By Design: Developing a Philosophy of Education Informed by a Christian Worldview

by Martha E. MacCullough

A Christian educator’s philosophy of education serves as a guide to educational practices and as a tool to evaluate and develop practices that are coherent and consistent with a Christian worldview. In By Design, Dr. MacCullough walks her readers through a disciplined exercise in developing a personal philosophy of education that is informed by their worldview.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very useful book, despite the lower rating. The 2 stars are primarily for the mechanics and style of the book, rather than the content. The book felt like a loosely connected series of lectures, complete with breaks for "discussion" and writing prompts in the middle of the chapters. While that can be helpful and some of the exercises proved to be so, the end result was a less clear train of thought throughout the book.

I recommend this book as a practical introduction to writing a Christian Philosophy of Education, but the theoretical/philosophical aspect behind it is not clearly argued.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Practical but poorly executed

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book, or one like it from a list, for my new teaching job. Can't say I would have read it otherwise, but it wasn't terrible.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to help an educator to develop a Christian worldview in one's philosophy of education. A must for anyone going into Christian Education of is already teaching in a Christian school.

[Kiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I’ve read so far on biblical worldview curriculum integration for Christian education. There’s a sequel I hope to read before school starts that’s more practical, while this is a guide for the Christian educator to form a thorough and functional philosophy of eduction that is distinctively biblical. I think the best aspect of MacCullough’s approach is she approaches biblical integration from the field of education outward, instead of starting with biblical studies and latching it on to educational theories. I find it more palatable to the trained educator who, for lack of theological education, feels understandably insufficient to the task of integrating well. She demonstrates theories of learning ranging from the humanistic and behaviorist influence and utilizes strengths and language from each to articulate an interactive actional theory of learning that is distinctive. She draws heavily from James Sire’s “Universe Next Door” to capture the essential questions and answers of a Christian worldview, and highlights the need for planned, integrative coherence across the spectrum of each subject’s curriculum. One thing I’d add to what she wrote is the importance of a love for Scripture and a belief in its authority. She didn’t say it because it’s likely assumed, and it shouldn’t be. There’s a lack of motivation to integrate in many schools before there is a lack of both knowledge and respect for the Bible. There’s a legitimate fear of doing it poorly, and when it is done poorly it can be a comedy of errors that scares everyone away. But those who know it and love it know the value of taking whatever time it needs to do it well as a whole team. 226 pages of Christian education.

[Kevin Fulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is certainly helpful in thinking through how to develop your own philosophy of education. But it would have been stronger if it tried to make stronger claims. It will ask questions in an open ended manner. The problem is that wrong answers to these questions hurt students.
Ex: Who has primary responsibility of education for the child?
Were humans created good, bad, or neutral?
Do all students learn alike or differently?

These questions are not open to interpretation, so posing them as simply open ended questions where you explain what you think is unhelpful. The author should have put restrictions where the Bible puts restrictions on the first two.
For the third, the author should have included more cognitive science research. This would have shown that all students learn alike (through the same processes) but at different rates. But the author seems to be relatively ignorant of cognitive science as she refers to learning styles...

Overall, I would recommend this book as a useful tool. It is helpful in walking you through the process of developing a Christian philosophy of education, which is the book's purpose.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great for helping me create a structure for my Philosophy of Education document. However, I think the reader that would be best served by this book would be someone with at least an introductory course of education. I found myself still wondering about many of the concepts introduced within the book. Martha MacCullough did acknowledge, however, that additional reading would most likely be required to deeply explore certain concepts.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of the requirements to obtain licensure. It would be beat utilized as a textbook (which I think was the author/publisher's intent based on format). Too many times were their activities and discussions that were less than stellar as an independent reader. It has good content, I just didn't care for the layout.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a text book read. It is intended to be informative and be used as a resource to build your own personal educational philosophy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it super helpful to guide my thinking for my own philosophy of education. For a teacher looking to improve their understanding of educational theories and change their mindset for teaching, I would recommend it.

[Annie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to write a paper for my job but it was actually very good. It was neat to examine the way in which Jesus taught: questions, storytelling, etc. and how it was fundamentally interactive! I love that I get to weave Jesus into my job!

[Rich · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would never have made it through this if it had not been a required reading for work. Yikes. This was like shredded wheat. Not sure I got anything out of it.

[Caleb Bent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great summary of format for those Christian educators who seek to write a philosophy of education based on their worldview. Highly recommended!

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to read through. Choppy. Good info.

[Awan Jadoel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku yang berhubungan filsafat pendidikan, berdasarkan wawasan dunia kristiani. Menarik dengan gaya bahasa dan model yang disajikan memudahkan memahami tujuan buku ini ditulis.

[Chrisann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for my private school license renewal. It had good points, but it was pretty dry and boring.

[Ste Fy · Rating 1 out of 5]

woman preaching. Nah, thank you.
Was mandatory to read as professor at a christian school.
It has some good things in it, but in total, i don't recommend.

It hurt my eyes.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the ideas are sound, but the widespread typographical and grammatical errors undermine the text’s professionalism. I want to get a red pen out and send it back to the publisher for revisions.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a required read for my teaching cert. for work. It was informative and to the point about what it means to develop a philosophy of education with a Biblical worldview outlook.