Christian Schools have welcomed what they say was the successful launch of the Be That Teacher Campaign. They congratulated state and federal governments for backing the initiative to showcase the value and importance of teachers. It seeks to encourage more Australians to consider a teaching career in all schools. It received wholehearted endorsement from the Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS), Associated Christian Schools (ACS), and Christian Schools Australia (CSA).
They said: “We strongly support seeing more inspiring people become teachers, across all our schools and in the Catholic and government schooling systems. If you are a Christian and inspiring kids drives you to share your faith, Christian schools are a brilliant avenue to live out that inspiration. The campaign resonates deeply with the mission of Christian schools, highlighting the impact of teachers on students’ lives.”
“In Christian schools this impact extends to the impact of the faith of teachers and other staff. At mychristianschool.au we’ve collected over 1,200 stories of how the faith of staff has positively impacted students and families. Anna, a teacher in Tasmania highlighted how “75% of her school families are not people of faith, but they still wanted the influence and care provided by Christian teachers. Those families believed Christian staff are genuinely loving, caring and inclusive role models for their children. They wanted the children to have the character of teachers who follow Jesus.”
The mychristianschool.au website reveals how the faith of teachers is inspiring “our kids for lives of service’ and notes that because those teachers “are under pressure for their beliefs it’s time we spoke up for them.”
It writes: “The facts are in. The living faith of teachers and staff leads Aussie kids to serve in communities, families and industries. But some want to diminish that faith, forcing teachers to say their beliefs are not the truth. After hearing the truth of God’s love at school from our teachers, most of our students go on to volunteer in the community.”
“Yet, education experts are telling the government:
- Christian teachers at Christian schools should not be able to teach the truth of the Christian faith.
- Christian schools shouldn’t be able to hire teachers for the quality of their Christian faith.
Why would we let ‘experts’ stop the good our teachers do?” the website asks as it collects masses of evidence in support of Christian teachers..
