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Our Educational Philosophy
Teaching Beyond Subjects
Image Bearers Arts Academy (IBAA) holds to the truth that all students are fully formed persons, deserving of respect and influence, and we must educate the whole person, not just their mind. We do not teach subjects just so that the students gain mastery in a particular field, but, rather, we teach character, empathy, living ideas, and spiritual formation throughout all of the formal education subjects (math, science, social science, and language arts) with an emphasis on educating through the arts.
Focused and Engaging
IBAA believes that students learn best when they are enraptured and engaged inside and outside of the classroom. For this reason, we will teach our students using a variety of methods including project-based learning, seminar learning, blended (or flipped) learning, field trips, and lecture learning – and will use a combination of these teaching methods even within a single course. As we are able to focus on the students themselves and adjust our teaching methods to personally engage each student, subjects will be engaging, enjoyable, immersive, and exciting, resulting in enhanced learning and understanding.
Arts Education
IBAA also believes that integrating a breadth of arts from a Christian perspective into the core learning environment is essential to equipping well-rounded students who rightly see themselves as image bearers of the creative God; and who can be given the freedom to explore various art forms in order to harness their own creativity in a generative way that brings joy, beauty and truth to the artist as well as the culture at large. Treating all students as inherent artists will enable them to be this needed voice of beauty and truth to everyone they encounter.
Exceptional Teachers
IBAA also believes that our teachers need to be exceptional educators who can teach subjects in a cross-curricular manner as is needed for a student’s growth. Therefore, all of our core subject teachers will be trained in cross-curricular education, which is a conscious effort to apply knowledge, principles, and values to more than one academic discipline simultaneously. The disciplines may be related through a central theme, issue, problem, process, topic, or experience. By using real-world scenarios, challenges, and problems, students gain useful knowledge and cross-curricular skills that increase during their designated project periods. This encourages critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and self-management in the learning environment.
Christian Worldview
Most importantly, IBAA teaches our students from the perspective of a Christian worldview in all subjects. We believe that because Christianity is true, it speaks to all of life; it makes a comprehensive claim on everything that is real. Thus, all of our subjects, from the core subjects of math, science, social science, and language arts to the breadth of art subjects will be taught from the Christian worldview. All of our teachers are committed Christians who have woven Christ’s teachings into all of their lives and can speak to the truth and beauty of God through every discipline.
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