Help Wanted…

Central Christian School is seeking applicants for several teaching positions which will be available for the 2010-2011 school term.  There are openings on both the elementary and secondary level.  Applicants must meet general requirements including their ability to articulate their Christian conversion experience and be an active member of a local church whose doctrinal statement, mission and purpose are deemed to be compatible to those of the school.  Elementary applicants should have a Bachelor’s degree with at least 24 credit hours in elementary education and an active state teaching certificate.  Secondary applicants should have a minimum of 24 credit hours in their primary subject area, and 18 in a secondary subject area along with an active state teaching certificate.  Central Christian School is a fully accredited, K-12 grade institution, celebrating 65 years of providing quality education to the community in the evangelical Christian tradition, and offers competetive salary and benefits, including tuition discounts for staff members and paid health insurance.  To apply, please contact…

It’s that time of year.  And as the economy seems to be improving, at least in some places, several websites which carry notice of employment opportunities for Christian schools have long listings of available positions for the upcoming school year.  The one you just read here is an actual ad from one of those websites, with the names changed to protect the innocent.  Or, perhaps I should say, the guilty. 

If this ad were for a school in your community, would you apply, or would you hesitate before contacting them?  And would you send your children to this school, knowing the requirements they have for their teaching staff? 

I wouldn’t.

First of all, there is the requirement that teachers must have a valid state teaching certificate.  Though the ad goes to great lengths to point out that the school is evangelical, and hires only those individuals who are members of churches which are compatible with its doctrinal statement, it inconsistently allows the secular state department of education to set the basic requirements for its faculty.  That’s right, that is exactly what requiring teachers to have state certification is doing. 

The state department of education in your state, or whatever department it is that is responsible for setting and maintaining teacher certification requirements, is doing so for the public school system.  They are based totally and completely on the philosophy of education under which the public school system operates.  If you’ve had any training at all in basic Christian school educational philosophy, you know that there is one basic difference between the two philosophies which completely separates them from each other in the way that education is done.  Neither the public school system nor the state department of education recognizes God as the creator and sustainer of the universe and the source of all knowledge and wisdom.  They do not recognize the Bible as the written Word of God, truth without any mixture of error.  And they do not teach that education is the process of discovering truth that is revealed by God through his son, Jesus, who is the Christ and the savior of humanity.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg. 

So why would your Christian school turn to the state department of education and the public school system for its stamp of approval on the individuals who are hired to provide instruction in the classroom? 

I think, for some, it is a question of the school’s credibility.  It is a “stamp of approval” and in some cases it may be seen by parents, especially those who either don’t know better, or aren’t particularly looking for the “distinctively Christian” side of the school, as a sign of quality.  Think about that.  Public schools must hire state certified teachers, and if it were a sign of “quality,” wouldn’t all of them be doing a better job?  Also, there are some Christian schools in the whole spectrum of the ministry who, either for lack of adequate resources, or out of conviction, hire individuals who may see themselves as teacher, but who have no solid academic credentials, and in some cases, don’t even have a degree, simply to fill needs. 

I would suggest that “distinctively Christian” schools need “distinctively Christian” teachers, and that requirement makes state certification requirements, and ultimately state based curriculum requirements, irrelevant.  That doesn’t mean that a state certified teacher can’t teach in a Christian school, but that individual would need to meet requirements in some areas that state certification would simply not cover in order to be qualified. 

Here’s The Kingdom Educator’s Christian School Teacher Certification Requirements:

1.  A teacher must have a testimony of a born-again experience with Jesus, a spiritual transformation that occurred following personal repentance from sin, receiving the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for the forgiveness of sin, cleansing of the soul and restoration of the person’s relationship with God.  The teacher must be an active member of the body of Christ as it functions in worship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism and fellowship, described in detail in the New Testament. 

2.  A teacher must have the personal, spiritual maturity to lead students as their mentors in Christian discipleship.  Part of their obligation in this regard is their own involvement in regular study of the Bible through their local church.  In addition to this, teachers at this school must have received the equivalent of six credit hours in Biblical studies at the college level, or through some other recognized continuing education system.  This requirement must be met no later than the end of the first year of employment.  (Try to get your state department of education to implement this through their teacher certification program!)

3.  All teachers must present a certified copy of their college transcript prior to being considered for employment.  A B.A., B.S. or B.G.S. degree is required, and they must have a minimum of 24 credit hours in elementary education coursework in order to be employed at the elementary level.  Secondary teachers must have a minimum of 18 hours of college level credit in any subject which they will teach for one period each day, and a minimum of 24 hours of college level credit in their primary teaching assignment.  Applicants who have Master’s degrees in their subject area will be given preference.

4.  “Continuing Contract Teachers” are those individuals who meet the school’s specific continuing education requirements during the first five years of their employment.  This includes those specific to their hiring as listed above, along with annual participation in one continuing education event per year of at least eight clock hours of training specifically in Christian education, and earning the equivalent of six college level credit hours from an approved Christian college or university source.  Christian school Philosophy of Education can be considered as meeting part of this requirement. 

There are some states in which accreditation goes hand in hand with requiring teachers to hold state teaching credentials, and that certainly creates some difficulties for Christian schools who are trying to hold the line and operate as distinctively Christian institutions.  Some have made the sacrifices that go along with abandoning the accreditation process anyway, while others do their best to make certain that their teaching staff is consistent and compatible with their philosophy and approach.  In this writer’s experience, those individuals who clearly understand that their teaching career is a ministry calling make the best teachers, and many of them have either been educated in other fields, or come from other professions as they are led by the Lord.  And in all fairness, there are those who have this calling in their life who have determined not to allow the process of obtaining a piece of paper which carries the state’s approval of their coursework to be an obstacle to their ministry.

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