Abstract
Parents’ choice of schools for their children has become particularly problematic in the current circumstances because of the fact that most schools have become secular and hence cannot support Christian parents in their task of educating children in line with the former’s baptismal vow. In addition to this, Philosophy of Education has all but disappeared from teacher education curricula. These circumstances have not, however, detracted from Christian parents’, teachers’, caregivers’ and other educators’ need for a Christian Philosophy of Education. This article offers such a Philosophy of Education in the form of Biblical perspectives regarding the main facets of education couched in cultural-historical activity theory. This approach circumvents objections against a mere “grab bag” of Biblical perspectives about education as well as against yet another master theory or grand narrative about Christian education. Ouers se skoolkeuse het in die huidige omstandighede tot ‘n ernstige probleem ontwikkel aangesien die meeste skole gesekulariseerd geraak het en dus nie die ouers kan ondersteun in hulle taak om die kinders ooreenkomstig die ouers se doopbeloftes op te voed nie. Om die probleem te vererger, het Filosofie van die Opvoeding ook uit die kurrikulums vir onderwysersopleiding verdwyn ten gunste van ‘n blote teoretiese refleksie oor onderwys en opvoeding. Christenouers, -onderwysers, -sorggewers en ander -opvoeders het desondanks nog steeds ‘n behoefte aan ‘n Bybelsgefundeerde Filosofie van die Opvoeding. Hierdie artikel omlyn sodanige Filosofie van die Opvoeding. Dit benut die kultuur-historiese aktiwiteitsteorie as ‘n raamwerk vir ‘n stel Bybelse opvoedingsperspektiewe. Hierdie benadering voorkom enersyds besware teen ‘n blote onsamehangende versameling Bybelse perspektiewe oor opvoeding en onderwys en andersyds besware teen die bou van ‘n nuwe meesterteorie of grootskaalse narratief aangaande Christelike opvoeding.
Highlights
There are around 2.2 billion Christians around the world, which represents approximately 31 per cent of the world population (Pew Research Forum, 2015)
Christian parents who take this call seriously baptize their children in the presence of their church community, and vow as follows regarding the upbringing of the children: “Do you promise to instruct this child by word and example, with the help of the Christian community, in the truth of God’s Word, and in the way of salvation through Jesus Christ? Do you promise to pray for them and teach them to pray? Do you promise to nurture them within the body of believers, as citizens of Christ’s kingdom?” (Christian Reformed Church, 1991/1994)
While many of the aspects of a philosophy of education derived from the CHAT may be regarded as acceptable in Scriptural perspective, they have – as mentioned – to be augmented and corrected with perspectives flowing from a Biblical understanding of reality
Summary
There are around 2.2 billion Christians around the world, which represents approximately 31 per cent of the world population (Pew Research Forum, 2015). The first option is to educate the child into their specific religion and its specific faith tradition, in this case, the Christian religion The purpose of this approach is to promote the child’s personal, moral and spiritual development as well as to build his or her religious identity with a particular religious tradition. The idea is to enhance the student’s capacity to reflect upon important questions of life and to provide an opportunity to develop personal responses to major moral and religious problems (Xiao, 2015) The significance of these choices confronting parents and other educators such as caregivers, teachers and pastors, in view of the theme of this article, lies in the fact that the school choice that parents make will depend largely on their general view of education, their “philosophy” of education. To be able to make choices in this regard, parents as well as the church leadership and Christian schools and teachers (including those teaching in secular surroundings such as state schools) need guidance in the shape of a Christian philosophy of education
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