Education Sector

We are a global community of professionals leveraging our skills to restore hope!

Education Profile Overview

Educational projects in IDEAS offer our personnel the greatest number of opportunities to engage with communities we serve. Whether pre-K to 12th grade, trade training, or university professorship, these opportunities offer unique and compelling settings to demonstrate the dignity of each learner and the delight the Creator takes in their development. Since our beginnings, IDEAS has worked in local and international schools, training centers, and higher education projects and partnerships across North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

IDEAS Education Sector works to see thriving IDEAS education practitioners engaged in serving communities transformatively through education by:

Defining, applying, and training in best-practices for Christ-centered, contextual, and transformative education.

Building professional networks and connecting practitioners to knowledge, expertise, resources, and funding.

Expanding educational sector work by engaging in new opportunities and strengthening existing projects.

Identifying and targeting transformational outcomes as well as assessing and improving educational practice.

Engaging in educational research aligned with IDEAS values, projects, and priorities.

Representing IDEAS’ voice and perspective in the field of education.

Education Sector Director

Dr. Bill Merrifield, served cross-culturally in Beirut, Lebanon for 17 years. He holds an EdD in Educational Leadership, an MA in Middle Eastern Studies, and an MA in Religion. His experience includes roles in educational leadership and teaching in higher education, secondary education, and theological education. Bill’s research interests focus on the development of contextual critical thinking, social justice perspectives on disability, and refugee education.