CurriCulum

W h at S h o u l d W e D o to C r e at e a B e t t e r T e ac h e r E d C u r r i c u l u m ? ■ 2 4 9Westland believes strongly that Freedom Hill should workto rectify this situation.In addition to the problem of finding teachers, PresidentWestland often hears from Christian school leaders thatthey especially need teachers who can integrate the Christianfaith into K–12 curriculum. School principals tell him thatvery few, if any, teacher education programs prepare teachersto do this work. President Westland knows that integratingfaith into K–12 curriculum is not a simple task, which isone reason why he believes special preparation is necessary.Given the fact that few institutions even attempt this work,Westland insists that Freedom Hill College should lead theconversation.To respond to concerns and help Freedom Hill to provideleadership to K–12 Christian schools, President Westlandbelieves the college must make at least two changes.First, the School of Education needs to enlarge its teachereducation program by recruiting additional students. Thesestudents, moreover, need to be the kind who have an interestin teaching in private Christian schools. Second, PresidentWestland believes that the university needs to establish amaster’s degree program in education that not only preparescandidates to teach in private schools, but also teaches themhow to integrate the Christian faith into K–12 curriculum.Despite these desires, President Westland has not been ableto move forward because he has not had the right kind ofleadership at the dean level within the School of Education.Dean Eugene BarkerThe dean of the School of Education is Dr. Eugene Barker.He is the only dean the School of Education has had in itstwenty years of existence. As one of the earliest membersof the Freedom Hill Department of Education, Barker wasinstrumental in establishing Freedom Hill’s School of Educationas it grew from a small department in the late 1960s to alarge department in the early 1980s and finally into a Schoolof Education in 1989. Dean Barker is seventy-two years oldand has had a long and distinguished career as an educator.He began as an elementary school teacher and has taughtevery level from elementary to college. Some faculty believethe time has arrived for Dean Barker to retire, but othersare satisfied with his leadership. He is well respected andadmired throughout the college, especially on the Freedom