Continuing Education for Trainers

Ассоциация “Содружество лечебно-педагогических и социально-терапевтических организаций” (Association “Community of Curative Educational and Social-Therapeutic Organizations”) | Russia

Camphill Academy | USA

Seminario Cruz del Sur | Argentina

Preparation and Process (see Letter of Invitation for details):

Participants select an aspect of their current teaching practice (e.g. a course, unit, module, practice environment or mentoring process) for which they are responsible, either individually or as part of an instructional team. Participants are asked to chose one or several of the methodical-didactic principles covered in the material to integrate into their instructional practices the term leading up to the conference, track their experience, experiment and adjust throughout the year and evaluate it together with peers and students. The results from participants’ action-inquiry processes will be brought together, shared and reviewed as part of the ‘Methodical-Didactic Lab’. This will provide the basis for joint reflection, identification of key principles and practices, and the conditions for their successful implementation. Activities and outcomes will be captured to be evaluated and documented for inclusion in the project’s platform for exchange of good practice. Key questions and ideas for the further development of instructional practice will be identified and will inform each participant’s individual goals for the following academic year, as well as the directions and focus areas for the preparation of the second Lab.

Objectives:

As a result of Methodical-Didactic Lab I: Integrating Study, Practice and Contemplative Inquiry, participants will

• Recognize and deliberately access their own educational practice as an opportunity for action-based reflection, inquiry and research;
• (Re-)connect with key principles for VET instruction that have been identified, discussed and developed within the context of the International Training Circle over the past 12+ years;
• Engage peers and students as partners in reflection on and evaluation of their own practice;
• Identify new questions and goals for the further evolution of their own educational practice;
• Discover new educational perspectives, instructional design ideas and methodical-didactic possibilities through collegial exchange;
• Build confidence in their own ability to develop creative approaches and share these with colleagues;
• Appreciate and become comfortable with participating in open collegial dialogue and giving and receiving peer evaluation and peer-feedback.

Holding the Void – Acting in Radical Uncertainty

Dates: May 4 – 7, 2022

Location: Anthroposophisches Zentrum, Kassel, Germany & online via Zoom

Objectives

As a result of Methodical-Didactic Lab II: Building Communities for Emergent Learning, participants will:

• Refine their ability to use their own educational practice as an opportunity for action-based reflection, inquiry and research;
• Discover how the principles of individual emergent, biographically anchored learning and the building of learning communities complement and support each other;
• Find ways of including these principles in their instructional design process in a way that enhances their educational practice;
• Engage peers and students as partners in developing their educational practice;
• Identify new questions and goals for the further evolution of their own educational practice;
• Discover new educational perspectives, instructional design ideas and methodical-didactic possibilities through collegial exchange;
• Develop ways and methods of working with peer feedback and collaborative peer-based processes that can be implemented with colleagues in their own organization.

Gegenwärtig sein in Zeiten der Vernichtung – Cocreating local and global ecosystems of social learning

Being present in times of annihilation – Lokale und globale Räume für soziales Lernen gemeinsam gestalten

Dates: April 26 – 29, 2023

Location: Anthroposophisches Zentrum, Kassel, Germany

Complete the Registration Form Here! (closed)

Please read the Letter of Invitation (below) before registering.

Invitees:

• Faculty, instructors, teachers and mentors from project partner organizations
• Faculty, instructors, teachers and mentors from other professional education and training providers in the global network of the Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development

Conference Fee and Financial Assistance:

Participation in the conference is free of charge for eligible faculty members, instructors and mentors in the network. Members of partner organizations will receive a grant towards travel expenses from ERASMUS+ project funds. Members of other associated organizations in the Council’s network may apply for support from the Council’s Solidarity Fund as needed. All organizations in the international network of the Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development are invited to make a voluntary contribution to the Council’s Solidarity Fund for future trainers’ conferences.

Primary Conference Languages: English, German

Letter of Invitation: Deutsch | English

Program: Deutsch | English

Preparatory Materials and Resources:

Lectures and results from Methodical-Didactic Lab I and II (see ‘Results’)

Christine Gruwez: Nach oben fallen (DE) | Falling Upwards (EN)

Project: Inner Development Goals

Further development of networking activities:

Revised drafts of the International Training Circle’s basic documents (“Basic Principles and Ways of Working” and “Guideline Recognition Process”) are being submitted to the member organizations for approval: Beschlussvorlagen Deutsch | Final Drafts English

Preparation and Process:

Following the conclusion of ‘Methodical-Didactic Lab II’ and its review by the Coordinating Group, participants will receive another set of study materials. These materials will focus on synthesizing the learning processes engaged throughout the project and harvesting their fruits for dissemination, continuation and replication of the peer-to-peer professional development processes prototyped in the project. The emphasis will be on building learning communities – not only for VET students, but also for VET instructors as lifelong learners. How can we work with each other, collegially and in peer processes at all levels – as pairs of colleagues, in small teams, as organizations and as regional and transnational networks, to support ongoing collaborative peer-to-peer processes of action-based inquiry that allow us to discover, jointly develop and evolve instructional design principles that meet the needs of the 21st century? The assumption is that these are not fixed. Rather, the question will be how to remain mobile, creative and responsive to ever changing needs in a rapidly evolving environment. How do we set ourselves up as a nested educational ecosystem, so that we are able to do this? The specific form in which these questions will be approached will be identified by the Coordinating Group after the conclusion of Lab II. This time, participants will be asked to focus on the ‘ecosystem’ dimension of the learning context in which they practice. Participants will be asked to chose one or several of the aspects of this to work with, in partnership with peers, students and other stakeholders, throughout the year. The focus of each participant’s work should be based on the questions and goals they identified for their own practice and their learning community throughout the previous year’s process and in Lab II. The results from participants’ action-inquiry processes will be brought together, shared and reviewed as part of the ‘Methodical-Didactic Lab’. A number of participants or teams of participants will be invited to demonstrate example activities as ‘lab sessions’, with other participants joining as learners. These activities will provide the basis for joint reflection, identification of key principles and practices, and the conditions for their successful implementation. Activities and outcomes will be captured to be evaluated and documented for inclusion in the project’s platform for exchange of good practice. Key questions and ideas for the further development of learning communities and ecosystems for learning will be identified and will inform the goals that each participant takes from the project into the future.

Objectives

As a result of Methodical-Didactic Lab III: Instructional Design Principles for the 21st Century, participants will:

• Co-create opportunities for action-based reflection, inquiry and research within team, organizational and network contexts;
• Identify the needs of a 21st century learning environment as they relate to their specific practice context;
• Individually and collaboratively develop methodical-didactic approaches and instructional design principles that meet these needs;
• Review, evaluate, question and evolve these approaches and principles on an ongoing basis;
• Establish organizational and network practices that involve peers, students and other stakeholders as partners in co-creating learning ecosystems.