too hard even for God.
The TA post was advertised, but no applications were received by the closing date. Oscar's child minder then offered to fill the vacancy. She had the required qualifications but had not applied before, thinking that there would be others better qualified. Then an e-mail application from another candidate, a deaf lady, arrived. It was another week before interviews could be arranged and all the while Oscar's mother was threatening to remove him from the school and take the LEA to court. My church housegroup joined me in praying for a right solution. Finally the child minder was appointed and Oscar's difficult situation was resolved.
On a few occasions praying with pupils may be appropriate, but never with an individual on their own.
Child protection is a very important concern of schools. Furthermore, occasionally pupils abuse such situations. You should not expose yourself to potential allegations where there are no witnesses.
You will find more on praying for schools elsewhere on this website.
Through Being a Christian Colleague
It is important to remember that everything said about relationships with pupils applies to relationships with colleagues too. Here is one story to illustrate the difference a few Christian staff can make in a school.
Three Christian teachers decided to meet for prayer each Monday for ten minutes before school began. Gradually other teachers became aware of the meeting and the group grew until about 15 from a staff of 100 were coming. Then other members of staff who were not Christians began to notice that Christian faith meant a lot to their colleagues and started to ask questions. The end of the story is that over the course of several years other teachers came to faith.
There are many schools where there are several Christians on the staff, yet they don't realise that each other exist. Often they feel isolated when they could be supporting each other and contributing more together for the benefit of the whole school community.
Through Leading Assemblies
Assemblies are a great opportunity to contribute to school life as a Christian. However the legislation is very complex and varies from country to country. Very briefly, it can be summarised as follows.
- In England and Wales schools should organise an act of collective worship for every pupil every day. The majority of these should be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character. In Church schools the worship should be much more explicitly Christian.
- In Scotland the religious assembly is called Religious Observance. It should be a community act which promotes the spiritual development of all pupils and celebrates the shared values of the school.
- In Northern Ireland assemblies are generally explicitly Christian reflecting the Protestant or Roman Catholic character of the school.
Assemblies are a controversial aspect of school life and sensitivity is needed in leading them. It is important to remember that the pupils attending may come from a variety of backgrounds and some of them may be very uncomfortable with Christian worship. This is even true in some Church schools. School is not the same as church. If you are asked to lead a Christian assembly, the following principles may help.
- Focus on sharing your faith, not imposing your faith. This creates a very different feel for everyone attending.
- Remember that this gathering is compulsory, so don't do things that force pupils to participate in worship. For example don't say 'let us pray'; rather say something like 'I am going to say a prayer which you can join in with if you want by saying Amen at the end'.
- Ask yourself what you would feel comfortable with if you were in an assembly led by someone of a different faith from you. Then behave in the same way.
- Always think about the pupils and their parents. Will they be comfortable with how you are leading?
Through Running Christian Clubs
Christian clubs are usually voluntary so they can be much more explicitly Christian. You need to have the support and permission of your head teacher however, and you must still be sensitive to the needs of the school. You must ensure that the activities are appropriate for the age and family backgrounds of the students. For example a club run in a village church primary school will probably be very different from a club run in a multifaith inner-city community secondary school.
There are a number of sources of support for running clubs. For example:
A Word of Warning
Your first priority must be to do your teaching job to the best of your ability and to achieve the best possible learning by your pupils. You are not paid to be a full time Christian youth worker; that is a different ministry. A teacher's ministry is to be a top-quality, Christian professional who is skilled in transforming learning. Teaching is a demanding and tiring job. You need to think carefully before taking on too many other responsibilities - particularly in the first year.
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Most Christian teachers regard the quality of their relationships with their pupils and colleagues as a key element in the difference they can make in schools.
Assemblies are a great opportunity to contribute to school life as a Christian.
A teacher's ministry is to be a top-quality, Christian professional, who is skilled in transforming learning.