Helen Vaughan, PhD, ACSI Educational Consultant for the International Christian Schools in Europe and Central Asia
One goal is that ACSI serve as a catalyst in helping these schools seek out one another for mutual support and for the vast resources they corporately have.
Sixteen months in the field and still having a blast! I guess most missionaries don’t use this language in describing their work, but I did hear an 18-year veteran once quietly claim, “I love my job.” Indeed, serving as an ACSI educational consultant for Europe and central Asia is a privilege and a joy. Thanks be to God.
So, what is this enjoyable work of an educational consultant? I do have a job description, but the overriding charge is broad in scope: Further the cause of Christ! Serve the schools! Equip Christian educators! This wide girth is invigorating to my entrepreneurial spirit and my strong belief in the importance of Christian education.
Listening to school directors, staff, and boards is first and foremost in my job. What are their felt needs? What can ACSI do to assist them in their worthy endeavors? How can I hook them up with another school that has already addressed their concern? The best listening takes place in the context of relationship, and the best way to build the relationship is to visit the staff members in their school environment. I learn a lot on these school visits. The director and I spend time discussing the challenges that exist. Usually my lodging and meals are with school staff, and we talk shop well into the evening hours. I am trained to learn a lot about a school just by walking the halls and visiting the classrooms. Usually I am scheduled to meet with board members, curriculum committees, or other special groups while I visit a school.
One product of listening was the guidance counselor seminar that ACSI sponsored this past February in Budapest, Hungary. The idea emerged from the discussion that two directors had about the needs at their schools. I executed their idea. Eleven people attended this seminar and gave it rave reviews.
Another idea handed to me was the International Christian Educator Recruiting Fair. This past fall, ACSI, along with the mission organization Share Education Services, sponsored Christian-college representatives on a tour of international Christian schools in Europe. In addition to acquainting students with some college choices, the representatives delivered eight excellent college-preparation seminars to students and parents. The mission community responded so positively to the college fair that we plan to offer it again.
My position as listener has encouraged me to pray fervently about the needs expressed to me. My guess is that the huge nature of the needs here and the huge deficit in resources promote an understanding that Jehovah Jirah, alone, is our provider. I spend much time praying for the schools.
Another key role in my position as an educational consultant is to offer services: in-service training, school improvement consultation including consultation about accreditation and ACSI’s STAR program, events and conference organization, and newsletter and email communication, to name a few. Because I value what ACSI has to offer, I spend time explaining to schools the services they are entitled to through their membership and persuading the schools to use them. Busy directors may not pay much attention to an announcement, for example, about the Student Leadership Conference, but once they have experienced it, they will make the sending of students a priority for years to come.
My boss said that it would take at least two years for me to effectively wade into this job. Now that my feet are wet, I am seeking the direction of God and my colleagues regarding how ACSI can best serve these schools. As the new kid on the block, I know my vision for the future may be sophomoric and even grandiose. Yet possibly, God may translate a naive vision into fresh and attainable goals. Whatever the case may be, I’m focused on four goals: provide excellent services, challenge the thinking behind teacher recruitment, challenge missions to examine the potential of Christian schools, and multiply connectedness and networking among schools.
Provide Excellent Services
I want to keep listening and working with others to provide excellent services targeted to the specific needs of our schools. I desire that all those we serve could say what one couple wrote after a school visit:
This verse keeps coming to my mind when I think of you: “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ ” Again, thank you for your lives, for investing time in us, and for proclaiming the truth.
I especially want to encourage schools in their charge as dispensers of truth and of the sweet aroma of Christ. May authenticity in our own faith be a blessing and a challenge to those we serve for the glory of God.
Challenge the Thinking Behind Teacher Recruitment
Staffing the schools is the most-often-stated challenge burdening these schools. Finding teachers willing to work cross-culturally is hard. Getting them to raise support to do it is even harder. Having them stay awhile borders on the impossible. Yet anyone in the field of education knows the importance of stability and continuity. The frequent understaffing and staff turnover of international Christian schools undermine the crafting of excellence in those schools. I think one reason for this problem is that we are getting what we ask for—short-term commitments from inexperienced and sometimes untrained teachers. Many mission sending agencies even organize their teacher recruitment around a short term of service for inexperienced teachers. Why not target the most experienced teachers with an expectation of 5, 10, or more years of service? As educators we learn that low standards yield low results and that students will rise to high expectations. Maybe this same principle applies to teacher recruitment. In a work as significant as international Christian education, we certainly do not want to underestimate what God can provide.
Challenge Missions to Examine the Potential of Christian Schools
Mission agencies may shoot low when recruiting teachers because the agencies view teachers as serving behind the scenes in member care as opposed to serving in a frontline ministry. I wonder if they have heard the many stories of students, and sometimes whole families, coming to Christ through Christian schools. Have they considered the fact that church planting can be painstakingly slow in the same locations where the international Christian schools have unbelievers standing in line for the privilege of having their children enrolled for six hours of daily exposure to Christian love and the gospel of Christ? As an educational consultant I want to encourage more use of the effective tool of international Christian schools in pointing our global neighbors to Christ.
Multiply Connectedness and Networking Among Schools
Isolation is inherent in the international Christian schools. One goal is that ACSI serve as a catalyst in helping these schools seek out one another for mutual support and for the vast resources they corporately have. ACSI may initially be the network hub, but a quick next step is that schools make direct contact with one another. Also, an interactive web page function is planned precisely for the purposes of enabling the schools to share and solicit expertise through networking.
My prayer is that God will be fully pleased with and will fully guide this work and these goals. I look forward to what is ahead and fully expect to continue having a blast. Thanks be to God.
Journal of an Educational Consultant Q2 2006