International Association for Christian Education

More than 30 participants from nine countries met in the capital of Switzerland as guests of the three local schools with a Protestant tradition: Freies Gymnasium Bern, NMS and Campus Muristalden.
During the welcome evening, the head teachers Annette Geissbühler, David Lingg and Bertrand Knobel gave a short introduction to the educational sytem of Switzerland and to the situation of Protestant private schools, in particular in Bern. They explained also the role of the Forum of Protestant schools in Switzerland. This part was followed by the presentation of the membership candidates Church of Ireland (Republic of Ireland) and Church of Ireland (Northern Ireland) by the heads of their education departments Dr Ken Fennelly and Dr Peter Hamilland, and a review of Christian Education and the Association of Christian Schools in Estonia was given by Tarvo Siilaberg and Dr. Olga Schihalejev.

After two guided tours to the city on Monday morning, delegates and experts met for the thematic part „Developing the capacity for dialogue with others in a pluralistic society”, with contributions by Prof. Dr. Jürg Schoch, Zurich, and doc. Ľubomír Batka,PhD. Bratislava.

In the statutory part, the delegates acknowledged and accepted the financial reports and approved the budget for 2016. The secretary commented on the Annual report for 2014/2015 and the Annual plan 2015/2016. President Dr. Wim Kuiper was re-elected for a further term of four years. As a new member of the Executive Board, the assembly determined Dr. Marián Damankoš from Slovakia, who had already been involved as a guest in the board.

The General Assembly also welcomed three new members unanimously: Church of Ireland (Board of Education Dublin), Church of Ireland (Board of Education Belfast), Association of Christian Schools in Estonia.

After a closing prayer led by Rev. Dr. Birgit Sendler-Koschel, the delegates said goodbye until the next General Assembly, which is expected to take place in Bratislava (Slovakia).

The international Association for Christian Education is an organization of associations from different countries in Europe with the aim to support the Christian Education in privat school as in schools under public law and to save the human values of Christian Education.