Canberra and Melbourne.
Two conferences in two weeks: National Training Event (AFES), and an Engineering Education conference (AAEE).
The difference in tone was really remarkable. The theme of NTE was God’s word to God’s world, and was consistently and thoroughly marked by a dependence on hearing and receiving God’s words. One of the speakers, Peter Adam, had a consistent refrain in his talks: Hearing God is Receiving God’s words, written for his people, by his Spirit, about his Son. There was a real understanding that God has spoken clearly in the Scriptures in a way that is both accessible and applicable to those who hear now. In short, there was truth, and truth recognised and taken on board as determinative for life.
The Education conference, on the other hand, was a little like the blind leading the blind. I went down on behalf of the team I worked with at UNSW, to present a paper on the way we had structured and taught a particular Electrical Engineering subject this year. All the people at this conference were educators in some way, mostly lecturers/faculty at various universities, and many of them really passionate about teaching their students the profession they know and love. The content of the presentations, however, were almost universally along the lines of ‘this is what we tried, it seemed to work (or, alternatively, it really didn’t), you might like to try it yourself’. Even those with massive experience and expertise in education philosophy and techniques were reluctant to make broad sweeping statements.
For good reason.
There is no reason to expect any particular educational philosophy is canonically good and true. There is, however, every reason to expect that God’s word is truth for his people, to be accepted as such.
The tone of the conferences was actually a great encouragement. Christians are confident that God speaks to his world by his word. Other endeavours are trying to feel their way towards something that works perhaps a little better than other systems tried to date. In reading the Bible, this is a great comfort.
God’s words, written for his people, by his Spirit, about his Son.
Truth indeed.
Melbourne doesn’t seem to have as many pubs as Sydney, which is surprising - popular folklore (at least that which I have heard) has it that the nightlife scene and pub music scene in Melbourne is much better than Sydney.
