Peter van Olst

214 Chapter 6 zones because they feared they would not be able to act as faithful Christians after doing so. After being specifically invited to take the step and observe the example of Christian teaching in a context of high diversity at school 1 or school 2, they described it as an eye-opening experience. They were motivated to think through their own convictions and the essentials of their faith: ‘P1 indicates that she hears from students that being forced to the core is often experienced as refreshing and a wake-up call’. Their operant theology initially expressed a high level of reliance on the safety of their social in-group for their faithfulness; however, as the conversational community concluded from the experiences of participating students, this operant theology could change through practical experiences outside of their comfort zones. 6.2.2 The voice of espoused theology Reflecting on these practical experiences, the conversational community thought about the goal of inviting and taking trainee teachers out of their social comfort zones. It decided to respect the comfort zone as something that can be useful and helpful for faithfulness. Its goal, however, was to ensure that all of the students were acquainted with the high level of diversity and complexity that characterises the society they will work in, whatever type of denomination of school they join. This goal, formulated in the third meeting and reformulated several times afterwards, was not to have all future teachers come to work in schools with high diversity and complexity; rather, it was to at least once during their personhood formation give them the experience of what it means to stand alone as a Christian interacting with others, just to see why subjectifying education is necessary in a context too complex to rely solely on socialising forces. Part of this approach should entail, according to the conversational community, that trainee teachers cannot be forced in a certain direction. On the one hand, it is necessary to overcome hesitation and even resistance, but on the other hand, it is necessary to give students space to do so in their own way. The missional aspect of this type of citizenship formation for Christian trainee teachers involves making them aware of their calling to love God above all and one’s neighbour as one self. But when students are forced to respond to this calling, they need to be given the freedom to do so in their own way. In its 14th meeting, the conversational community decided to pay more attention to the topic of longing and how to foster in students the longing to freely respond to their calling in society. After discussing this matter in the 15th meeting, the outsider team stated that, in a society characterised by fragmentation, polarisation and individualism, the Christian perspective should be characterised by ‘the sense of community and responsibility for each other’.

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