Noteworthy accomplishment, in less than ideal circumstances, takes more than the ability to teach a subject effectively or manage a staff well. It takes highly specialized training and development in a nontraditional set of skills and capacities. The Education Network’s programs focus on skills that make it possible for people to transform complaints into committed action, to form extended partnerships, and to generate a focus which inspires extraordinary action over the long term. These abilities can be contributed swiftly and effortlessly to the classroom, the principal’s office or committee meeting. Our constituents are enabled to create classrooms, committees and departments in which the unprecedented happen.
The Education Network programs take place over a semester or year in small groups within distinct educational settings. They include formal and informal discussions, exercises, consultations and practical applications. The Education Network program leaders are volunteers in their communities, primarily educators themselves, who have completed extensive training in conducting inquiry-based conversations.
The programs are designed consistent with key principles of life-long learning – inquiry, personal vision building, and mastery. With the leader’s support, the participants engage in deep questioning of well-established patterns of thinking and working. They have the opportunity to examine old notions and practices, opening up fresh approaches to what used to be considered unchangeable situations. And they develop the ability to engage in the kind of difficult, challenging and provocative thinking that generates innovations, distinct from rehashing and rearranging old formulas.
As a result of their participation in The Education Network’s programs, people develop the skills to:
The Education Network’s multi-level curriculum allows participants to determine the degree of proficiency they wish to attain in the technology. Participants are encouraged to develop themselves to the extent necessary to fulfill their commitments in education. They may avail themselves of the training for their direct accountabilities, to support others in education through specialized coaching or to be able to teach the technology directly. The core curriculum is designed to provide a basic level of proficiency for a relatively wide audience. The more advanced programs are designed to deepen and extend the training of individuals in positions of leadership.
Since offering our first training programs in 1986, The Education Network has established a track record, with thousands of people, of producing unpredictable results in education while reducing stress and frustration, and increasing satisfaction and fulfillment.