• Volume 12-1 - Spring 2008

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• Volume 9-2 - Autumn 2005

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• Volume 5-2 - Autumn 2001

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• Volume 4-2 - Autumn 2000

• Volume 3-1 - Spring 1999

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Editors, Management Group, Editorial Advisers

Editors:
Dr. John Shortt
Dr. David I. Smith

Management Group:
Rupert Kaye (Association of Christian Teachers)
Dr. Andrew Marfleet
David Morton (The Stapleford Centre)
Andrew Palfreyman (Association of Christian Teachers) 
Dr. John Shortt
Dr. David I. Smith (Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning)
Phil Whitehead (The Stapleford Centre)

Editorial Advisers:
Professor Harro Van Brummelen - Trinity Western University, Canada
Dr. Allan Harkness - Asia Graduate School of Theology, Singapore
Dr. Susan Hasseler - Calvin College, USA
Professor Brian V. Hill - Murdoch University, Australia
Rev. Dr. William K. Kay - University of Wales, Wales
Dr. D. Barry Lumsden - University of Alabama, USA
Samson Makhado - Association of Christian Schools International, South Africa
Dr. Mark Pike - University of Leeds, England
Dr. Signe Sandsmark - Norwegian Lutheran Mission, Norway
Dr. Pablo J. Santana Bonilla - University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Dr. Elmer J. Thiessen - Medicine Hat College, Canada
Professor Michael S. Totterdell - Manchester Metropolitan University, England
Professor Keith Watson - University of Reading, England

NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS

To read the JECB Information and Instructions for Contributors click here.

To read the JECB Bibliographical Citation Guide (the ‘house style guide’) click here.

To read the JECB Peer Review Policy click here.

(To download files, right-click link and select Save As.)

EurECA
The 1997 Prague Declaration
(pp.95-102)

IN MAY 1997, the European Educators’ Christian Association (EurECA) held a working conference at St-John-under-the-Rock, a former Benedictine monastery – now a teacher-training college – near Prague, Czech Republic. 37 invited delegates came from 15 countries in Europe – both East and West – to work on the Prague Declaration.

Click here to read The 1997 Prague Declaration (PDF)

Click here to visit the EurECA website (www.eureca-online.org)

Keywords: Prague Declaration, Christian beliefs, education, Europe, theory, practice, responsibilities, aims, content, methods, leadership, policy, management.

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David Cracknell
Joined-Up Thinking – The Resurgence of Interdependence
(pp.103-110)

THIS ARTICLE IS a tentative exploration of human and organisational interdependence. It is a simple theme with long historical roots but one which has only recently benefited again from the attention it deserves. It is a powerful principle which has enormous potential for change throughout our society but nowhere more so than in education. There is emerging a clear shift in emphasis away from individualism and towards a greater investment in social cohesion and Christians in education need to be aware of it and to reflect on the challenges and opportunities it brings for witness and leadership. What might a heightened interest in interdependence mean for the development of educational thinking, policy and practice – and for Christian discipleship?

Keywords: education, interdependence, social cohesion, individualism, Christian discipleship, witness, leadership, educational thinking, educational policy, educational practice.

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William F. Cox, Jr.
Lessons About Education that Christianity Can Learn from a Defector
(pp.111-118)

HORACE MANN, FATHER of American public schools, favoured allowing only that religious content in public education that met the agreement of all its constituents. Then as well as now, Christians noticeably conflict with Mann, a defector from Christianity, in arguing that biblical world views and practices should prevail. Ironically, Mann's position better approximates the application of the biblical Golden Rule to public education. Following Mann's lead, application of the biblical Golden Rule prefigures the same implications about religion in education as proposed by C.S. Lewis fifty years ago. From out of this conflict there is a lesson for Christianity regarding a biblical view of education.

Keywords: Horace Mann, USA, public education, religion, biblical Golden Rule, CS Lewis.

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Anthony Thorpe
The Critical Thinking Skills Movement and its Implications for Religious Education
(pp.119-126)

THE PUBLIC'S INTEREST in the idea of philosophy and young people has been awakened with the success of 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder (NY: Phoenix House, 1995). How might this interest in philosophy form a link with the teaching of religious education? Historically the links between philosophy and religion have been strong but many teachers have assumed that philosophy is something that young people are incapable of understanding let alone able to use as part of their learning. Arguments from Piaget's psychology of learning also suggest this but the Critical Thinking Skills Movement claims that these objections can be met. Could teachers be underselling the capabilities of their students? What then might be the implications for the teaching of religious education of a more philosophical approach that sought to develop critical thinking skills? It is also important to ask what the assumptions are behind these implications and whether they are acceptable from a Christian viewpoint.

Keywords: Jean Piaget, Jostein Gaarder, ‘Sophie's World', young people, philosophy, religious education, teachers, Critical Thinking Skills Movement, Philosophy for Children (P4C).

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Elizabeth Ashton
Readiness for Discarding? – An Examination of the Researches of Ronald Goldman Concerning Children's Religious Thinking
(pp.127-144)

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES the assumptions underlying the influential researches of Ronald Goldman into the religious thinking of childhood. The Piagetian base against which Goldman's theories were developed is analysed before a full investigation is made of Goldman's researches, his methodology, notions of childhood and confusions concerning what children appeared to know and what they had the potential to understand. The article concludes with an examination of Goldman's own ideas of religion and its language-use. It is concluded that his work, like that of Piaget, is essentially romantic, although disguised in empirical methodology. It is argued that the content of religious education in primary schools ought to be reviewed as a matter of urgency since the work of Goldman has contributed to a serious underestimation of pupils' potential for understanding scriptural narrative.

Keywords: Jean Piaget, Ronald Goldman, children, childhood, religion, language-use, religious education, primary schools, scriptural narrative, research, methodology.

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Harro Van Brummelen
Postmodernism and Teacher Education Programmes in Christian Colleges
(pp.145-167)

WITH THE DECLINE of a modernist techno-rationalist view of knowledge, teachers are no longer knowledge dispensers but dialogue facilitators who reject the notion of one 'right' view. Although postmodernism comes in a variety of forms e.g. constructivism, it does have some central features. There are both strengths and weaknesses in the postmodernist approach to life and in the way it applies to education. Christian teacher education programmes should be transformative, vital and transcendent, based in a vision of humanity which rejects both the oppressive impotence of modern scientism and the ego-exalting autonomy of postmodernity.

Keywords: postmodernism, education, knowledge, Christian teacher education, transformative, vital, transcendent.

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