The Vision
Underlying their vision was a belief that life is about growth, struggle and transformation, and people seeking counselling are in situations which provide enormous opportunity for personal transformation. The counsellor, therefore, needs to understand this process at a deep level and this is what the college aims to do - integrate academic learning with learning that is experiential and self revealing.
Discovering the personal self
The first year of the counselling course is therefore focussed on discovering and understanding the personal self - "bringing out what is natural in students so they can become the most of who they are." Students are required to look at their own life histories while at the same time looking at a particular lineage of consciousness in history. By investigating how a particular culture grew and changed, and relating it back to the personal they are able to understand the history of the transformation process, as well as giving them an open awareness of difference. The level of understanding achieved is highly dependent on how much of themselves they project and invest into this examination.
Students are also asked to select an illuminary person from history who was involved in a major change or paradigm shift. They immerse themselves in this person and are required to live and act like them for one whole month culminating in a presentation to the class as that person. They use self reflective tools such as journaling, meditation, art and drama in order to help express themselves and to "re-align themselves within themselves."
Discovering the professional self
The second year is about developing the professional self. Robert Waterman, one of the founders, said "It is important to transform the student first, then they can learn effectively and find their passion." In this case, their passion is finding a particular counselling modality that resonates with themselves. Students are asked to study various famous psychologists and choose one that they can immerse themselves into. The final test is working with clients as this person ... doing what they do, thinking what they think. The second year course is academically rigorous - students are required to study the theory and produce academic essays and reports. Balanced with this is deep experiencing of different modalities and an internship with practising counsellors.
Assessment
Assessment is not only based on products but also the struggle, the sincerity, the applying of oneself to being fully present and focussed in the activity. When asked how could another person judge these things of the student given theat someone could put in a lot of struggle but that didn't mean they had grasped the concepts, the co-ordinator of the second year course, Susan Schmall, replied that they actually have explicit criteria for judging this. For example, in group activities assessment is based on the following:
Professional Development and visioning
When asked how the College ensured that its vision was shared by new faculty and kept alive and vital, and what professional development was being undertaken to keep faculty up with innovative teaching techniques, Susan addmitted that this was where improvement was needed. While the College was currently engaged in providing innovative and highly regarded curriculum and delivery, it wasn't putting much effort into the ongoing visioning and professional development of the faculty.
Originally, new faculty were asked to sit in for the whole course they were going to teach. Now however they come to a couple of classes and talk to the past teacher. They are asked to take the course as it stands the first time, then after that they can consider adapting it. Susan said some of the faculty did not fully engage with the vision and their teaching styles sometimes reflected a more conservative and traditional approach - didactic, intellectual problem solving etc.
Article by Sue Stack
|
|
| How could a model based on "Find your personal self first, then find your professional self" be applied to teacher education? |
|
Is education about encouraging growth, transformation and enabling students to become the most of who they are? If so, how does our current education system encourage this? How many of our students actually go through a deep and meaningful struggle as a result of their striving for learning and self knowledge? What could we be doing to assist this?
|
|
How can our assessment honour the student
and their struggle while at the same time
being accountable and aiming for
standards?
|
|
How important is it for teachers within an
institution to have a shared vision or sense
of values about what the purpose of
education is?
|
|
How can we keep innovative institutions or
practices alive and vital as well as bringing
on board new participants who are
empowered to add to the vision?
|