Christian foundation schools often navigate a complex social and political field. Many parents want greater access to Christian foundation schools. There can be prevalent dis-ease about favouritism being expressed through faith-selective admissions policies. The religious and cultural diversity present within Christian foundation schools can pose challenging questions on how a school might best express its foundational commitment: in worship, in community activities, in curriculum content, behaviour policies and pastoral practice.
There can be pressure from different interest groups with a Christian commitment that can create tensions for schools: over the kind of worship that takes place; over schools’ role in communicating Christian belief; over social issues including gender roles and identity, sexuality and sex.
These considerations can all distract a school from its sense of its core mission in teaching and learning. A clear theology of education can provide for recovery of this purpose as the essential element of the school’s life which is also the core expression of its foundation.
My research articulates how a theological framework provides for school’s core purpose to be its work in education, in teaching and learning. It suggests that this should be how schools understand their identity, rather than their work being a charitable act directed towards those outside the church, or to provide nurture in an-environment that has a church culture to particularly serve those who are committed church members. These may be chosen elements of a school’s mission, but educationalists will often want to put teaching and learning and how these provide for students’ self-knowledge and flourishing ahead of these.
Trinitarian Paideia 