Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Still herding...

Happy New Year, all! I hope you rang it in with a group of dear ones. We hit the hay about 9:45pm and I noted the transition when I was up again to feed the babe at midnight. Ah the glamorous festivities of early motherhood. Altho, I can say I rang it in with my nearest and dearest...(champagne glass half full).

I hope you've had a chance to look at all the comments about the last post (Herding Cats), there are some really thoughtful responses. I'm still thinking about the subject--not obsessing, mind you--and I've had a couple of ideas. How about a general test that would be taken after you'd finished your training, wherever you studied--like the accounting or bar exam. It would cover general yoga knowlegde--maybe the same categories as the YA certification--and ought to include some sort of demonstration of your teaching abilities (adjustments, modification, general classroom manner, etc) that would be evaluated by a senior teacher. Instead of placing emphasis on where you studied, it would measure what you actually know and can teach.

This could be the basic Hatha test...if students wanted to continue on to a more advanced study of Iyengar, Ashtanga, Kripalu, etc., that could be an additional credential to the basic test. By creating a measurement that would assess everyone's skills evenly, I think it would more fairly identify who should be teaching and who shouldn't. And, I suppose, you wouldn't have to take the test to teach, but any organization that wanted to be assured of your expertise could require it.

It's a huge undertaking, of course. What would be on the test? Who would score it? What would be the criteria for assessing the teaching demonstration? Where would it happen? How often? What is required for a passing "grade"? etc. etc. On the other hand, maybe there needs to be something this standardized to help level the playing field of all the different trainings. Instead of trying to cobble together something from lots of disparate sources, you could just say you passed the Hatha test with flying colors.

I, for one, would be relieved to have something that measured my yoga knowledge and my ability to present it effectively. Assuming I would pass the test, of course...

Chew on that one for awhile, and let me know what you think!


1 comment:

Sally Webster said...

Hi There

I'm a trainee teacher in Scotland. We are just about to launch the kind of 'test' of which you speak so that teachers trained elsewhere can be recognised by our governing body. Makes sense to me. As you say, as long as you have the knowledge it really doesn't matter where or how you aquired it.

As part of my on going training I have to go shadow working teachers my organisation has trained in the past. I'm finding that what they teach often beard little or no resemblance to what I'm being taught. Go figure!

Good luck.