Education
There are three "Labs" so far under this umbrella:
EuropeAcademies
a world-wide DiplomaGroup
and Children
(click on links above to go to those pages - all info can be re-arranged when other patterns are suggested or emerge)
Here are some focus questions compiled by Suzy from the dialogues in IPC8, about the Permaculture (adult) Education subject in general.
Please DO jump in and answer them - with your profile link please - it would be interesting to hear all views.
NOTE you do NOT have to have the 'whole' answer! Just YOUR part of the answer (what you know or see) is fine: only together can we hope to join up the whole picture
Questions on permaculture education
What should a PDC cover?
Suzy: 2 weeks (72 hrs) is too short to fully cover the designer’s manual, what should be covered in more detail and what can be skimmed over.
Stella: our PDC programme (Spain, "Nodo Espiral" of the Academy) is here: http://nodoespiral.net (there should be an english translation under English and Programme) and we are now experimenting with requiring 'pre-course' study groups (with given materials) both to encourage self-organization (often badly lacking) and to have a more relaxed time during the classes (with less teaching material so we can go deeper into some parts)
SteveR: A PDC must cover, and give equal weight, to all aspects in the Designers manual, 72hrs is obviously too short a time to cover everything in detail, after all the least aspect of soils has been the basis for an entire Phd, it is not too long to cover everything in less detail. In France the approach has been to examine what one can go on to do with a PDCertificate, as this is relatively restricted we see at once that a PDC is nothing more than a good introduction, BUT an introduction to ALL aspects of the syllabus. We also decided to use the design project that accompanies a PDC as the basis for awarding a certificate, ie the Certificate isn't just a 'course completion' certificate but a student must have attended at least 90% of the course and have completed a satisfactory design.
Tomas: The Designers Manual is the standard reference book for the PDC in Britain. Other widely used sourcesa nd recommended for UK teachers are Rosemary Morrow's Earth Users Manual and Teacher's Guide, and the Teachers Guide published by the Permaculture Association Britain (PAB). Most courses focus on temperate environments and include a significant proportion of urban applications, reflecting the British conditions. Othe climate zones are addressed with a varying degree of intensity. Despite the humid climate, aquaculture is underrepresented in teaching, as it is among practical examples of permaculture on the ground.
ChrisD: One way to see this is in terms of the bits and pieces that make up the course. Another is to consider the integrating framework that holds all the bits and pieces together ie. permaculture design. I like to start from the ethics as a holistic, integrating, framework for all our work, using them to derive the trinity of environment, community and self (or place, people, person or whatever). I think the bits and pieces of a PDC can then be organised around these three aspects with equal attention given to each. It then becomes very clear which of the bits and pieces are more integral than others, because we can relate them to more than one of these three aspects.
Who can teach a PDC?
SteveR In France we decided to completely restrict this as far as possible to those who have been awarded their Diploma of Permaculture, thus the emphasis is to feed people into the Diploma system from the PDC.
Stella: Also using the guideline of a diplomat at least to oversee the course. Additionally, very mindful to ensure balanced delivery so make efforts to have all courses taught by as great a variety of teachers as possible (ages, experience, gender, background, etc.), in order for students to more easily discern "the permaculture from the style" of the teacher. Profiles of our teachers here.
Tomas: The recommendation of the PAB is that only diploma holders can lead a design course and hand out design certificates produced by the Association. Diploma trainees and others can teach as aprentices.
ChrisD: The main or lead teacher on a PDC should always and only be a diploma holder. All integrating aspects of the course (ethics, design, fundementals of gardening etc) should probably be initiated by a diploma holder. Given that, anyone else can be invited to present sessions on bits and pieces of the PDC, whether they have studied permaculture design or not.
When can a PDC holder teach a PDC?
SteveR In France ths would be after acheiving a Diploma
Stella: All are warmly encouraged to, with diplomat supervision, we encourage all teachers to be actively on their diploma pathway. We also invite non-PDC holders who have good practical permaculture skills, if we feel their "memes", skills and knowledge are important to transmit! In this way we 'lure' them to take the rest of the course, as any teachers can attend any of the other modules (they are not expert in) as student teachers if they wish. All teachers have to be practicing permaculture and only teach from their practice, each teaching the subjects they prefer, and we encourage student-teachers to start as soon as possible, alongside, as support people and teaching some parts as they feel confident. With this method we have already achieved some excellent trainee teachers (promising to be a lot better than the oldies at teaching in the future :) Diplomat oversees 'quality control' of course and balance of teachers.
Tomas: Once they have got something to teach. They can only lead a course if the hold a Pc diploma.
ChrisD: I'm with Steve and Tomas here.
How much practical experience is needed before a PDC holder is qualified to teach?
SteveR A minimum of 2 years and a Diploma.
Stella: very little is necessary if they are an apprendice teacher, as they will co-teach with an experienced teacher. But they must teach only what they have practiced.
Tomas: Enough to make it relevant to the students. For course leaders, see above.
ChrisD: Is there some confusion here over the word "qualified"? According to Birtish practice, a PDC holder is only "qualified" to teach (as in lead a PDC) when they are awarded a diploma (after a minimum of 2 years study, as Steve says). But PDC holders are encouraged to "teach", as in run introductory talks and courses, immediately.
Who is offering apprenticeships and how are these managed?
SteveR In France these are run through the Université and use the french Compagnonage system which dates from the 17th C.
Tomas: In Britain, individual teachers offer apprenticeships. There are thoughts of using the new diploma system as a route for apprentices.
Stella: there are active email lists and fora in which interested beginners ask questions and find mentors to visit if they wish. There are permaculture projects which independently offer wwoof-type arrangements which are also types of aprendiships. On my home project we offer an experimental action-learning programme (of 5 months with PDC, but can vary)
Who can give out a PD Certificate?
SteveR In France no one person, these are awarded at accreditation events with at at least 2 diploma holders and a group of students.
Tomas: In Britain, certificates are usually given out by the PAB. The PAB holds a dateabse of certified students. But any teacher can make up their own certificate if they like, for what it's worth.
Stella: Diploma certificates so far are given out by the two 'nodes' of the Academy in Spain: Permacultura Montsant and Nodo Espiral
How does a PDC holder find a trainer who offers supportive teaching apprenticeships?
SteveR In France through the Université (www.permaculturefrance.com)
Tomas: In Britain, through the PAB, through direct contact and through the diploma system. Possibly through the Permaculture Magazine?
Stella: we encourage all of our students (of Nodo Espiral courses) who are interested to apply as aprendice teachers with any of our courses, students from other courses would find out from our website, and have clear instructions for how to apply here: http://aprendizajenaccion.pbwiki.com/ProfesAprendices to which we refer interested people or those we wanto encourage (because we can see they have potential)
Who has the right to question whether a PDC holder should be teaching?
SteveR In France this would be discussed through the Association of Permaculture France network.
Tomas: That's currently up for discussion.
Stella: In the Nodo Espiral teachers collective we have set up an application procedure for entry, which includes being approved by other teachers: this was set up partly also to maintain standards of teaching
How do we maintain PDC standards?
SteveR This needs some good discussion, basing standards assesement on the European and Internation Conferences is too exclusive to be satisfactory. Here in France we aim to use the Université to maintain standards, circulating information about any people or groups acting to undermine the work of us all.
Tomas: I agreee with Steve above. PDC standards needs continuous development based on a good survey of current standards and practices, thorough analysis and good design. We discussed this at a recent UK teachers meeting - for a report see
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/mm.asp?mmfile=educationteachersgatherings
Stella: going for direct standard assessment I think is necessarily going down the bureocracy road, so I favour indirect methods based on study and application of collective intelligence (self-organizing) systems. One lesson from those is that good clear FOCUSED information needs to be available, for people to self-select (eg. the best teachers, and therefore PDC standards) and self-organize intelligently.
Eg. working on a good diploma system is a way of maintaining PDC standards, indirectly, if we then design for visibility regarding whether a teacher is a diploma holder or not. Also in other ways making visible (and comparable, on as 'even playing ground' as possible) individual teachers' practical achievements* is a way of self-selecting, as potential students can choose which teachers seem to be most able to apply what they teach: this is one reason for the existence of this Chaordic Institute, having a standard form of profile is meant to provide this 'even playing field' in terms of presentations, so that people can judge for themselves, and self-organize.
- I think at the same time we need to emphasize that 'a good permaculture designer' (and therefore teacher) is one with a solid track record of varied, interesting but especially WORKING designs on the ground, as permaculture is a very practical science, not an academic effort (it doesn´t matter how many papers or books you´ve written, how 'popular' you are, nor how developed your web presence is ... yet in a packaging consumerist culture very biased towards star or expert workship, this does not often compute with most people, and we go with what we are used / trained to do).
How do we support teachers and potential teachers?
SteveR Surely the idea of an Association is that it associates people, too often these days we seem to mistake it for some thing 'out there', it would seem evident that an association of people will support each other?
Tomas: As Steve says. In Britain, the PAB sees itself as that support mechanism, and is widely seen as such. However the teachers network is wider than the Association, and we are trying to make allowances for that.
Where can a teacher get hold of good teaching resources?
SteveR There are at least 4 PmC wiki's, the French site has many downloads available, after that there are the Forums where questions are asked and answered.
Tomas: A list of currently available resources in Britain is part of the survey in the report mentioned above. We also started to identify gaps and potential for creating more resources or sharing them better.
Should we have an international standard or do we need to have local standards?
SteveR We feel it is essential that there is an internation standard. Designers move around, students on PDC's can come from all over the world and then return home. PmC needs to be globally coherent and consistent, Designers should be versed in all aspects and all areas.
Tomas: The most importan issue is compatibility, and a common baseline. To rephrase this question: What is the core of permaculture design, that every course at every level should cover?
Stella: We DO have a very good proposal of an international standard, and it´s the Designers Manual as a base with more detailed instructions found on Bill's site (add link) and it has good suggestions on local adaptation.
Who is offering training for PDC trainers?
SteveR We have in France established a system of 'Unities de valeurs', these are post diploma additional Units that one can add to ones Diploma, spending time studying with one who is expert in a given field. The Compagnon apprenticeship scheme involves a Tour of Permacultures, an apprentice travels from lodging to lodging, each set in a permaculture project and each with a diploma holder and 5 years experience (there is also a complimentary tour of peopel practicing sustainable development who have not formally studu-ied PmC). The Compagnon hosts will in the future have also completed the Tour, thus gaining much experience.
Tomas: In Britain, Designed Visons offer a Training of Teachers programme; see www.**designed****visions.com There are thoughts to develop training within the diploma system.
Which countries have diploma systems?
SteveR FRANCE
Tomas: Britain - currently under review. The new system will be launched in September 2008 at our national convergence.
Germany has a new system based on a pattern language approach - very interesting and potentially useful for other countries/regions.
How do we maintain a common standard for diplomas?
SteveR Perhaps again by looking, as we did in France, at what one is 'given' with the Diploma, ie to be able to teach PDC's, this then means that a candidate will show a good grasp of all aspects of the syllabus; To be able to co)accredit people to their Diploma, so they need to demonstrate a capacity to do this, to be able to practice as a professional designer, so must show competence to do this. In France at the accreditation event a candidate will show not only their design work portfolio but also the plan they have developed about how they will teach a PDC. Then we rely on transparency, the events are open and the design portfolios posted on the France website and available at the Université.
Tomas: As with education in general, agreeing on a common core of subjects might be a good start. Off the top of my head: Ethics - ecological principles - Design thinking - Design projects; everything else is application of these. For PDCs and Diplomas.
Another question is - what outcomes do we expect from the diploma (PDC/other education programmes)? What do we want the students to know/ be able to do/demonstrate at the end of the programme?
Should we have a common standard for diplomas?
SteveRTo keep up the good reputation of PmC worldwide and to be able to promote and distribute it even further, a common standard would seem essential. Again we would need to find a way of doing and discussing this that also includes those who cannot or will not travel to International and Continental conferences, again these can be far too exclusive for a system based on them to be satisfactory.
Tomas: If not common, at the very least compatible. It seems likely that a diploma system in (random example) Malawi will look quite different from one in the US or the Czech Republic. As long as someone who did her diploma in Malawi can go on to teach US students to standards that the Czechs are happy with, there's no problem with that.
Places to meet others thinking about PC Education Issues
Working Groups
There are two "Laboratories" set up in this Institute to explore particular aspects of PC Education:
EuropeAcademies
& the
DiplomaGroup
In Africa
Food and Trees For Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uADS8x-XinU
Permaculture School Gardens 2007 in South Africa
Schools food gardening and greening programme
in Britain
This is a British list set up specifically to talk education issues in PC:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/permalearnersuk/
in the US
Permaculture Association of Teachers and Organizers (PATO)
Resources for Teachers and Organizers of Permaculture Trainings http://www.wiserearth.org/group/PATO
in France
Brin de Paille, French forum including discussions on teaching/training)**
www.permaculturefrance.com and the Université site has information on the French PmC teaching/training system, syllabus,apprenticeships and resources. An English language version is available.
Various
The subject surfaces in various 'international' email lists occasionally, eg.
- http://openpermaculture.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture_openpermaculture.org
- http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
(others?)
.
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