The National Professional Standards for Teachers: Towards an Authentic Integrating Domain for Teachers in Christian Schools

Abstract

Every serving teacher and ‘teacher to be’ will be moulded decidedly by The National Professional Standards for Teachers1 (NPST). Officially released on 9th February 2011, after piloting, they become the benchmark for what constitutes teacher quality in Australia. The question is: Are these norms—plus a ‘coating of religiosity’—all that there is to being a quality Christian teacher? Or is there more? This article explores and proposes a new integrating ‘teaching domain’: Teaching Ministry, and three attendant ‘teaching standards’ together with specific descriptors for various focus areas. Engage in a teaching • ministry informed by a Christian worldview; • Cultivate and nurture spiritual growth and discernment; • Commit, belong and contribute to a servanthood community of faith. These proposed categories are intended for practitioners in Christian faith-based schools and form an integral part of outlining an authentic integrating teaching ministry. The categories are distinctly different—some might say countercultural, in today’s secular educational climate— but follow on from, and are a ‘coda’ to the existing three domains and seven standards that comprise the mandated NPST.