Mission Statement

Built upon and reflecting the TMU doctrinal and mission statements, the mission of the Pearl C. Schaffer School of Education is:

To equip and empower effective educators – developing Christ-like, professional practitioners who are called to ensure life-changing learning for all students.

What We Believe

We believe that a career in education is a calling: a professional ministry of service to students, families, and communities.

Life-changing learning is:

• GROUNDED IN TRUTH (which can be discovered by, but is not derived from, our own self).
• TRANSFORMATIONAL, resulting in the development of the learner across the cognitive, social-emotional, spiritual, and physical domains.
• INDIVIDUAL, though informed by and benefitting from socio-cultural setting (context and community).
• EXPERIENTIAL, and can be engaged in and represented by multiple means.

We believe the professional practice of education is:

• EFFECTIVE (as evidenced by life-changing student learning) and ENGAGING (as evidenced by students’ higher-order thinking and ownership of learning).
• PURPOSEFUL (focused on student learning rather than task completion, grades, or test scores) and INTENTIONAL (marked by achievable, measurable, relevant learning goals.)
• RELATIONAL (based in discipleship) and INCLUSIVE (based in equity).
• COLLABORATIVE (making connections with other professionals) and INTERDISCIPLINARY (making connections between subjects and to real world).
• RESPONSIVE (to culture, setting, and students) and DYNAMIC (flexible and adaptable, not static).

Conceptual Framework (.pdf)