Education for Discipleship: A Curriculum Orientation for Christian Educators

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE INVESTIGATES the long-held assumption that Christian educators need their own curriculum orientation. Seminal documents published by Philip Jackson and Harro Van Brummelen in the nineties are analyzed against the background of a brief history of the field of curriculum theory. The author accepts Jackson's conclusion that curriculum theorists and classroom teachers are generally confused about the true nature of curriculum orientations and about the way curriculum reform takes place. Jackson's own understanding of curriculum orientations raises the bar of curriculum reform from the mere substitution of one conceptual model for another to the preference of one way of life over all others. The investigation reveals that Van Brummelen's presentation of an alternative Christian curriculum orientation both rises above Jackson's critique and is vulnerable to it. Education for Discipleship is a highly evolved alternative curriculum orientation; nevertheless, its implementation is limited to a learning community actualizing a biblical world and life point of view from a conceptual model to actual practice. This investigation suggests that substantive curriculum reform requires two-way traffic along the conduit of influence that connects faith, theoretic frameworks, curricular practice, and community life experience.

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