Two-Year Programme
The Two-Year Programme is a structured journey toward self-knowledge. In the first year, students work directly with matter and with the land through Craft Sciences (such as soap making and iron-smithing) and Environmental Sciences (such as Woodland Management and Farming). These experiences, the journey of descending into matter, provide students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in activity. This activity is profoundly relevant, and belies the superficiality through which many adolescents engage with the world. This relevance of activity is mirrored by a deep sense of looking inward. An actual physical journey, which takes students out of their home culture and immerses them in another, is also important in this phase. This part of the process is termed ‘developing the question.’
The second part of the process is termed ‘developing the intent’. The educational experiences, while still contextual and relevant, become more rarified, more philosophical. During this phase, the ascent, students begin to purposefully move something of themselves out into the world.
This cycle of descent/ascent is repeated at many levels throughout the Programme, such as during a single course, where the students partake of the experience presented, and then produce intensive project work in order to complete the cycle of transforming an experience from something they take into themselves to something that flows out from within them.
Just as students are constantly engaging cognitively in understanding the nature of substance and its transformation, the awareness of their own process is brought to their attention throughout the Programme. Weekly review sessions are based in Group Process-Oriented Psychology, where students are encouraged to recognise and explore hidden elements within the group and themselves.
The Two-Year Programme is a structured journey toward self-knowledge. In the first year, students work directly with matter and with the land through Craft Sciences (such as soap making and iron-smithing) and Environmental Sciences (such as Woodland Management and Farming). These experiences, the journey of descending into matter, provide students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in activity. This activity is profoundly relevant, and belies the superficiality through which many adolescents engage with the world. This relevance of activity is mirrored by a deep sense of looking inward. An actual physical journey, which takes students out of their home culture and immerses them in another, is also important in this phase. This part of the process is termed ‘developing the question.’
The second part of the process is termed ‘developing the intent’. The educational experiences, while still contextual and relevant, become more rarified, more philosophical. During this phase, the ascent, students begin to purposefully move something of themselves out into the world.
This cycle of descent/ascent is repeated at many levels throughout the Programme, such as during a single course, where the students partake of the experience presented, and then produce intensive project work in order to complete the cycle of transforming an experience from something they take into themselves to something that flows out from within them.
Just as students are constantly engaging cognitively in understanding the nature of substance and its transformation, the awareness of their own process is brought to their attention throughout the Programme. Weekly review sessions are based in Group Process-Oriented Psychology, where students are encouraged to recognise and explore hidden elements within the group and themselves.
