THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES the high rate at which teachers leave the classroom within the first three years of service, the notion of 'calling' in this decision to leave, an ethical call to teacher educators to counsel students out if they do not have the dispositions necessary for successful teaching, and the application of the idea of the 'primary calling' as distinguished from a 'secondary calling' (Guinness) to the profession of teaching. An examination of fulfillment, fit, and the actual tasks performed in teaching provide a realistic view of the classroom that may assist teacher educators and candidates in viewing the profession more realistically, as well as understanding the true nature of calling. This sense of fulfillment, fit, and joy in the work of teaching may result in longer and more satisfying careers as well as preventing painful exits from teaching.

This article is available as a sample pdf: Preventing the Fall from the Call to Teach

I EXPLORE THE intersection of different types of affiliation, commitment and ownership in religiously affiliated schools and colleges and the challenges these pose for leaders. Three types of ownership receive attention: proprietary, professional and participative. In the face of a spectrum of responses to the mission, leaders must combine zeal with political wisdom, and advocacy with restraint. They must exercise leverage in order to carry out the mandate entrusted to them but at the same time they need to show sensitivity in order to maintain a healthy, effective and harmonious working atmosphere.

What should children in Christian schools understand and appreciate about a liberal and secular society?

THE DEBATE ABOUT the extent to which faith-based schooling prepares children for life in contemporary society has recently been reopened in the UK. This paper explores the issue and examines what children in Christian schools should learn about the liberal, plural and secularised society in which they live. It also considers, from a biblical perspective, why they should engage in such learning. What young people should understand and appreciate about sexual ethics, the place of rational autonomy as an educational aim, and the relation between faith and learning will be evaluated.

THERE IS MUCH that human beings are, and should be, uncertain about, but this should not include the most basic truths of reality. The effects of postmodern epistemology have widened the sphere of uncertainty in many domains of knowledge, and intellectual uncertainty and excessive skepticism are pervasive in academic circles (both Christian and non-Christian). Such thinking tends to sanction the kind of pragmatic decision making that legitimizes a view of human beings (and moral principles) as mere interchangeable parts with varying utility. This essay offers a critique of obscurant uncertainty and draws attention to the incremental marginalization of God-based knowledge. It calls for the grounding of educational philosophy in a realist conception of truth given that God, our knowledge of Him, and his knowledge of us are an excellent basis by which to ground human institutions (including the institution of education).