In Celebration of Teaching

Local launch of more global book in Revealing Jesus series

With contributors from Australia, Europe, North America and the South Pacific, the latest in a how-teachers-reveal-Jesus book series has a more global feel. By design.

Co-editor Dr Peter Williams contacted Christian higher education providers in Australia and almost every Seventh-day Adventist tertiary institution worldwide to call for papers for Revealing Jesus in the Learning Environment: In Celebration of Teaching. Those he published—from scholars at Adventus University of Cernica in Romania, Alphacrucis University College, Burman University in Canada, Christian Heritage College, Fulton Adventist University College in Fiji, the Pacific Group of Schools, and Walla Walla University in Washington, USA—“add a richness to the chapters.”

The papers also presented some challenges. The Fulton scholars, for example, wanted to share their lived experience but “acknowledged a desire for more experienced researchers to guide them in writing.” So, Peter found an academic who could help. As project manager for books two and three in the series, co-editor Kirsty Pearce is familiar with the coordination required to bring a book together. The “rapport” she developed with the authors “remains the most enjoyable part of the role.”

Peter and Kirsty present the chapters in four parts.

Part one emphasises the critical role of Christian education, with chapters about the importance of biblical literacy, the essential conditions for Christian education, and parental perceptions of teachers.

Part two emphasises teacher development, with chapters about responding to diverse and at-risk learners through inclusive practices and graduate attributes that maintain the faith in initial teacher education.

Part three emphasises lived experience, with chapters from the Fulton scholars and Dean (Research) Associate Professor Peter Kilgour, who writes about his 44 years as a Christian teacher.

Part four emphasises lessons from Christian education, with school research findings informing chapters about classroom practice, pedagogy and the relationship between instruction and teaching.

While teaching practices changed during COVID—with more emphasis on communication, support for individual learning and student engagement—Jesus remained unchanged, write Peter and Kirsty in the foreword. Revealing Him in the learning environment “provided an opportunity to bring community, consistency, and peace. . . . There were teachers who thrived in this time, as their mission crystallised, and their call to minister gained clarity.” We hope, they add, the chapters in the book “encourage you to refocus and recommit your teaching practice.”

Thanks to funding from the Christian Education Research Centre, which Peter directs, copies of In Celebration of Teaching will be gifted to every Adventist school in Australia.

Revealing Jesus is now a four-part series, with publication of Experiences of Christian Educators in 2019, Making A World of Difference in 2020 and Evidence and Impact in 2021.