The Wisdom of Taylor Swift I started this post on 23.2.24. It was a very warm summer night in Sydney. As we say in Australia, it was a 'sticky' (humid) evening so I had the window in my study wide open. I could hear frogs in various pots in the garden, crickets singing their sweet songs, and Taylor Swift singing in the stadium at Olympic Park, just a 5-minute drive away and about 3 km (as the crow flies). A storm had just passed drenching the 85,000 fans, including one of my granddaughters and her friends. The music started a little late, but they had an amazing night. The following night anot ..read more

My apologies if you follow my Literacy blog as well as this Pedagogy blog (& thanks too!), but I thought readers of this blog might find these ideas from my Literacy blog of help in holiday periods when school is out. In Australia, our schools will close in the third week of December for the Summer holidays which last about 6 weeks. After over two years of COVID isolation, lock downs and disrupted schooling, life is just starting to return to normal. As we enter holiday periods with our children and grandchildren, it's helpful to plan a little. While some children might go to summer camps ..read more

While writing an article for a journal recently, I was reminded of John Stott’s concept of ‘Double Listening’. I believe it needs to be shared with faith-based teachers and schools. John Robert Walmsley Stott was an English Anglican priest and theologian, who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was the founder, director, and honorary president of the London Institute for Contemporary Studies. He wrote 40 books! His work was always filled with great wisdom.   In one of his many publications, ‘The Contemporary Christian: Applying God’s Word to Today’s World’&nbs ..read more

While the blog focus of this blog is pedagogy, and has been unpacking the arguments contained in “Pedagogy and Education for Life”, you might not be aware that I’ve written a number of other books. These include some on literacy and literature. One of my early books was ‘Other Worlds: The Endless Possibilities of Literature’ (T.H. Cairney, Heinemann: Portsmouth New Hampshire, 1990). I’ve been revisiting my literature book recently, as I grapple with an interesting new book about Critical Theory, (C. Watkin, ‘Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life ..read more

What is Mindfulness?  Unpacking what 'Mindfulness' is can be mixed and confusing. It seems while many teachers talk about mindfulness, each does it for different reasons, and with different understandings of what it is. At times, the concept of mindfulness, can become lost in the challenges teachers have at times, handling and teaching diverse students. Ask three teachers what mindfulness is and I suspect you will be given three different answers. Ask the same people why they believe in it, and again you will have different responses. So, what can we agree on? Dr Stephen McKenzie and Ang ..read more

1. Apprenticeship in the Classroom Students can be brutal to one another in school and also outside school. James Gee talks about this as "...being apprenticed to a social group" which in effect is the shaping of what we believe, accept and reject. I talk about this in "Pedagogy and Education for Life" and and offer some examples of how this occurs in everyday school life. Barbara Rogoff takes the apprenticeship metaphor further by arguing that students are effectively apprenticed into thinking in quite specific ways. Of course, while students have an impact on one another, the teacher also h ..read more

In my last post, I indicated that I would write three posts that address the overriding key purposes that give shape to the pedagogical framework I have outlined in my book 'Pedagogy and Education for Life'.    I suggested that as teachers and school leaders, who are people of God, there are some key principles that should give shape to all we do in our schools and classrooms. For we must do more than just teach and fill heads with knowledge to do well on tests that open up opportunities to gain careers leading to worldly success. Yes, we do seek to nurture our students to do well a ..read more

Since not all readers of this blog have read my book 'Pedagogy and Education for Life', I thought it might be helpful to look at the foundational principles of the pedagogy I developed and encourage. There are three major purposes and each has a number of things we do as people of faith in God to reflect and encourage a right view of education. In this post I will briefly outline the actions that are required to demonstrated that we see this as foundational to our teaching and faith-based education.  The first is that God made us unique creatures! When we enter a classroom we need to keep ..read more

While Master of New College - a Christian residential college at the University of New South Wales (Sydney) - I invited James K.A. Smith to travel from the USA in 2012 to present our annual public lecture series to the College, University and the wider Church. He shared much wisdom on how to live as people of faith in a sometimes hostile world. One truth that resonated strongly with my experiences as a Christian educator, teacher and college head, was his reminder that education is very much an holistic endeavour.  God made us with different abilities, characteristics, bodies, minds, des ..read more

As we approach the beginning of a new school year in Australia, it’s timely to ask every teacher, how they will judge their success as a teacher, as well as that of the school?   My comments are meant for school teachers at any level. As Trevor Hart points out in the foreword to my book, my primary   intent in writing ' Pedagogy and Education for Life' was to challenge teachers to maintain a strong focus on developing both the hearts and minds of their students.  If readers gain nothing else from reading my book, I hope they at least take away the message that teachers need a ..read more