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Otherwise Counselling Regulation
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Message 1.Â
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Friday, 2nd October 2009
I know there are a few counsellors on the board, and am also aware that some posters have said they have used counselling services.
As a counsellor myself, and a supervisor of counsellors, I would be really interested in views of anyone on the proposed regulation of the Counselling Profession.
On the face of it I think that some form of regulation is a good thing, it does protect clients, however there has been much debate in trade journals and in the industry itself about the details of the regulation and the body chosen to be the regulator - HPC - which regulates health professions.
Many argue that as counselling is not a medical model, it is wrong to have it regulated by a health based body, even though it can be argued that counselling certainly does improve health for many.
Another for and against debate currently is the proposed separation and therefore grading of Counselling and Phsycotherapy - intimating that counselling is a lessor profession trained only to deal with minor or often called 'common' problems.
how does this affect professionals who have experience of many years working in specialised areas, that new regulation would suggest they are not qualified to do so?
There will also be an impact on the training of counsellors, which I personally agree with, I have witnessed some trainees pass who should not have, but for many learning providers is is a matter of bums on seats I am afraid (not all I hasten to add, would not want to imply this at all)
I also wonder if it will stop people practicing in reality, it is true that if I were not registered I could not call myself a counsellor, advertise as such or work in agencies or organisations as such. Nor should I be able to insure myself professionally as a counsellor, and this is a good thing, but those who practice without training (and charge for it) and who do not belong to the industry's professional body, and sign up to the code of ethics now, are unlikely to do so in the future.
It is an uncertain time for many counsellors, and I would be glad to hear your views
jp -
Message 2
Posted by Kate McLaren etc (U2202067) on Friday, 2nd October 2009
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:51 GMT, in reply to justpottering in message 1
In Scotland at least it won't affect people who have been practising more than a specific number of client-hours. What it will affect is people like me who have just done a Certificate and discover that that is no longer enough to be taken on for training as a volunteer counsellor, and those (in the near future) who have done a DIploma and are suddenly told that isn't enough and they need to do a degree. I am quite annoyed that there are no avenues open to me to continue, as I can't possibly afford to do a Diploma, never mind another degree.
And I am not at all sure that a degree in counselling is something that makes sense anyway. You don't need academic capacities to be a good counsellor, and having got them doesn't mean that you are. To me a diploma, or a certificate plus specific job-related training, and plenty of supervised practice is much more logical -
Message 3
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Friday, 2nd October 2009
I am in full agreement with you there Drystane! I know counsellors with degrees in the subject but they are not counsellors that I would want in my agency! They might know the theory, but as for all the other talents and experiences needed well that's another story.
A very good counsellor who volunteers for us has a Dip, and applied to do the top up degree - was told that she could not because it wasn't a level 5 and the level 4 only needed 100 hours instead of 150, fair enough if thems the rules, but - a colleague who did the same course, at the same time, and just got her 100 hrs by the skin of her teeth, was accepted onto the top up degree - why was that?
I cannot say other than said colleague works for the university offering the top up - there is no other difference qualification wise or length of service wise.
This will also make a great difference not only to those like yourself, but the organisations that you volunteer for - many of them charitable and community organisations that rely on the likes of your good self to work with them.
I manage an agency in a FE setting and could not offer the service that I do without my volunteer counsellors that's for sure!
jp -
Message 4
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
a conversation with a worried colleague yesterday.
The possible new training standard for a counsellor will be level 5 dip. She has always been keen since qualifying her level 4 dip to go onto do level 5.
One snag
you can't get a level 5 dip course in these 'ere parts for love nor money, nor can you get one in 'reasonable' travelling distance, in fact the only ones found were in London. Which is long way from here.
What you can get from training providers here is the foundation degree - whoopdy doo, it's a 2 year course and costs megabucks and the first year repeats all from the level 4 and the second year is a level 5.
Surely if they are going to have level 5 dip as the industry standard minimum, then training providers have to start providing the training so that those who need to can train!
It's very frustrating
jp -
Message 5
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:52 GMT, in reply to justpottering in message 1
At the moment anyone may call themselves a counsellor, and take money from clients.
I do think that a Dip C should be required before this is done. -
Message 6
Posted by Kate McLaren etc (U2202067) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:35 GMT, in reply to carrick-bend in message 5
I do wonder why it is so eye-wateringly expensive to do a diploma in counselling (plus the supervision, and, in most cases, plus being in counselling yourself). You quite simply have to be rich, and for those of us who aren't and never will be, but would actually make very good counsellors, it is more than frustrating.
Up here at least there is no funding available (well, there's the ILA but that is a drop in the ocean). I could afford to do a degree in psychology (which I don't want to do) but not a diploma in counselling (which I do). Why? -
Message 7
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
One of my friends has just graduated with a degree in counselling. She did it over several years part time combining it with her job and business. All the way through she has had a volunteer placement which she is continuing. She is soon to set up a new counselling business at her home and I think that she will be absolutely superb at it. I know how much work has gone into it and how seriously she has taken it.
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Message 8
Posted by Kate McLaren etc (U2202067) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:34 GMT, in reply to whitbyrose in message 7
I've looked into it and in this area (a) nothing that can be combined with an ordinary full-time job and (b) nothing remotely affordable. As I say, more than frustrating. -
Message 9
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
Im not sure how my friend funded it. I will ask her but kind of assume she paid by the unit over the years that she did it. I have a feeling that counselling courses tend to be self funding unless done through an employer (not sure if student loans are available). She only works 4 days and did the course on the 5th as it had both the taught element and the practicl and I know that there was a huge amount of work. It kind of took over her life.
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Message 10
Posted by Kate McLaren etc (U2202067) on Sunday, 4th October 2009
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:12 GMT, in reply to whitbyrose in message 9
Exactly. If you have an ordinary 9-5, 5-day-a-week job (not that I have just now) and one that pays very little, you can't possibly do it. I have no problem with hard work, just impossibility. -
Message 11
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
To be honest I think that the opposite is probably true in that many adult learners are doing their courses on top of full time work and funding it themselves. Sometimes what isnt possible one year becomes so the next so dont give up the idea, it may come to fruition later even if not just yet.
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Message 12
Posted by Kate McLaren etc (U2202067) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:27 GMT, in reply to whitbyrose in message 11
Actually, there is nothing in Edinburgh that isn't impossibly expensive, and I can't get to Glasgow in time. You need to be earning a lot and have flexible employers.
Honestly. I have looked into it until my head spins. -
Message 13
Posted by llo (floxd) (U14150545) on Monday, 5th October 2009
(quote)You don't need academic capacities to be a good counsellor, and having got them doesn't mean that you are.(/quote)
Couldn't agree more. And sometimes, the fact that they have a degree or any other form of official recogniotion is a licence to do a lorra harm to people, 'cos a counsellor or psychyfeller has such influence, as people go to them when they're at a low ebb. I don't mean they don't mean well, but you probably wouldn't listen to or follow bad advice from a "lay person" as much as you would from a counsellor, so if they're not good at it, they can do untold harm.
I have noidea what the solurion is, if there is one, but I doubt that more regulations would realy improve things. -
Message 14
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:44 GMT, in reply to StillFloxed in message 13
Yes, SF - it's impossible to think of a system that would be certain to prevent harm to clients, but what I think is that a counsellor should be, (or be working towards and assessed by their tutors as "safe to practice"), a diploma in counselling, should be receiving supervision (that protects both the client and the counsellor) to BACP recommended levels, should subscribe to a recognised ethical code, such as, in my case, the BACP one, should have had (and preferably still be having) personal counselling, and to have told the client about what complaints procedures are open to them. I've got a full CRB check, required by the agency I work for, but not everyone in private practice needs to do that.
but I doubt that more regulations would realy improve things.Â
At the moment, there are NO regulations. Anyone could advertise themselves as a counsellor, and take money, and more importantly trust and/or advantage of vulnerable clients.
What I think is a relevant parallel - I have done unpaid coaching for my and friends children, for English exams, but in no way am I willing, qualified or insured to offer those services to the public. -
Message 15
Posted by patriarchou (U11317033) on Monday, 5th October 2009
I suspect that a good counsellor is born, and/or fashioned by life experiences. The possession of a doctorate in the subject would not guarantee that they also have the instinctive intuition of how to respond to individual clients.
The desire to demand higher qualifications has not always served us well.
Nurses now have degree level knowledge, but anecdotal evidence suggests that this may sometimes mean a sacrifice in the absolute basics of seeing that a patient is clean, dry, fed and not left in fear for lack of a human touch.
Imo, the advanced diploma course provides a perfectly adequate training of the skills required to practise. So many counsellors are currently unpaid volunteers. How many such individuals would wish to put themselves through the rigour and expense of taking a degree? -
Message 16
Posted by ArchieCrumble (U13738372) on Monday, 5th October 2009
I agree, pat, and as I keep saying, how many CAN put themselves through the expense and time (which does not usually fit with real full-time work)?
I am all for accreditation and all the rest, just not for a huge qualification that costs far more than any other degree (does here, anyway). I simply don't think degrees are appropriate in vocational work and I too would include nursing - I am not clear about the different levels of nurse but I liked the old system whereby you could get into nursing even if you weren't academic and were available to do the hugely important things that, so far as I see (and I have done a hell of a lot of hospital visiting) very often are simply not done by those nurses with Degrees who Know an Awful Lot.
(obvious disclaimer: individual nurses and counsellors with degrees may be wonderful, but I do not think it is because they have degrees) -
Message 17
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
I agree with what those lovely cats have just said ( was coming in to say just that very thing).
I havent a clue what the cost is btw but think that like a lot of professions these days practitioners are having to gain qualifications to validate their existing experience rather than because they are starting from scratch. Im doing a course at the moment which recently I found out that anyone who is doing one of the things that I do has to have in order to do it. This is a sheer fluke and the other members of the team I am part of are all going to have to do it.
My sector is moving towards being degree led as well and like with nursing (and I feel primary teaching) really doesnt need the existing workforce at least to have a degree (I can see the argument in principle for the future) as it primarily requires qualities and skills that cant be taught. -
Message 18
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Monday, 5th October 2009
another aspect to the requirement for higher qualifications in the profession is that the regulation intends to differentiate between the professions of Counsellors and Psychotherapists.
What this will mean, is that regardless of how far up the qualification route you go as a counsellor you will only be able to work with certain presenting concerns, and only psychotherapists can work for instance in the field of mental illness.
I find this division unacceptable, there are counsellors working in mental health and psychotherpists working at what the industry terms level A and B - which is more around life events e,g, bereavement, divorce, redundancy and the like.
To say that a counsellor will not be able to work with the (deemed) more serious issues is laughable, because counselling is most certainly about mental well being, and as an example, I worked in mental health for years before training to be a counsellor, but to continue as a counsellor I could not work in mental health?
I also think of the mental health charity Mind who use volunteer counsellors in their local associations, they will not be able to replace this service by paying psychotherapists instead, so the service will be lost.
Psychotherapists apparently can also charge more than counsellors.
This is a major bone of contention in the discussions on regulation, from both professions.
And how does this fit with the IAPT programmes run out of GP surgeries? which has already lost many counsellors their work contracts with Primary Care, because they are not CBT trained, although that would not matter in my home county sadly, as only internal (nhs) applicants can work in this field here.
jp -
Message 19
Posted by Bearhug (U2258283) on Monday, 5th October 2009
But everyone should have a degree these days. It's what the government wants.
OK, it's 50% is the target, but they still seem to have the idea that a degree is the answer to everything. And as much as I love academic study and believe in education, a degree isn't the right way to go for everything, particularly more practical and vocational areas of life. That's not to say degrees shouldn't be available in those fields for those who are really interested at that level, but it shouldn't always been the only acceptable path, because it's not always appropriate. -
Message 20
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
We are losing really good childcare workers as they dont want to do/couldnt manage the level of professional qualification needed ( and that is well below degree level for many people) ie SVQ 2,3 or 4 never mind the emerging degree qualification for Managers.
Like Bearhug Im a great fan of education and really see the benefit of ongoing continuing professional develeopment but I really feel that the existing workforce over 50 say should have been able to see out their career without having to do something that in many cases would cause them real stress and sense of failure if they cant manage it and wont actually in many cases make them a better worker in a field where personal qualities are massively important. -
Message 21
Posted by Bearhug (U2258283) on Monday, 5th October 2009
over 50 say  It's not just over 50s - I just don't think a degree is always appropriate. There are some people doing my job who don't have degrees, and they are a lot better at it than I am. There are things I'm a lot better at than they are, particularly documentation and report writing and that sort of thing, which is partly down to having a degree-level education (but also I did a degree because that side of it wouldn't be a struggle for me anyway, I'm just that way inclined and always have been) - we make a very good team together, but I simply couldn't do all the technical stuff as well as they can, not when you get to really in-depth problems, and they can't do all the things I can as well as I can. I doubt nursing or counselling or any other thing where you need some practical or specific technical skills are any different.
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Message 22
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:21 GMT, in reply to Bearhug in message 21
I don't know if you can directly compare counselling at the moment, because never mind needing a degree, at the moment one can practice as a counsellor with absolutely no training (never mind experience or aptitude) at all - the moves toward some sort of regulation, which have been happening for many years, are seeking to look at this situation. -
Message 23
Posted by patriarchou (U11317033) on Monday, 5th October 2009
All my counselling has been in Mental Health - my experience now counts for nothing, as I shall be be unable to work in that sector.
I do have a degree, although not in counselling.
As I am now in my bus pass years, with a basic pension forming my entire income, it is unlikely that I shall contemplate an upgrade in qualifications.
I shall be looking around for other ways to be useful in some small way.
Any (polite!) suggestions? -
Message 24
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:26 GMT, in reply to carrick-bend in message 22
Sorry, the previous post should have read "I don't know if you can directly compare counselling and nursing at the moment.."
(Wouldn't like to be given *any* sort of medical procedure by a nurse who had, for instance, just read about it in a magazine article and thought "That sounds interesting - I think I'd be good at that", which is still just possible with counselling.) -
Message 25
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Sorry Bearhug, I wasnt clear. I mean current workers who have to do a professional qualification not just a degree.
I think the whole qualification thing is a minefield and counselling is a really good example. You dont want people going round calling themselves counsellors without any training and observed practice etc etc but neither I would argue do you need a degree ( which is surely by its very nature a largely theoretical qualification). -
Message 26
Posted by susie (U2345418) on Monday, 5th October 2009
< a degree ( which is surely by its very nature a largely theoretical qualification).>
Well not necessarily - most professional degree courses related to health and social care are a combination of practice placement work, and classroom activity -aiming to ensure that practitioners are able to link theory with real practice, with supervision and reflective practice also essential elements. You don't find nursing courses where students sit seminars and lectures all day long, they are learning through work. -
Message 27
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Thanks Susie for the clarification.
I do know that my friend with the recent degree in counselling did a lot of practical supervised counselling throughout the course. I didnt actually realise she was doing a degree as opposed to a diploma until it came to graduation. I didnt know there was a degree until then. -
Message 28
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Monday, 5th October 2009
I agree with Carrick about those who practice counselling without training, this is one area that regulation will address and I for one see that as a good thing.
Although I do wonder at those who do this, and my guess is that they still might continue but call it something else, they will certainly not be able to practice as a counsellor, nor be insured for such, but they might well continue sadly.
I also hope that it will put an end to some of the more inadequate training provision that is out there, but I doubt that it will avoid the 'bums on seats' culture which often means that some pass the courses who should not. (I do know some who are qualified to practice, but should not be imo)
Some of us, and I am one, love study and am happy to do more training, but this is not for everyone and I think there should be another way of assessing competency not just by the level of qualification they possess.
Counselling, being more vocational, does require more than theory, as do other professions too.
What I do know is how many of my counsellors and colleagues who trained with me are very worried about what this will mean to them and their practice, even though they all accept the need for the protective element for the client to be in place.
As for working in MH and it counting for nothing I think this is where it falls down big time and fails those who have worked successfully in the industry for many years and who are valued for what they do.
jp -
Message 29
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:50 GMT, in reply to whitbyrose in message 27
Had your friend completed a diploma, then "topped it up" to a degree? -
Message 30
Posted by Fee (U3534148) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Just a general point, really, about the benefit of having people educated to degree level - in my view, it doesn't primarily mean stuffing people's heads full of theories and facts - but developing in them an ability to think critically and analytically about why they and, if relevant, their organisations are doing what they are doing - that requires some theoretical underpinning but much more applied thinking.
Getting a degree doesn't necessarily involve months and years spent sitting in class rooms - a lot of the most innovative higher education is work based. I see a lot of people in their thirties and often much older who left school without much in the way of formal qualification really bloom and develop self-confidence and the ability to change their own lives (and those of others) through degree level education.
I'm not particularly a fan of encouraging a lot of eighteen year olds on to a conveyor belt into higher education - but there are many many older people who would benefit from and enjoy it but who lack the self-confidence and/or economic ability to do so - or just don't know what is available.
Fee (getting off my soapbox) -
Message 31
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Im not sure CB. She is out of the country just now so I cant ask her. She has been working towards it for years though on a part time basis.
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Message 32
Posted by ArchieCrumble (U13738372) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Yes, Fee, but I have got two degrees already and I am 100% certain that doing another one will not add significantly more to my counselling skills than a diploma, or even what e.g. Cruse offer which is a specialist module in bereavement counselling plus ongoing training and supervision. And now that I have discovered that there IS one, single, solitary organisation that agrees with me, I shall hie me to said organisation and try to volunteer with them.
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Message 33
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Ooh good luck with Cruse DD. That may be just the break you need.
Fee. I agree with you totally re the benefits of academic study either for its own sake or for voactional reasons but it just isnt appropriate for some people and they wont be able to stay in their jobs because they wont meet professional registration qualifications. -
Message 34
Posted by Bearhug (U2258283) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Fee. I agree with you totally re the benefits of academic study either for its own sake or for voactional reasons but it just isnt appropriate for some people and they wont be able to stay in their jobs because they wont meet professional registration qualifications.Â
I agree.
I've also known people with degrees who are actually fairly rubbish at their jobs. And while I think everyone should have the opportunity to go to university at some point, if that's what they want and they're bright enough, I don't think it should be a default option, it's just what you do after school because it's what everyone else is doing (not that I had any other plans besides university, something that hit me at the point I opened my A-level results and realised I hadn't got the results I needed.) -
Message 35
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Monday, 5th October 2009
I came to higher education later in life, it was not an option as a school leaver even though my then 'O' Levels were good, my environment was not condusive to university, although I did go to college.
I think that study for those who want to do it is great! and as has been already said, many courses these days are not only about the theory, and those that are, also teach the skills of research and debate, which is an important part of counselling too.
But I agree with Whitby about it being driven by regulation/registration requirement, especially when it is not within reach for some, mostly financially I add.
jp -
Message 36
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
JP. In my sector the funding to support training is there. The issue is that many of our workforce (95% women I think) come in after a career break and havent done any further study since leaving school. It is just too hard even with masses of support for them to do esp an SVQ level 4 qualification. I dont know what the answer is as I do think that we need a well trained workforce but even that vocational qualification requires an ability to write refelctive essays and relate to underpinning knowledge. There are also issues around lack of family support as although the course and class based time is paid for the writing up time isnt.
Just to clarify what has been said upthread can anyone call themselves a counsellor/be seen or promoted by the organisation they volunteer with as a counsellor or is there an existing accreditation? -
Message 37
Posted by ArchieCrumble (U13738372) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Currently anyone can call themselves a counsellor (in Scotland anyway) and that is what all the changes are about. I entirely agree that you shouldn't call yourself a counsellor if you are not (or a doctor or dentist). I do not know what Cruse call their volunteers - maybe once the new rules come through they will have to be called skilled listeners, or maybe if you have a certificate and the specialist module and enough client/supervision hours it will be OK.
Who knows.
I am waiting with bated breath for the moment when I can no longer call myself a translator because my degrees aren't in translating or in the languages I translate out of. It'll happen, you know. -
Message 38
Posted by MV Whitby May Rose (U6862284) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Thanks DD. Thats what I thought.
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Message 39
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Hi Whitby, I understand what you are saying, when I did my training I was fortunate in that my OH and daughter were fully supportive, but there were some in my group of trainees that did not have this support and it was much harder for them, and some I am sorry to say were unable to complete.
And yes the level four qualifications do require you to be able to write assignments and to demonstrate reflective practice, these skills are not always taught alongside and some do struggle.
The answer to your question about anyone calling themselves a counsellor is yes.
they need not have done any training at all - at this present time - this is an area that regulation will be a good thing as this will change.
I have to add that most counsellors who are serious and'or passionate about what they do, and want to work ethically do train, even if it is only to the introductory level, in theory you are supposed to start working with clients during the level four training and not before, and it be a supervised trainee placement at that. But this is not mandatory nor regulated at this present time.
The organisations that use volunteer counsellors can indeed promote them as such regardless of level of training or none.
When I worked in Mental Health, and in my private practice as a Mental Health Employment Consultant, I found more and more that I was using counselling skills, and often the employers who contracted me to do a piece of work for them would refer to me as a counsellor, I was forever telling them that I was not, because I wouldn't call or promote myself as a counsellor because I was not trained as such.
This is partly what took me into the training, so that I could begin to offer it as part of what I did, and I kinda got hooked and continued past my intended training.
But that was me and my personal ethics and values
jp -
Message 40
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Monday, 5th October 2009
I just wanted to say to Pat in message 23, not to lose heart
this regulation thing is still being debated, although the pace is hotting up.
There still may be a way to continuing working in your field, as yet we just don't know the finer details and meanwhile it is important for us all to continue working as long as it is safe to do so and providing the good service that we are.
The same goes for those worried about the training, at the moment they are talking about new standards being applied to new trainees, rather than those who have already trained to what was at the time the accepted industry standard.
They are aiming for 2011 as the year it happens over the next 12 months there will be much debating and consultation.
I encourage any who are interested especially where there will be an impact on your practice to join in the debate.
jp -
Message 41
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Monday, 5th October 2009
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:57 GMT, in reply to justpottering in message 39
And yes the level four qualifications do require you to be able to write assignments and to demonstrate reflective practice, these skills are not always taught alongside and some do struggle.Â
In our diploma group, there were some people who had difficulties learning how to write an academic essay at the length and level required - there were probably 2/5 of us who'd already done degrees, and a of us who'd already done degrees, and didn't mind advising, particularly in the first stages,and as all the assignments were peer-reviewed before final submission, nobody dropped out because of "academic difficulties".
I did a BSc with one, then two babies - this was much more challenging - of 18 of us who started the course, 11 completed it. -
Message 42
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Tuesday, 6th October 2009
In our dip group we did loose 3 to the fact that they felt unable to cope with assignments when they were deferred with little or no advice on how to make the changes. The tutors were lovely in their way and very knowledgable about the subject matter, but not necessarily good teachers.
Also I found that there was little time to spend on the fact that we all learn differently (although this can be true of many areas of teaching because of time and resources)- and for some this was the first academic work they had done since school.
Sadly those who were in the year below my group had a worse deal than us as the main tutor left and the second tutor took the lead - this was half way through their course, he was not a teacher at all, and was rushed through a fast track teaching certificate, but it made little difference and they all struggled, and more than half dropped out. I was able to help some who I knew well, and even gave them examples of how to write an assignment.
Horses for courses I guess,one person's experience is different from another, I personally had no problem, but as I say some did.
jp -
Message 43
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Tuesday, 6th October 2009
Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:24 GMT, in reply to justpottering in message 42
Interpersonal issues are a constant of this sort of course - the dynamics seem to constantly vary,
I don't think many people realise (I certainly didn't) how challenging, demanding and intense the Diploma course can (and probably *should* ) be - there are times where I felt sort of taken apart and (eventually) put back together again. -
Message 44
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Tuesday, 6th October 2009
Oh I agree Carrick this was true for us too, but fair play the Tutor who interviewed us for the course did give it a health warning, except not even that could have prepared us for what was to come on the personal front.
Having said that, at this end of it, I wouldn't have missed it for the world!
Although there were 2 people in my group who changed so much that their relationships with husband/partner ended as a result, but apparently this is not uncommon either - didn't happen to me because I married a very special man who, when asked why the changes in me had not changed our relationship - answered thus;
'because all the good things you now believe about yourself, I have always seen in you'
that made me cry
what a darling
jp -
Message 45
Posted by carrick-bend (U2288869) on Tuesday, 6th October 2009
Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:43 GMT, in reply to justpottering in message 44
That's lovely.
Yes, there were break-ups of relationships on our course too - this seems to be normal, but there was a merry-go-round/roller-coaster of relationships between some people on the course as well, which made life difficult for those involved when the relationship ended.
Did your course include residentials?
I'd lived communally, for brief periods before in my life, so it wasn't as much of ashock for me as it was for some, but the intensity of tose times was stunning.
(They were held in amazing places as well - so much beauty to share) -
Message 46
Posted by justpottering (U10058555) on Tuesday, 6th October 2009
yes we has residentials and they were something else, make or break for some, but I loved it, a whole 3 days focused on me - a luxury even if hard sometimes, and as you say, stunning surroundings.
I am afraid I was not so good at the evening get-togethers though, the day work usually left me ready for an early night, not sure how those who liked to let their hair down with a drink (or 10) and stay up 'till the early hours managed it!
precious moments and friendships sealed though
jp
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