Certificate in a Box: A Program to Teach the Bible in Your School
By Ruth Lukabyo
Schools and churches often find themselves searching for a missing piece, a comprehensive educational resource that bridges the gap between faith and learning. That missing piece is 'Certificate in a Box'.
“The girls do the certificate alongside their HSC subjects and are expected to think deeply and theologically”
Certificate in a Box is a resource for schools and churches which is available from Youthworks College. It provides teaching materials for a certificate in the Bible, theology, and ministry at a secondary educational level. It’s material that is made to be taught to students and lay church leaders by someone with competent teaching skills (e.g., a school teacher, or church minister).
Abbotsleigh, a private school for girls, has been using the Certificate in a Box material in their teaching program for the last few years. It is used as an option for students in years 11 and 12 to study for the certificate instead of doing Christian Studies. The chaplains at Abbotsleigh have been teaching units in the Old Testament and the New Testament to students in a 90 minute period once a fortnight.
Polly Butterworth is a senior school chaplain at Abbotsleigh, and she loves teaching the two subjects. Polly’s experience is that the subjects open a can of worms for the students. She says, “It invigorates them to want to speak or ask questions that are much bigger and much broader. The students who take it are often ready for that next stage of biblical understanding.”
Polly has enjoyed teaching Old Testament, particularly when there are light bulb moments when a student understands how biblical theology works. “I found teaching the Old Testament exciting. To teach them that while it points us to Jesus, it also has great depth and many layers. In class we sit and discuss: ‘Ok, what is this actually talking about and what does it practically mean for me as a Christian?’”
Polly has also appreciated how the notes form a solid base, while also giving space to talk about the things that students were interested in. For example, one of the classes was about genre in the Bible, but they ended up discussing adjacent ideas. Polly recounts, “We kind of sidestepped it and talked about other books like Job and whether it’s a fictional story, what's reality, what's not, and does it matter?” Polly thinks the girls really enjoyed these classes and they were fun for her to teach.
Polly also considers the amount of content in the notes to be just right, that the material gets to the core of whatever the lesson is going to be about and teaches the main points. The package includes a teaching guide, teacher resources, suggested assessments, and a recommended textbook. It’s a foundational unit that can prepare students for further undergraduate study.
A highlight for Polly this year in class was a conversation with a student about the new creation. Polly says, “She realised for the first time that that we will be conscious beings with redeemed bodies. Her was mind blown, she got so excited.”
One of the key reasons that Abbotsleigh decided to use the certificate was the assessments. Polly explains, “A course we have used in the past had a 100% multiple choice exam at the end of the year. This didn’t align with how schools tend to do assessment. At school, good learning involves learning a little bit—being assessed on it, learning a little bit more—being assessed on it, and then learning a little bit more.” In the Youthworks certificate, the assessments are spread throughout the year and are a mixture of short answer questions, a quiz, an extended response, and a short essay.
Polly believes that the assessments also give credibility to the study of the Bible. “The certificate unit is another subject that is given space and carved into the timetable. The girls do the certificate alongside their HSC subjects and are expected to think deeply and theologically. The fact that they are also being assessed gives studying the Bible an academic rigor.”
Abbotsleigh has been very happy with the certificate, and there are other schools planning to use it next year. Could this be a good resource for your school or church to use as you teach your students or church members the Bible?
For more information, see https://www.youthworkscollege.edu.au/certificate-in-a-box