Dr Don Roy was an educator, academic and researcher. His first doctoral thesis was completed in 1989 (available in Academia), and in 2023 he graduated with a second PhD, with a thesis adopting a critical realist approach to the study of missional change over more than half a century in the Adventist education system in Australia. He was committed to the engagement of critical realism as a viable underlabourer in the study of organizations.
Sadly, Don passed away in June 2024. Address: New South Wales, Australia
Christian education is replete with terms and expressions that purportedly describe its character... more Christian education is replete with terms and expressions that purportedly describe its character—‘Christ-centred education’, ‘teaching from a Christian perspective’, ‘Biblebased curriculum’, ‘redemptive discipline’, ‘servant ministry’, and so on. They are typically spontaneous expressions. To Christian educators, it seems a reasonable and proper way to describe the enterprise in which they are engaged. While each term or expression has particular connotations, the ideas they represent cluster around the notion of what constitutes ‘ministry’. It is not uncommon to hear Christian education referred to as ‘the ministry of teaching’. But is it just fanciful jargon and cliché? Or is Christian education really ‘ministry’
For nearly three decades, the term, integration of faith and learning, or IFL, has stimulated the... more For nearly three decades, the term, integration of faith and learning, or IFL, has stimulated the imagination of Christian educators. But as time has passed, the concept has become a cliche and lost its potency. Narrow, superficial, and contrived attempts to implement the concept have often only confused the issue further and induced a degree of cynicism. Despite this trend, the concept is still as relevant and important as it always has been, and there is no excuse for complacency. This paper does not wish to oversimplify the concept and its implications, but rather, to demystify it, to explore its implications in new and enabling ways, and to propose strategies for implementing it effectively. In so doing, we will glorify God by reflecting his image more faithfully, as we were originally destined to do. This paper is simply a reflection of one Christian educator's personal journey in relation to IFL. It is offered in a spirit of collaboration in the hope that it may...
Calling education ‘Christian’ doesn’t necessarily make it so. Over the years, many words and expr... more Calling education ‘Christian’ doesn’t necessarily make it so. Over the years, many words and expressions have become part of the rhetoric of Christian educators as they seek to define the essence of Christian education and what it means for schools to function as genuine communities of Christian faith. Two particular concepts are foundational in defining their character: first, genuine Christian schools are Christ-centred in their focus; and, second, the Bible provides the orientation, foundation, and frame of reference to determine their identity, their reason for existence, and their values and practice. But questions remain: what does all this mean, and how does it translate into the reality and practice of schooling as we know it, especially in those aspects commonly regarded as mundane and secular? In this chapter, the author seeks to explain how Christ-centredness and biblical sensitivity provides the answers to such questions, and how the knowledge gained is able to transform...
I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide... more I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide- Prescott Primary Northern. One afternoon last year, when she was 5, she went out to the car to get her schoolbag. Her mother who was feeding the baby at the time became anxious when Maddy didn't return. On investigation, she was confronted by a horrifying spectacle. An aggressive Rottweiler had attacked Maddy, knocked her to the ground, and savaged her back and thighs laying bare the bone in a number of places. She was rushed to the hospital. During the ordeal of cleaning and stitching Maddi’s wounds, the doctors and nurses were amazed at her relative composure. Strangely, the expected trauma and shock appeared to be less than usual. Then, as they worked, they became aware of quiet humming, then words. As they paused and bent to listen, they could heard the small girl quietly singing, My God is so big, So strong and so mighty, There's nothing my God cannot do! Amazed, and dee...
I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide ... more I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide Prescott Primary Northern. One afternoon last year, when she was 5, she went out to the car to get her schoolbag. Her mother who was feeding the baby at the time became anxious when Maddy didn't return. On investigation, she was confronted by a horrifying spectacle . An aggressive Rottweiler had attacked Maddy, knocked her to the ground, and savaged her back and thighs laying bare the bone in a number of places. She was rushed to the hospital.
Christian education is distinctly different from other approaches to education. But knowing what ... more Christian education is distinctly different from other approaches to education. But knowing what that distinctiveness is and acting consistently on it is vital, for Christian schools to be authentic and to justify their existence. This article seeks to identify fundamental premises underlying Christian education; then to establish a set of ground rules for critical discussion and the development of a model to faithfully represent that enterprise. The purpose of the model is two-fold: to capture realistically the dynamic nature or ‘special character’ of Christian schools as communities of faith, and in so doing, provide a useful frame of reference for critical review, strategic planning and renewal of schools calling themselves ‘Christian’. Introduction Become a teacher and make a difference! Who would argue with that? But these words on the roadside billboard promoting a career in the State Public Service evoked a string of further questions: What kind of difference did the promoter...
This thesis aims to explain how the mission of Adventist education in Australia has changed betwe... more This thesis aims to explain how the mission of Adventist education in Australia has changed between 1967 and 2022. In the research, mission was viewed at a basic level as a phenomenon, representing Adventist Education’s (AE’s) raison d’être. However, viewing mission subsequently from a Critical Realist (CR) perspective of society enabled it to be explained at a deeper level according to the “Transformative Model Activity” (TMSA) conceived by Roy Bhaskar (1979). In this view, mission is seen as a complicated, multi-levelled social phenomenon made up of social structures with material, relational, normative, and cultural properties that put pressure on each other or on new entities that have the potential to cause more problems. In this context, change is a dynamic process conceptualised as a succession of morphogenic cycles in the tradition of Margaret Archer, with each cycle initiated by structural conditions that trigger responsive interaction between human agents, producing structural elaboration or reproduction. At one level, data represents concrete evidence located in the actual and empirical domains. However, by the application of analytic dualism and retroductive inference, potentially effective mechanisms and connections existing in the real domain can also be identified. In the thesis, those data have been organised in the form of an analytic narrative, presented and explained in the body of the thesis. Further analysis and explanation of each of the five cycles is based on an analytical model adapted for the thesis. Subsequently, when the cycles representing the 55-year span are viewed collectively, further nuances become evident. There are many known causes and effects between the structural, agential, and cultural factors that affect each cycle. However, it is only now that the unexpected results of these factors being connected across the whole span become clear as conditions that might affect future emergence.
Christian education is replete with terms and expressions that purportedly describe its character... more Christian education is replete with terms and expressions that purportedly describe its character—‘Christ-centred education’, ‘teaching from a Christian perspective’, ‘Biblebased curriculum’, ‘redemptive discipline’, ‘servant ministry’, and so on. They are typically spontaneous expressions. To Christian educators, it seems a reasonable and proper way to describe the enterprise in which they are engaged. While each term or expression has particular connotations, the ideas they represent cluster around the notion of what constitutes ‘ministry’. It is not uncommon to hear Christian education referred to as ‘the ministry of teaching’. But is it just fanciful jargon and cliché? Or is Christian education really ‘ministry’
For nearly three decades, the term, integration of faith and learning, or IFL, has stimulated the... more For nearly three decades, the term, integration of faith and learning, or IFL, has stimulated the imagination of Christian educators. But as time has passed, the concept has become a cliche and lost its potency. Narrow, superficial, and contrived attempts to implement the concept have often only confused the issue further and induced a degree of cynicism. Despite this trend, the concept is still as relevant and important as it always has been, and there is no excuse for complacency. This paper does not wish to oversimplify the concept and its implications, but rather, to demystify it, to explore its implications in new and enabling ways, and to propose strategies for implementing it effectively. In so doing, we will glorify God by reflecting his image more faithfully, as we were originally destined to do. This paper is simply a reflection of one Christian educator's personal journey in relation to IFL. It is offered in a spirit of collaboration in the hope that it may...
Calling education ‘Christian’ doesn’t necessarily make it so. Over the years, many words and expr... more Calling education ‘Christian’ doesn’t necessarily make it so. Over the years, many words and expressions have become part of the rhetoric of Christian educators as they seek to define the essence of Christian education and what it means for schools to function as genuine communities of Christian faith. Two particular concepts are foundational in defining their character: first, genuine Christian schools are Christ-centred in their focus; and, second, the Bible provides the orientation, foundation, and frame of reference to determine their identity, their reason for existence, and their values and practice. But questions remain: what does all this mean, and how does it translate into the reality and practice of schooling as we know it, especially in those aspects commonly regarded as mundane and secular? In this chapter, the author seeks to explain how Christ-centredness and biblical sensitivity provides the answers to such questions, and how the knowledge gained is able to transform...
I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide... more I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide- Prescott Primary Northern. One afternoon last year, when she was 5, she went out to the car to get her schoolbag. Her mother who was feeding the baby at the time became anxious when Maddy didn't return. On investigation, she was confronted by a horrifying spectacle. An aggressive Rottweiler had attacked Maddy, knocked her to the ground, and savaged her back and thighs laying bare the bone in a number of places. She was rushed to the hospital. During the ordeal of cleaning and stitching Maddi’s wounds, the doctors and nurses were amazed at her relative composure. Strangely, the expected trauma and shock appeared to be less than usual. Then, as they worked, they became aware of quiet humming, then words. As they paused and bent to listen, they could heard the small girl quietly singing, My God is so big, So strong and so mighty, There's nothing my God cannot do! Amazed, and dee...
I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide ... more I'd like you to meet Maddi. Little Madeline Paterson attends an Adventist school in Adelaide Prescott Primary Northern. One afternoon last year, when she was 5, she went out to the car to get her schoolbag. Her mother who was feeding the baby at the time became anxious when Maddy didn't return. On investigation, she was confronted by a horrifying spectacle . An aggressive Rottweiler had attacked Maddy, knocked her to the ground, and savaged her back and thighs laying bare the bone in a number of places. She was rushed to the hospital.
Christian education is distinctly different from other approaches to education. But knowing what ... more Christian education is distinctly different from other approaches to education. But knowing what that distinctiveness is and acting consistently on it is vital, for Christian schools to be authentic and to justify their existence. This article seeks to identify fundamental premises underlying Christian education; then to establish a set of ground rules for critical discussion and the development of a model to faithfully represent that enterprise. The purpose of the model is two-fold: to capture realistically the dynamic nature or ‘special character’ of Christian schools as communities of faith, and in so doing, provide a useful frame of reference for critical review, strategic planning and renewal of schools calling themselves ‘Christian’. Introduction Become a teacher and make a difference! Who would argue with that? But these words on the roadside billboard promoting a career in the State Public Service evoked a string of further questions: What kind of difference did the promoter...
This thesis aims to explain how the mission of Adventist education in Australia has changed betwe... more This thesis aims to explain how the mission of Adventist education in Australia has changed between 1967 and 2022. In the research, mission was viewed at a basic level as a phenomenon, representing Adventist Education’s (AE’s) raison d’être. However, viewing mission subsequently from a Critical Realist (CR) perspective of society enabled it to be explained at a deeper level according to the “Transformative Model Activity” (TMSA) conceived by Roy Bhaskar (1979). In this view, mission is seen as a complicated, multi-levelled social phenomenon made up of social structures with material, relational, normative, and cultural properties that put pressure on each other or on new entities that have the potential to cause more problems. In this context, change is a dynamic process conceptualised as a succession of morphogenic cycles in the tradition of Margaret Archer, with each cycle initiated by structural conditions that trigger responsive interaction between human agents, producing structural elaboration or reproduction. At one level, data represents concrete evidence located in the actual and empirical domains. However, by the application of analytic dualism and retroductive inference, potentially effective mechanisms and connections existing in the real domain can also be identified. In the thesis, those data have been organised in the form of an analytic narrative, presented and explained in the body of the thesis. Further analysis and explanation of each of the five cycles is based on an analytical model adapted for the thesis. Subsequently, when the cycles representing the 55-year span are viewed collectively, further nuances become evident. There are many known causes and effects between the structural, agential, and cultural factors that affect each cycle. However, it is only now that the unexpected results of these factors being connected across the whole span become clear as conditions that might affect future emergence.
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