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The Kingdom of God Perspective<\/strong> \u2013 an advanced teacher professional development program that focuses on seeing opportunities based on diversity rather than conformity. The Swedish Education Act, the Swedish curriculum, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the EU Charter, and more provide the legal framework for this training, giving it relevance for teachers in the Swedish school system.<\/p>\n The advanced teacher education, The Kingdom of God Perspective<\/em>, is part of the Scandinavian School of Theology (SST)’s College of Education, which offers a range of academic courses online as well as in-person seminar meetings, aimed at current and prospective teachers.<\/p>\n What is meant by “The Kingdom of God Perspective”?<\/strong> The Kingdom of God Perspective<\/strong> aims to help teachers understand how it is possible to view their Christian faith as an asset in the public environment of a school. That faith can harmonize with the teacher\u2019s professional role, instead of faith and worldview being seen as irrelevant and inappropriate, confined to the religious or philosophical sphere. Our interpretation is that the Christian faith and other worldviews and ideas fit within the school\u2019s governing documents and should be allowed to coexist and be visible in Swedish schools.<\/p>\n In the past, the church had something of a monopoly on education and schools. Still, in recent generations, a kind of opposite monopoly has been created for secular humanist philosophy (or religious worldview, as it is classified within the EU).<\/p>\n We want to highlight whether there is pedagogical and legal space for everyone, in a pluralistic context, to be who they are and believe what they believe \u2013 even in school. Instead of the sophisticated historical debate about whether the school should be Christian or secular humanist, we advocate in this training that the school must be pluralistic and open to all \u2013 practically, not just in theory. This is why we call this training “The Kingdom of God Perspective” \u2013 one of several important perspectives in the school<\/em>.<\/p>\n In recent years, there has been a marked increase in children and students from families with different worldviews in our preschools and schools. At the same time, there are fewer arenas in society where different opinions can be respectfully debated. There are also alarming reports from the Swedish School Inspectorate that teachers in the classroom avoid controversial topics to prevent discussions from spiraling out of control. A society where different opinions cannot be respectfully debated becomes increasingly polarized and, therefore, dangerous. The school is perhaps the most important arena where this must be practiced and where it should be easy to have differing opinions. However, creating such schools does not happen automatically. It requires conscious strategies.<\/p>\n The Kingdom of God Perspective<\/em> is such a strategy.<\/p>\n Jesus teaches about stewardship<\/em> as an expression of the Kingdom of God. It is highly relevant today as we see how humanity, removed from its divine context, increasingly misuses the earth’s resources and fails to take responsibility for stewardship. In Luke 16:10, Jesus speaks of the importance of being faithful in the small things, “in what belongs to someone else and which we are set to manage.” From this, He expands the perspective and shows that it is possible to have a more significant, more independent responsibility over “what belongs to us.” Interpreted in a school context, this could mean that a teacher who follows the governing documents and job descriptions appropriately is the one who can be entrusted with more freedom. In national teacher education, the focus is on governing documents and job descriptions, and based on this understanding, we believe that Christian teachers can be confident in walking with the Lord in their daily work \u2013 so confident that it enriches students, colleagues, employers, and parents.<\/p>\n Key aspects of the advanced teacher professional development, which primarily takes place in seminar form, include:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Kingdom of God Perspective<\/strong> is part of SST\u2019s College of Education and thus part of SST\u2019s vision and work. It collaborates with the Christian school movement in Europe, especially through the European Alliance for Christian Education<\/em>, a more than 10-year think tank that meets in Brussels at least once a year and fosters contacts with representatives of the Christian education tradition in over 10 countries.<\/p>\n In conclusion, from today\u2019s school<\/strong>: Torbj\u00f6rn Aronson<\/strong> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Complementary Course in EducationDiversity Instead Of ConformityThe Kingdom of God Perspective at the College of Education The Kingdom of God Perspective \u2013 an advanced teacher professional development program that focuses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9357,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9711","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9711"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10189,"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9711\/revisions\/10189"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teol.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The Gospels describe how Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God: “The time has come, the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15) and “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt 4:17). The Kingdom of Heaven (malkut ha-shamajim) should not be misunderstood as the eternal state after death (“heaven”), but as the state where God’s will reigns. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are terms for the same divine sovereignty, where “heaven” is a synonym for God in the Jewish context. The Kingdom of God is present in this age through Jesus (Luke 7:18-28; 11:20 and 17:21), while the kingdom will one day be perfected in the future (Luke 11:2; 13:28-29 and 22:15-18). Good deeds, ethical norms, and right ambitions can characterize human relationships even where the Kingdom of God has not yet been realized because everything is created by God (Romans 1:20). The image of God in humanity bears traces of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom Jesus speaks of requires people to be born again (John 3:3-10). The Kingdom of God is defined by confession, not ideals and deeds. However, the Kingdom leads to good deeds (Matt 5:17-20), and God’s will is the foundation of the values. In this age, the Christian community lives out the Kingdom of God through the values foundation that will be fully realized in the future. This is the background for using the term “The Kingdom of God Perspective” as a title for SST’s advanced teacher professional development.<\/p>\n\n
Leading from a Kingdom of God Perspective<\/em>. The teacher is an adult role model, which has increasingly become scarce for many young people. Just as educators can and should be influenced by good role models, we want to look at the “Jesus’ model” in this training, as described by Professor Thomas Kroksmark in his book Didaskalos \u2013 Teaching Methodology at the Beginning of Our Era<\/em>. Leadership training in national teacher education has not been prioritized in the way many teacher candidates desire, but this does not have to be the case. Leadership develops over time, and we aim to complement existing knowledge and experiences with biblical references and other Christian scriptures.<\/li>\n
As described earlier, the teacher must relate to the school\u2019s governing documents and their role at the school. Within this framework, there is great freedom to function based on unique gifts in collaboration with other staff members.<\/li>\n
To “live in the role of a Swedish graduate and licensed teacher, but not defined by that role.” Like biblical figures such as Joseph, Esther, Ruth, and Daniel, who changed the course of nations “to be untainted by the king\u2019s food and drink.” This involves working in a secular school without being pressured by secular humanist demands increasingly imposed from certain quarters based on a narrow and biased interpretation of the school’s governing documents.<\/li>\n
Supplementary and advanced subject knowledge through academic courses offered by SST\u2019s\u00a0 College of Education.<\/li>\n
These aim to provide a deeper understanding and experience in developing as a teacher through theoretical teaching and practical workshops. We advocate professionalism, humanity, and humble spirituality so teachers can meet students’ academic and human needs \u2013 including their spiritual needs, as stipulated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The school has reached a new level of dysfunctionality, often called “a crime scene.” This motivates us all to dare to think in new ways, even beyond the limits we are currently restricted by. We see a space in the school\u2019s governing documents to immediately begin teaching, practicing, and enjoying the fruits of solid reconciliation thinking \u2013 to demonstrate the possibility of everyday reconciliation and, by extension, reconciliation and love instead of alienation, hatred, and violence.<\/p>\n
Bo Nyberg<\/strong><\/p>\n