About Lutheran Education and a mirror

Behind the table the panel sits, chaired by a Lutheran bishop from Namibia.
On this side of the table the academic staff of the LTI sit.

Today I attended the final session of a three days evaluation process at the Lutheran Theological Institute, in Pietermaritzburg. I contribute with some teaching there and was happy to be invited into this process.

The process started long ago and an internal evaluation has been carried out at the LTI. The management, the Council and the SALTTT (Southern African Lutheran Theological Training Trust) wanted this external evaluation in the first place and as far as I can understand the panel was well equipped for the task.

Today they delivered an executive preliminary report. The panel introduced it in a professional way, saying that this was not a forensic investigation but a report that should help the institution to improve. Already at that stage I could foresee that the critique was going to be substantial.

The report was divided into affirmations, commendations and concerns. I will not go in and reveal details, as I don’t think this is the correct forum. I just want to point to some areas where the panel had concerns. These areas are well known and so they also came up this time.

The history of the Lutheran Theological Institute is explained like this on the website:

The Lutheran Theological Institute was constituted by consolidating the Umphumulo Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) and the Lutheran House of Studies in Pietermaritzburg (Luthos) in January 2003.

Luthos had been there since maybe 30 years, run by the Lutheran Churches with German origin, called the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (UELCSA). The Umphumulo Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) was run by the black church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA). When the two institutions merged, the objective was to promote Lutheran Unity. This is still a concern. In my own understanding the process is too slow. An overarching vision in many South African contexts is to work towards transformation. I would like this to happen also in the Lutheran family of churches.

Another major issue is that the LTI lacks its own accreditation. Students get registered at the Theological Education by Extension College (TEEC) which is a correspondence institute. Staff and management at the LTI are working towards getting own accreditation as a tertiary educational institution. This process is also slow. Much hope is projected to accreditation as a quick fix. Which I guess will not be the case. But I do agree with other staff members that the TEEC arrangement does not work at present. Instead of being lecturers we as academic staff become tutors. My reading is that the teachers seek to get their own accreditation, so that they can build own curricula and teach Lutheran theology in a way that will allow them to teach with passion. Now academic staff has to abide with TEEC material. It is never good to just repeat what others have produced.

However, I am very happy that the evaluation took place and I now hope and pray that the findings will be shared amongst all the relevant stake holders and also that the institution will be transformed in this process.

The principal concluded by saying that the panel has acted as a mirror. When you see yourself in the mirror, he said, and find out that something is wrong, then you correct it.