James Banks

A common theme in Christian school literature is the search for and/or description of the distinctiveness of the Christian school and the Christian school movement.  There is general recognition that the Christian school exists as an alternative to public schools and even non-religious private schools for a variety of historical, philosophical, and practical reasons.  Faith-based schools, that is, religious schools in general, and Christian schools in particular, have a unique place in the United States and Canada, in particular, but even more broadly in Europe.

The integration of faith and learning is essential to religious schools. Though there are practical differences in how faith is integrated, fundamental differences exist in how schools conceive and articulate such integration. Beginning with a review of the historical, political, and philosophical roots of the religious school movement in America, this study examined the beliefs of religious schools about the integration of faith and learning, and how those beliefs work out in the school program. Examples included Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and various Protestant schools in the United States and Europe. Several integration models were presented. Finally, a model of integration based on the work of the 20th century theologian, apologist, and educator Cornelius Van Til was presented.

A distinctive of private religious schooling is the opportunity to integrate faith and learning in the school curriculum, or perhaps (according to one theological/philosophical construct) it is to recognize how faith is already an integral part of all learning, even all of life.  Were it not for the religious perspective, faith-based schools might look the same as many public and private non-sectarian schools.  The integration of faith and learning is an essential ingredient that makes religious schools what they are.

The purpose of this study is to explore the distinctiveness of the Christian school, specifically as expressed in the phrase, “the integration of faith and learning (IFL),” and to investigate how experienced teachers understand this expression and how they actually see faith integrated in practice.  A multiple case study was conducted using interview methodology.  Twenty-eight K-12 teachers participated from eleven Christian schools affiliated with five Christian school associations.  Data included participants’ perceptions about what evidence there is that faith is integrated with learning at their school.  Participants were asked to report evidence of faith being integral in the life of the school in general, in school and curricular documents, in the classroom environment, and in instruction.  In addition, participants were asked about religious neutrality, the idea of the sacred and secular in the curriculum, and whether faith is explicitly or implicit integrated in the curriculum.  Theoretical constructs based on the philosophies of 19th century Dutch neocalvinism and 20th century reformed epistemology informed the study, and a framework of curricular integration adapted from recent work in multicultural education served to structure the analysis and discussion.

The purpose of this study is to explore the distinctiveness of the Christian school, specifically as expressed in the phrase, “the integration of faith and learning (IFL),” and to investigate how experienced teachers understand this expression and how they actually see faith integrated in practice.  The goal is to contribute toward a vision of what it means to integrate faith in the process of teaching and learning in religious schools and how IFL is practiced.

The goal of this research is to explore the meaning and practice of the integration of faith and learning (IFL) in the context of the Christian school.  This research was accomplished following a multiple case study method.  The phenomenon being studied was “the integration of faith and learning.”  This phenomenon was explored as it was manifested in individual cases, namely, in participants who were K-12 teachers in Christian day schools.  Each new case was treated as a replication of the study.  Data were gathered primarily through interviews with teacher participants.  In addition, I toured and photographed school facilities and classrooms, observed student interaction, hall and classroom displays, bulletin boards, and noted especially visual and artifact evidence for the integration of faith and learning.  I also read school and school association literature, especially mission and vision statements, and school and association web sites.  Interviews followed a structured question format and the interview questions were based upon these research questions:
1) What are the distinctive qualities of the Christian School?
2) What does the expression, “the integration of faith and learning” mean to the Christian school teacher?
3) How does a Christian school teacher integrate faith in the classroom? Or How does a Christian school teacher practice IFL?

James Banks’s framework for determining the levels of integration of multicultural content in teachers’ pedagogy has long been a tool used by researchers worldwide. This article introduces the Holistic Analysis of Multicultural Teaching Framework that rethinks Banks’s framework to allow research analysis to capture the hybrid and fluid aspects of teachers’ multicultural practices as well as the pauses in their practices over time. Data from a study on U.S. dual language teachers’ classroom implementation of multicultural practices serves to illustrate the utility of the Holistic Analysis framework in analyzing teachers’ multicultural practices. Implications for teacher educators and researchers are discussed.