Nearly 90 percent of elementary school children in the US attend public schools. Given
that school serves as a primary social environment in which students deepen the formation
of their identities and worldview, the role of a teacher is significant.
In “The Experience of Being a Christian Public School Teacher,” published by the International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal, Carrie Birmingham, Seaver College professor of teacher education, examined how the faith-based identities
of current Christian public school educators informed their teaching.
“As a teacher, you are a character in that child’s life story and as a Christian,
you really have something to offer,” says Birmingham. “I’m always curious about what
someone’s experiences and motivations are, especially present-day teachers.”
While teachers employed at private Christian schools directly incorporate religious
content into their class curriculum, public school teachers use state-approved, nonreligious
curricula—adhering with the US government’s separation of church and state policies.
Curious about how Christian teachers at public schools integrated their faith-based
identities into the classroom setting, Birmingham interviewed 16 Christian public
school teachers from 11 states and a wide range of grade levels. Though from various
church affiliations, all teachers’ concerns fell into four categories: their purpose
for teaching, their interactions with supports and oppositions, their values for themselves
and for their students, and their perspectives on Christian witness and teaching in
their public school settings.
Birmingham found that all teachers considered their purpose for teaching to be infused
with their commission to represent Christ and accordingly did not disengage from their
religious identities at school. Many of the teachers shared their belief that the
opportunity to teach at a public school, while modeling values of grace, forgiveness,
and patience—which are applicable outside of Christianity—was their God-given calling,
even their ministry.
“Considering that all the Christian teachers involved in this study believed they
had a purpose that was guided by their faith, the clear consensus of all this research
is that religion matters in how teachers approach and conduct their work,” explains
Birmingham. “One teacher who worked in an urban setting often taught about forgiveness.
He explicitly mentioned how his students were living in an area where there was a
present violence, but that learning the value of forgiveness served to improve his
students’ emotional health.”
Despite receiving opposition from both Christian and secular sources, who consider
Christian educators to belong solely in religious-based institutions, Birmingham’s
teachers reported receiving support from fellow colleagues, friends, and family. Many
faith-based teachers gathered at their schools early in the morning for Bible studies
and to pray over their classrooms before their students arrived.
Some teachers described direct support from God, acknowledging that their desire or
gifts for teaching were God-given along with His provision for their jobs and placement
in certain schools and with certain challenging students. Birmingham noted, moreover,
that none of the teachers involved in her study expressed the certain burnout and
despair commonly reported by many public school teachers.
Overall, Birmingham’s study concluded that Christian teachers’ sense of faith-based
purpose sustains their ongoing presence within the public school system.
“The role of religion in the lives of public school teachers is under-researched,”
says Birmingham. “I believe that Christian teachers do belong in public schools because
that’s where the kids are. Christian teachers in public schools trade an amount of
freedom to teach from an explicitly Christian perspective for the honor to become
an important, face-to-face, daily influence in the lives of students and their families.”