What is provided?
- Support and encouragement to take risks that will enhance growth.
The nature of support and risk is sensitively gauged and balanced to
meet the needs and aspirations of the individuals and groups involved.
- A process that is guided by agreed objectives, but
which also provides opportunities for open-ended curiosity, exploration
and discovery.
What is experienced?
- Experiences of moving beyond what is safe, known or familiar.
- Experiences that are fulfilling and intrinsically rewarding.
The sense of fulfilment and reward may arise mostly from the experience
itself, or may arise mostly from the process of reflection/review (e.g.
through positive feedback - perhaps following 'unfulfilling'
experiences).
- Experiences that are 'missing'.
For young people these experiences will generally involve crossing new
thresholds and new ways of learning. For older people these experiences
may include rediscovering 'the child within'. What is 'missing' could
be guided by a curriculum/checklist of experiences to which everyone
has a right, but what is 'missing' is something that is essentially an
intuitive judgement made by the individual - perhaps in discussion with
trusted others. For many young people the 'missing' experience of being
in a supportive developmental group is the starting point from which
other 'missing' experiences can be 'found'.
What are the outcomes?
"Some learning is now part of me, some I will need to remember."
(quote from a development training participant)
- Growth ("now a part of me")
'Growth' outcomes are sensed but they may be hard to describe and measure. The person has changed (typically more confident - but perhaps only in certain situations)
- Learning ("I will need to remember")
'Learning' outcomes are achieved more consciously and are easier to describe and measure. The person is empowered (typically more in control, but does not necessarily choose to apply what they have learned).
- Interdependence
The ultimate outcome is not independence in which the learner no longer needs support and encouragement. Lifelong learners need continual support
and encouragement, but may learn to source these things in different
ways (e.g. through mentoring, developmental supervision or special
personal relationships).
More development training links:
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