NATIONAL INSTITUTE for CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONSenior Lecturers
Ken Dickens
DipT (Nepean), CertTheol (Moore), MEdSt (CCHE), PhD (Cand)
Ken has been a full-time senior lecturer with NICE since 2000. Prior to taking up this position he taught primary through senior secondary students for thirty years: fifteen with NSW DSE; twelve as Principal of Heritage Christian School, Port Macquarie; and three as Head of Prospect Campus of Tyndale Christian School. During his time at Prospect, Ken also lectured part-time for NICE.
Ken is Chairman of the Academic Planning and Review Committee for NICE, is a member of the Academic Board and Council of the College of Christian Higher Education, and is also a lecturer and member of the Advisory Committee of Wesley Institute. His key interests include the philosophical and theological basis for Christian schools and leadership.
Ken has published several articles, is the presenter in the video The priority of faithfulness in the Christian school and co-edited Pointing the way: Directions for Christian Education in the new millennium and contributor to Engaging the culture.
He preaches regularly at his local church and is often asked to speak at conferences. Ken is currently undertaking doctoral studies on the impact of religious perspectives on patterns of schooling.
In 2009 Ken will assume the acting principalship of NICE until such time as Christian Education National has been able to evaluate and implement the recommendations from its Teacher Education Reference Group which is due to report in December 2008.
Stuart Fowler
MA (Dist) (Potchefstroom), DPhil (Potchefstroom)
Stuart Fowler has been closely involved with Christian schools for over thirty years. He served as a lecturer with the Institute for Christian Education (ICE) from its inception and has regularly lectured and spoken at conferences over a number of years in Kenya and South Africa. He is a consultant to Graduate School of Leadership at the University of Limpopo, South Africa and a visiting professor at Scott Christian University, Kenya. During the spring semester of 1993 he was, by invitation, visiting scholar at the Dordt College Studies Institute in the USA.
He has published a number of books and numerous articles on a range of topics relating the gospel to contemporary issues. His extensive list of publications includes Christian educational distinctives; Christian schooling: Education for freedom; and A Christian voice among students and scholars. His most recent publication (2002) is The Christian professional: Called to the service of love.
In the course of his doctoral studies he spent a period at the University of Geneva researching the work of Jean Piaget and his successors. In 1996-97 he was research coordinator for a national educational research project funded by the commonwealth government under its national professional development program.
Currently, Stuart is a senior lecturer at NICE with special responsibility for research and international services.
Updated on 2 July 2008