Distinctively Christian: A Christ-centered Approach to Early Childhood Philosophy & Principles

Whether you are writing a personal philosophy or you are responsible for creating a philosophy for an early childhood education program, the insights within this book will guide you through the content and process of forming a wholistic distinctively Christian, Christ-centered philosophy and guide you through the process of identifying best practices and processes.

Without a clearly defined philosophy, programs are subject to being sidetracked by the voices and demands of cultural norms, parent expectations, educational fads, or keeping up with the competition. A loss of philosophical focus can keep a ministry from accomplishing the Christ-centered mission as outlined in book one of this series. To be effective, a philosophy needs to be intentional about providing the basis or rationale for the answers to the questions posed by all stakeholders within the program. Without clearly communicated, philosophically grounded answers to these questions, the voices of our most vocal parents, board members, and teachers may prevail and result in constant changes in direction, loss of continuity, inappropriate methods, and children who experience stress and even failure.

It is for this reason that our need for a written philosophy should be first on our list of standards when seeking accreditation, not to mention our desired outcome of being Christ-centered in all that we do. Because we are in the business of education that is Christian, we must realize that our programs need to be guided by clear philosophical guidelines in the two domains. To be truly an institution of Christ-centered Education, we must have a philosophy of what it means to be Christ-centered and a philosophy of what it means to educate young children.

A Christian philosophy in the broader sense, or what is often referred to as a biblical worldview, will not be addressed within this book. The key questions related to worldview and the means of laying a foundation for a Christ-centered worldview during early childhood are addressed within the first book in this series.

In this second book in the series, we will shift our focus to address areas of belief that influence the thinking and practices of educators. These areas, identified by Dr. Martha MacCullough in her book By Design, include:

• The aim of education
• The nature of the student and learning
• The role of the teacher and teaching
• The nature and purpose of the curriculum