International Journal of Christianity & Education

Professional ideals arise from personal worldviews and specify teachers' professional identities. This study aimed to explore how faith is present in the professional ideals of Christian teachers. The professional ideals of 107 Dutch teachers from conservative Protestant primary and secondary schools were explored using an open-ended questionnaire. The ideal educational aims and contents were closely connected: the ultimate essence of teaching was defined as passing on images of the perfect Christian person by modelling. Faith was represented by non-substantial religious ideals that are related to social behavior. Ideals about didactical strategies and teaching materials which demonstrate teachers' Christian worldview were hardly found.

Are religious schools fit to prepare students with the social competencies required for life in a pluralistic society, or do they offer a sheltered school experience, which deprives them of adequate socialization opportunities? This question has emerged in public discourse in response to the growing presence of religious schools in many western democracies, including Australia, where their growth has been prolific in the past 30 years. In this article, the tensions around the place of religion within Australia’s education system and the adequacy of religious schools to prepare students to contribute to the nation’s social cohesion and pluralistic workplaces are investigated.

Informed by reading comprehension and comprehension strategies research, this study explores the Scripture-reading practices of four Methodist youths. Several rounds of inductive thematic analyses of Scripture-reading protocols revealed a set of five strategic reading practices youths used to understand Scripture. They drew inferences about the Bible’s possible meanings, made connections between the Bible and other texts, made personal comments, recognized when they were confused, and applied prior knowledge. Identifying and naming these five strategic practices can deepen our understanding of the nature of Methodist youths’ Scripture-reading practices and raise important questions about the relationships among youth, religion, and literacy.

This article presents an historical and critical review of the Declaration on Christian Education Gravissimum Educationis, promulgated on October 28, 1965, during the fourth and last session of Vatican II. By considering the history and context of this document, and after evaluating the three socio-ecclesial factors that were behind the text, an assessment of the reception of Gravissimum Educationis principles in the Latin American Church is made. The Conference of Bishops at Medellín in 1968 rejected many points of Gravissimum Educationis. In 1979, the Third General Conference at Puebla proposed a new concept of education for the continent. The bishops considered that education has to be, first of all, an evangelizing task. By analyzing the state of education in the continent, the Fifth Conference at Aparecida also criticizes trends that impoverished the real purpose of education in the continent. The article concludes that both the content and the history behind Gravissimum Educationis make this declaration of Vatican II a lesser document in comparison to other conciliar documents such as Gaudium et spes or Lumen gentium. Even though the Declaration introduces some principles of education and schooling, these are presented in a defensive form, precisely a form that other main conciliar documents try to avoid. For these reasons, Gravissimum Educationis was not well-received in Latin America.