Overview of the Survey
"People have many needs—intellectual, physical, emotional, spiritual—but the faith community must keep uppermost in its mind the religious gifts that are no other institution's primary responsibility or intent. The potential for meaning making is so great, and our time together so short, that we must constantly ask ourselves, What religious needs can we serve...? Helping people develop spiritually and act religiously is our unique responsibility. Facilitating this religious growth and learning is what we as liberal religious educators can uniquely offer. Together, making meaning of life and living a life of meaning constitute the there we must make sure is there."
—Judith A. Frediani, from The Essex Conversations
We are all continuously growing in faith. In daily congregational life, in religious education classrooms, whether as designated teachers or students, we are all together in the mutually enriching process of searching, exploring and creating faith together. The term "lifespan faith development" envelops the mutuality of teaching and learning in religious settings. Planning our lifespan faith development programs means attending to all who are participate. Teaching can be a path to spiritual growth and renewal. Our efforts to serve our congregations demand that we not only understand how lifespan faith development programs support participating children and youth, but also how they support the adults who teach.
In the fall of 2004, the Lifespan Faith Development group of the UUA conducted an online survey addressing issues of teacher development and training in UU lifespan faith development programs. The term "teacher" was used to signify adult leaders in faith development programs; it was not used for its traditional, classroom-based connotations. The purpose of the survey was to learn more about teachers in lifespan faith development programs. How do religious educators' attend to teachers? What do they do to frame, support and sustain teachers? What are some future visions of nurturing and supporting teachers? And how can we, as an association, support the ministry of teaching? We wanted to understand more about current practices and future visions to guide our future resource development and ensure that it is aligned with the practices, needs, and visions of congregations. Our general areas of inquiry included four main questions:
- What is the current focus of teacher training and support efforts?
- What are the current formats used for teacher training and support?
- What do volunteer teachers request for support and training?
- What are religious educators' future visions for providing teacher training and support?
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
