It isn't every day that a letter makes the headlines but just a few weeks ago it did. A letter from a head teacher to her students written to accompany their SATs results, went viral. It was reposted and retweeted many many times over. Parents loved it. Teachers loved it. And so did children and young people. We all loved it because that head teacher stated things in that letter which we know to be true - that education and schooling are about far more than grades and point scores and SATs results and league tables. Yes, these things are important – of course they are. But they aren't the point of education. Education is about transformation. It is about helping children and young people to know themselves and their world and the part they have to play in it better and more deeply. So being in schools, being a part of a school, serving in a school – all of these things are an absolute privilege and a huge responsibility.
And we are invited to join in – to help children and young people reach their God-given potential. And that raises some good questions for us.
Sadly sometimes we can have a rather reduced understanding of what it means to serve a school, perhaps committing ourselves simply and only to assemblies and the occasional RE lesson. The theology we carry reflects this, with us preoccupying ourselves with the 'spiritual', responding only to this one dimension of children and young people's existence. But what if we can have a bigger theology, one which sees that God is about the holistic well-being off all people – spiritually, emotionally, physically, educationally, relationally and vocationally. Get hold of that kind of theology - which is quite literally good news at every level of a person's life - and suddenly involvement in schools and in education gets a whole lot bigger and, dare I say it, more fun.
Jill will be exploring this theme in more depth at the Imagine South conference in Luton on 1st September, while RE Today's Lat Blaylock will be tackling the same subject at the North event in York on the 4th. To find out more, and to book tickets (£20, lunch included), visit the Imagine website
