By Heather J. S. Birch and Kristen Goodman
As a Christian teacher education program, Tyndale’s bachelor of education includes a focus on faith and beliefs and how these impact who we are. This means we encourage all candidates to think about their faith and beliefs and how these impact us as people and as educators, and in turn, how this impacts learners. In courses, we facilitate discussions regarding matters of faith. As our program is open to anyone, regardless of faith background, and approximately half of our enrolled teacher candidates do not identify as Christian, this means that conversations about faith involve many perspectives and traditions. The Faith Expressions Field Trips, which take place as part of a course called Differentiated Instruction for Diverse Learners, are a means for us to emphasize the importance of faith, and ultimately honor the faith of K–12 learners in classrooms that our teacher candidates will end up teaching, especially when that faith may be different than their own.
The primary objective of arranging these field trips is to help candidates be aware of and understand their future students’ various faith backgrounds, so they will be able to honor the diversity in their classrooms and differentiate student experiences when appropriate.
The Faith Expressions Field Trips are an important component of our teacher education program, which is located within the urban landscape of Toronto. Within a one mile radius of the university campus, there are ten different places of worship representing various faith traditions. These include Buddhist temples, Jewish synagogues, Islamic mosques, Zoroastrian temples, Hindu mandirs, and Christian churches, including Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox sites. Our teacher candidates, who themselves come from diverse faith backgrounds, participate in these field trips in order to learn about diverse religious perspectives through direct engagement with different faith communities. The primary objective of arranging these field trips is to help candidates be aware of and understand their future students’ various faith backgrounds, so they will be able to honor the diversity in their classrooms and differentiate student experiences when appropriate. Through meeting faith leaders, our candidates are directly introduced to different religious traditions and given insight into what each faith community would like teachers to understand about their children and their worldviews, values, customs, religious observances, and celebrations. This empowers candidates to engage in culturally responsive approaches to their teaching that can facilitate an inclusive classroom environment.
Planning and Organization
Over the last fourteen years of conducting these Faith Expressions visits, we have developed a structured approach to planning and organizing. First, we select faith sites to visit. In our context, we consider proximity to our university and willingness of community leaders who have welcomed our teacher candidates in the past. We maintain a list of faith sites and the names of their community leaders, along with contact information.
Then we send email requests for faith leaders to host, in their place of worship, a group of six to eight teacher candidates who are interested in learning about the faith community and the children from that community. As the active faith leaders may change each year, this email request includes the following contextual information:
- an introduction to our university, with a brief description of the teacher education program and its purpose;
- an explanation of the Faith Expressions component of the program, with the goal of teacher candidates honoring the faith and faith backgrounds of their students;
- the official request to visit the faith community’s place of worship;
- a description of the purpose of the visit, which is for candidates to learn about the faith and understand how to better serve students of that faith in educational settings;
- an invitation for the faith leader to share a basic introduction to their faith; information about their community’s worldview, values, and customs; and an explanation of religious observances and celebrations, along with any potential accommodations that may be appreciated in school settings;
- the proposed date and time for the visit;
- an invitation for questions and further discussion; and
- contact information for the course instructor and program director.
[W]e have found a warm response across all of the faith communities so far, including Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, and Shri Swaminarayan communities.
We do not expect or assume that every place of worship will be willing or able to host our candidates, but we have found a warm response across all of the faith communities so far, including Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, and Shri Swaminarayan communities. We recently added the option for candidates to visit a Christian place of worship. While we did not previously offer this, more of our Muslim and Sikh candidates began to request an opportunity to speak to a Christian pastor or priest and to learn about how to support Christian students in their public school classrooms.
We have found that it is important to reach out well in advance and also to consider various religious holidays or significant faith days to ensure that we are not requesting a visit during one of these busy or sacred times. In addition, we have learned that it is necessary to be flexible in scheduling visits. Most visits can be scheduled during class meeting times, but some sites may not be available on specific days of the week. The visits are scheduled throughout a one-week period, both during scheduled class times and on days off from class and after school times, which provides opportunities for teacher candidates who want to visit more than the one faith site that is required.
Upon hearing back from faith community leaders that they are willing to host our candidates, we engage in communication, either through email or by phone, to finalize the details. At that time, we ask if there are any protocols to be followed upon entering their place of worship. Some of these requests are around removal of shoes when entering places of worship or ensuring clothing covers arms, shoulders, knees, and hair for women in some locations. These expectations are shared with the candidates.
Preparing for the Learning
In order to prepare for the Faith Expressions Field Trips, teacher candidates complete a series of tasks facilitated by the instructor of the course (Kristen). First, candidates read the policies of a few local school boards in order to deepen their knowledge of the types of religious accommodations teachers need to consider. Then, candidates consider the options for visiting a faith site and sign up to visit at least one site that is different from their own faith tradition.
[C]andidates read the policies of a few local school boards in order to deepen their knowledge of the types of religious accommodations teachers need to consider.
The course instructor advises candidates that while they will likely be given the opportunity to ask questions and participate in discussion during the visit, the visit is first and foremost a chance to be attentive to a person from a faith community that is different from their own lived experiences. The course instructor shares the importance of using the time to listen and learn. This is an abridged version of this article. To read more, subscribe to the print or digital edition of Christian Educators Journal.
Works Cited
Jigsaw, Cult of Pedagogy, www.cultofpedagogy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Jigsaw-Instructions.pdf.
UDL (Universal Design for Learning), “Consideration 7.2: Optimize Relevance, Value, and Authenticity,” Cast, 2024, udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement/interests-identities/relevance-value-authenticity/.
Heather J. S. Birch is an associate professor of education and the director of the bachelor of education program at Tyndale University. Her experience as an elementary school teacher and teacher educator has inspired her to seek ways to facilitate theory-practice connections for pre-service teachers.
Kristen Goodman is an educator with over twenty years of experience in K–8 classrooms and teacher education. She advises teacher candidates and teaches at Tyndale University, specializing in special education, assessment, UDL, and inclusive classrooms. She holds a master of education degree from the University of Toronto.