Pip's Passionate Creed in Education

Norsworthy (2009) identifies that “being professional requires a personal commitment to the telos or purpose of the professional activity and involves intentionality”.

A Passionate Creed is:

• “a belief held with intensity that permeates the teacher’s thoughts about his or her teaching” (LaBoskey, 1994, p. 97).

• “the passionate motivation which you recognise God has placed in your life” (Norsworthy, 2008, p.3).

• “a strong belief or overarching moral purpose that motivates you” (Norsworthy, 2008, p.4).

Within the educational context the Passionate Creed aims to effectively capture aspects of:

• the teacher’s person – who they are as an individual

• their mission, passion, and values – what they endeavour to achieve and do

As well as communicating

• how teachers intend to implement this in their practice and

• why teachers want to practice in this way

Proposes a purpose and a mission to accomplish

LaBoskey credits the passionate creed for bringing a focus to the individual’s role as an educator, specifically offering “a purpose, a rationale for, and a mission to accomplish in and through their teaching” (LaBoskey, 1994).

Enables beginning teachers to engage in reflective practice,

LaBoskey suggests that a passionate creed also has a significant role in enabling beginning teachers to engage in reflective practice, leading to them establishing themselves as “Alert Novices”.

The Passionate Creed enables beginning teachers to reflect on who they are, who their students are and why teaching our subject is important

Parker Palmer (2007, p.2) notes that “knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject”.

Knowing Self

(Palmer, 2007, p.2)

The Passionate Creed assists beginning teachers to:

• Identify and understand their passion and purpose as a professional educator.

• Develop their ability to engage in reflective practice and become an "alert novice".

• Increase clarity and ability to articulate why certain practices, attitudes and approaches are implemented, which ultimately impacts the effectiveness of their teaching practice.

Summary of Passionate Crest

As a professional teacher I am committed to:

• Journeying with students, connecting with their hearts, minds and cultural identity.
• Developing trusted relationships with students.
• Encouraging and enabling students to develop a personal understanding of their identity.
• Assisting students to discover what they can contribute to being in community with others.
• Accepting the responsibility for advocating for students.
• Modeling to students Jesus’s transformative love, justice, mercy and hope for a purposeful future.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Durie, M. (2001). Mauri ora: The dynamics of Maori health. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Erikson, E. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.

Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & LeCornu, R. (2015). Teaching challenges and dilemmas (5th ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage.

Graham, D. L. (2003). Teaching redemptively: Bringing grace and truth into your classroom. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London, England: Routledge

LaBoskey, V. K. (1994). Development of reflective practice: A study of pre-service teachers. London, England: Teachers’ College Press.

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370.

Meighan, R. & Harber, C. (2012). A sociology of educating (5th ed.). London, England: Continuum.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2013). Ka Hikitia: Accelerating success 2013-2017. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

References

New Zealand Education Council. (2015). Graduating teacher standards: Aotearoa New Zealand. Retrieved from https://teachingcouncil.nz/sites/default/files/gts-poster.pdf

New Zealand Education Council. (2017). Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession. Retrieved from https://teachingcouncil.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Norsworthy, B. (2015). Conceptual framework for teacher education at Bethlehem Tertiary Institute. Tauranga, New Zealand: Bethlehem Tertiary Institute.

Norsworthy, B. (2008). Working with a passionate creed. Tauranga, New Zealand: ConsultEd.

Norswrthy, B. (2007). Pedagogy as a person: relational and transformative teachers. Christian School Education,10(3), 32-34.

Norsworthy, B. (2002). Revisiting Reflection. Waikato Journal of Education, 8, 101-114.

Palmer, P. (2007). The courage to teach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Van Brummelen, H. (2009). Walking with God in the classroom (3rd ed.). Seattle, WA: Alta Vista College Press.

Van Brummelen, H. (2002). Stepping stones to curriculum: A biblical path. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design.