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

Abstract

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