This post is about educational philosophy. Not an exciting topic for many, but for me, this one is necessary, especially if you are engaged in or leading any institution that focuses on educating others.
Surprisingly, you do not hear much about the educational philosophy with everything going on in the news about educational institutions, local boards of education, or even our Department of Education. But when you think about it, educational philosophy drives institutions and organizations, including local churches, in how they approach education and teaching of which we trust them with the education of our children and grandchildren.
So, having an educational philosophy, in my opinion, is critically important as it openly shares the purposes and goals of teaching and learning today. In other words, what can one expect from a teacher while learning from them?
During my doctoral studies for educational ministry, students were challenged to produce an educational philosophy in the seminar Educational Theory and Ministry Practice at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO. The seminar professor leads a department at Lifeway that focuses on developing material to educate adults. In my opinion, our professor was the perfect individual to lead this seminar as he is actively engaged in educational ministry and not merely speaking about theoretical approaches to educational philosophy.
What I enjoyed about developing an educational philosophy was being questioned about it, challenged to refine the statement, and encouraged to always seek ways to improve the statement long after seminary is over.
Today, my educational philosophy remains the same but I continually think of any refinements that may be needed to articulate my view of learning and teaching. Until those changes occur, this statement continually guards my studies, the lessons, and what I believe to be the purpose and goals of those studies. As a Christian educator, this is extremely important as their are various fields of research today with numerous findings, especially within the field of the social sciences. Which is a reason why I promote the importance of developing an educational philosophy because as educators, we should not be dismissive of new research or the findings. Having an educational philosophy keeps the research, the findings, and the proposed practical application within one’s stated purpose and goal as an educator. Therefore, having a developed and publicly available educational philosophy becomes critically important for potential students, parents, and educational institutions.
So, what is an educational philosophy? The short answer is simply a personal theory in how one approaches academic study and teaching.
While there are potentially many questions one can to shape an educational philosophy, here are three simple questions to help develop one’s theory in how they approach academic study and teaching.
1) What do you intend to get out of it (knowledge)?
2) How do you intend to incorporate it (synthesize)?
3) How do you plan to use it (application)?
As an example, here is my educational philosophy as a Christian educator that was developed two years ago in seminary to answer those questions and more. You can also find my educational philosophy publicly available on the website for Team Room: War, Hope, and Growth at https://teamroom.aplos.org/.
Christian education is a Christ-exalting process that encourages the transformation of believers more into the image of Christ in all areas and stages of life to carry out the disciple-making and cultural mandates in a local church. This process is done in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and in light of God’s sufficient and authoritative word.
First, I address education as Christian education because all education has the purpose of glorifying God in our lives and endeavors. Now notice how I answer the three questions. First, growing in our knowledge is important to God. Learning is good as we mature as a Christian and as a citizen of our country. Therefore, our pursuit of knowledge and learning should exalt Jesus Christ. Second, knowledge impacts all areas and stages of life, e.g., through the social sciences we have a better understanding of lifespan and development. We create educational materials based on age (human development) to improve the overall processes of teaching youth to understand and analyze the material. This is seen in various approaches of teaching preschoolers, elementary aged, teenagers, and adults from local schools and universities to our local churches and seminaries. And with the various fields of study today, we desire to analyze and synthesize the material into our lives as informed and educated Christians and citizens. Lastly, the material we learn from the various fields of study can assist us in carrying out the dual mandates of the church, evangelism and cultural engagement.
I intentionally address the cultural mandate of the local church in my educational philosophy as I feel it is often overlooked today. Too often, Christians can lean too far in either direction where truth is sacrificed out of convenience or ignorance. For example, some Christians will lean in very liberal and progressive directions sacrificing the truth of God’s Word while the opposite direction tends to sacrifice any form of research and findings to preserve their definition of the sufficiency of Scripture. And so normeclatures were developed to teach about both extremes along with other views or approaches. Thus the importance of having a defined and well articulated statement today. The debates are plenty but the discussions are few.
Let me explain. The one that leans too liberal and progressive is called the Social Science Primacy and places the social sciences, research, and their findings above Scripture (Estep and Kim, 2010). Examples of this are well documented today.
The opposite of the Social Science Primacy position is that of Scriptural Sufficiency that rejects the research and findings of the social sciences altogether (Estep and Kim, 2010). Again, there are plenty of examples today.
The educational philosophy position that I advocate for and built within the educational philosophy statement is the Scriptural Primacy view. This position is willing to examine the research and findings of any field of study, but with God’s Word remaining in its rightful place as authoritative and sufficient. Comes the question on what is the sufficiency of Scripture, but that is saved for another post.
Yet, before I end this article, I must also share about various positions that are limited in scope and definition regarding the topic of Christian education and the social sciences. The positions or approaches are commonly referred to as being between the One-Book or Two-Book approach to other fields of study is inadequate in my opinion (MacArthur, 2003). I find their definitions lacking because the One-Book position does acknowledge the importance of other fields of study, including their research and findings. Additionally, the One-Book position does not advocate for the complete rejection of research and findings of any science that the name of One-Book would indicate. In other words, the One-Book view is not the same as Scriptural Sufficiency. So, what is truly needed in the discussion is better terminology to reflect what is being held by the One-Book individual.
In other cases, the terminology is different but the results are the same. For example, the Two-Book view is the same as the Paradigmatic approach in that each positions Scripture and the Social Sciences as equally legitimate on the same level and used interactively. As a Christian educator, this position must be rejected because the purpose and goals of all education are to grow more Christ-like in all areas and stages of life. This can only be accomplished in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and in light of God’s authoritative and sufficient Word for the pursuit of wisdom that honors Jesus Christ.
For more information, please check out the following resources.
Estep, James R. and Jonathan H. Kim, eds. Christian Formation: Integrating Theology and Human Development. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010.
Estep, James R., Michael J. Anthony, and Gregg R. Allison. A Theology for Christian Education. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2008.
Knight, George R. Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective. 4th ed. Berrien Springs: Andrews University, 2006.
MacArthur, John, ed. Think Biblically: Recovering A Christian Worldview. Wheaton: Crossway, 2003.
Pazmino, Robert W. Foundational Issues in Christian Education: An Introduction in Evangelical Perspective. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.