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Training and Personal Development |
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How do we meet this aim? We believe that training should be geared to developing educative and curative skills. However, personal development is the most important part of this learning process. Personal development encompasses the capacity to self-reflect, to renew and reinvent ourselves and our practices in the ever changing context in which we live and work. The pupils present us with ever greater challenges and require us to develop new and imaginative approaches in order to do justice to our task.
To work on ourselves, reflect on our approaches and deepen our knowledge of curative education and social therapy is the path of self-development we must embrace to guide the pupils entrusted to our care in a holistic way.
Training opportunities at the Sheiling School
1. Induction courses Everyone working at the school receives the statutory training to meet the requirements of the National Care Standards, in areas such as prevention of abuse and health and safety. These are delivered by trained people within the school community who are involved in caring for and educating the children (houseparents and teachers).
2. Foundation course We have been running a one-year Foundation Course for several years now. The aim of the course is primarily to give our young co-workers and support workers the possibility to explore aspects of curative education as well as the opportunity to become acquainted with the ethos behind the Camphill impulse. Those who attend the course are also able to gain more insight into and understanding of people with special needs, as well as the educational approaches used in our school. On completion of this course the students receive a certificate of attendance which can contribute to accessing the Camphill course in Curative Education.
3. Camphill course in Curative Education (“The Seminar”) The course is divided into three consecutive years, culminating in a final piece of research which each student presents, both in writing and orally at the end of the third year. There are identified outcomes to be reached for each year. To achieve these there are specific requirements such as writing essays, writing a journal, etc. which are informed by the practical experiences gained in the day-to-day living and working with the children.
In the first year the emphasis is on learning various tools of observation and gaining a sound knowledge of the “home” aspect in our school life. Subjects included in this year are the study of fundamental therapeutic approaches, child observation, the stages of development of the growing child, the esoteric understanding of the Nature of the Human Being, etc. The fist year is more focussed around the aspect of Care in all its implications and around the life in the houses.
In the second year the emphasis is on putting into practice the knowledge acquired in the first year and to explore in depth the educational dimension of our work. The student would therefore become a main helper in the classroom and part of the requirement will be to prepare and deliver a block of teaching (main lesson) over a period of 1-2 weeks. Subjects covered in the second year include the Study of Man (course for teachers by Rudolf Steiner), the physiology and psychology of the Human senses, the understanding of the Waldorf curriculum and aspects of remedial teaching, etc.
In the third year the students take more responsibility and may have to act for short periods of time as assistant to a houseparent or teacher. The main study text is the Curative Education course, which serves as a base to explore in depth further aspects of our holistic approach of care and education. The subjects covered include embryology, pathology and physiology, approaches to anthroposophical diagnosis, deeper aspects of developmental handicaps, emotional disorders and behavioural problems, therapies, etc.
The “path of learning” offered through the three year course is rounded off by on-going assessments, meetings with personal tutors and regular supervision. This course not only aims to equip students with educational tools which are unique to Curative education. The student that decides to take up this course also enters an inner path of self-development and of biographical transformation.
“Seminar gives me impulses to develop myself. I learn about myself and because of that I understand my environment better” (quotation from a former student).
Our practice is to promote further training for everyone, offering a wide range of opportunities based on a personal development plan. The aims are to improve people’s skills, extend their knowledge and thereby offer a higher quality of care and education for our children.
Pierre Vuilleumier, Training Coordinator |
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