An Umbrella Approach to Feldenkrais Training: General Proposal

372 Pages·2015·3.815 MB·English

by  Jeff Haller

AN UMBRELLA APPROACH TO FELDENKRAIS® TRAINING

GENERIC PROPOSAL

Presented by Jeff Haller, Ph.D., Feldenkrais Trainer
February 12, 2015

Dear Members of the North American Training Accreditation Board, and the Board of Directors
of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America:

With the approval of the Board of Directors, I was asked by NATAB Board Co-Chair Liza
Weaver Brickey to develop an alternative training program to present to the NATAB.

I have participated in the creation of and/or reviewed the following documents, in preparation for
this proposal:

1. FGNA Certified Practitioner Profile;
2. Yvan Joly, “A Proposal for an Alternative Training Model: Distributed Training Design
(DTD),” presented to the NATAB and EuroTab, 2006;
3. “The International Working Group (IWG) On Training Policy,” Parts A & B,
commissioned by AusTAB, EuroTAB and NATAB, 2006;
4. Pieter Mostert, “Turn Towards Competences,” 2001;
5. Carl Ginsburg, Jeff Haller and Beatriz Walterspiel, “The Phase II Report: Competences
and the Educational Plan,” ~2002;
6. Pat Buchanan, Survey of Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teachers, 2014;
7. In Touch, report on competence-based training with notes on the 1997 annual meeting
resolution to separate graduation from certification and move toward competence-based
training, Spring 2013;
8. FGNA Trainer and Assistant Trainer lists.

All are included in the appendices of this proposal. These reports inform us historically of the
desire within parts of the training community for change in the international training policy, in
order to separate graduation from certification and push towards competence-based training
programs.

The goal of this proposal to present a generic alternative training process based on the
recently submitted FGNA Certified Practitioner Profile (CPP). It recognizes the potential the
CPP has for us, not only to train new competent beginning practitioners, but also to develop new
Assistant Trainers and Trainers who are adept at teaching all the competences demanded of a
new practitioner. In this proposal, you will see how the CPP (also included in the appendices)
can be used; it calls for a distributed, or networked, “umbrella training” model, the details of
which follow.

It is my hope to be in close communication with the NATAB regarding this proposal. This
training model makes it impossible, at this point, to fulfill the usual training accreditation
An Umbrella Approach to Feldenkrais® Training
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requirements such as specific dates, locations, training personnel, administrative protocol,
Trainer contracts, vocational school regulations, etc. Many exceptions will have to be made to
the current training policy if this proposal is to come to life. The process will require developing
the training process in a new and unknown way, with the intention of graduating competent
beginning professional practitioners and developing a refreshed, vitalized body of Assistant
Trainers and Trainers.

This proposal includes: perspectives on current training methods, including the issues of
practitioner competence and Trainer succession; the proposed training’s basic curriculum,
format, and graduation requirements; key features of this proposed training that differentiates it
from the traditional training model; and finally, how the competences included in the CPP will
be met in this training.

Thank you for your attention is reviewing the following proposal. I believe you will see its
vitality and viability.

Sincerely,

Jeff Haller, Ph.D.

An Umbrella Approach to Feldenkrais® Training
Copyright © 2015 Jeff Haller. All Rights Reserved.
Page 2
AN UMBRELLA APPROACH TO FELDENKRAIS® TRAINING

Introduction

At this point in our short history, I believe we are at a crossroads with our Method. Our training
programs are getting smaller and appear to be less relevant, based on diminishing training group
sizes over time. Many of those who graduate from our accredited training programs are unable
develop a professional practice that will support them, much less recover the investment they
made in their training. Guild membership appears to be stagnant, with little growth in
membership over the years. We face significant issues if our work is to continue and grow.

One major issue is practitioner competence and the ability to develop a professional
practice. According to the IFF Competency document, “…only a fraction of those who graduate
from a Feldenkrais Training program are practicing members of their guild five years later.”1
“The process of transitioning from a training program to private practice, self-directed learning,
and running a business often leads graduates to become dissatisfied and feel incompetent.”2 The
present TAGs provide us with minimal standards for developing competent, beginning
Feldenkrais Practitioners, which leads to only a small percentage of each training group able to
practice successfully upon graduation.

At the 1997 FGNA Annual Meeting, Guild membership voted to separate graduation from
certification and move toward competence-based certification.3 In 1998, a BOD-appointed task
force to look into competency-based certification was established briefly and then disbanded.4
Not until 2012 did the FGNA BOD form the task force on the process for separating graduation
from certification. The task force was charged with identifying the issues that needed to be
addressed and proposing a model that would certify practitioners beyond graduation from a
training program.5 The task force has developed and recommended a competence-based
certification process that has been submitted to the BOD: the FGNA Certified Practitioner
Profile (CPP).

In the past there has been no real way to assess the competence of a graduate from a training
program other than time spent, or the practiced eye of educational directors and their training
staff. The CPP offers us the opportunity to develop competence-based assessment processes for
certification and to open the door for the development of alternative training programs in order to
beta test the efficacy of the CPP process.

Another major issue is Trainer succession. At present, we have an aging population of 32
Trainers who are members of the FGNA, and 42 Assistant Trainer members. According to
Buchanan’s 2014 survey6, of 27 Assistant Trainers surveyed, most were of a similar age to the

1 IFF Competency Profile, p. 4, paragraph 3
2 IFF Comptenecy Profile, p. 4, paragraph 4
3 1997 Feldenkrais Guild Annual Report, p. 13, 2013 FGNA newsletter, p. 10, paragraph 4
4 2013 FGNA newsletter, p. 12, paragraph 3
5 FGNA CPP, p. 7, paragraph 2, https://sites.google.com/site/fgnataskforce/public-reports/initial-motion
6 Buchanan, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/217: “While the increase in Feldenkrais Teachers was
stable in the past two decades, the numbers of teachers rising to the ranks of Assistant Trainer and Trainer were
lower in the 2000s than in the 1990s. If the profession does not address this pattern, it may reduce the capacity for
An Umbrella Approach to Feldenkrais® Training
Copyright © 2015 Jeff Haller. All Rights Reserved.
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Trainer population, 57.9 years to the 13 Trainers surveyed at 62.2 years. It’s probable that these
survey numbers reflect the greater Trainer/Assistant Trainer population. Currently, there are no
Guild member Trainer candidates in the pipeline to become Trainers.7 The steps to Trainer
candidacy are onerous, expensive and time consuming, which makes it difficult for Assistant
Trainers to gain the skills they need to rise to Trainer status. With the present Training
Accreditation Guidelines and the size of training programs, there is little opportunity for
Assistant Trainers to meet the requirements to become a Trainer. Under the present TAGS, many
adept practitioners, who would make fine Trainers, recognize they have little chance to become
Trainers and therefore simply do not apply for Assistant Trainer status. There have been few, if
any, Assistant Trainer applications from young, adept practitioners.

With the above in mind, the following training proposal is presented to meet the demands for
both the training of competent Trainers and the training of practitioners who will meet Guild
certification requirements. While maintaining the curriculum content and pedagogy of traditional
training programs, this training proposal differs in 13 key features:

1. It operates on a distributed, networked, “pods”-based umbrella model;
2. It has stringent standards for participation and graduation;
3. Students will maintain their own personal competency profile for their growth and
development;
4. Following their ATM and FI practicums, students can receive payment for their work;
5. Graduation is competency-based;
6. There is more training, shorter duration of segments, and extensive clinical experience;
7. The Guild assesses graduates for certification and membership;
8. It enhances and changes the educational leadership role of a Trainer;
9. It provides significant training for Assistant Trainers;
10. It places significant teaching and student monitoring responsibilities in the hands of
Assistant Trainers;
11. It provides location-based training to support the growth of the Feldenkrais Method in
more regions;
12. Currently certified Trainers can develop their own teachings and have more autonomy in
teaching their own programs (via the pods);
13. It serves to beta-test a competence-based training process as a means for preparing
practitioners for FGNA certification.

In addition, this training model offers the FGNA a grassroots way to expand its membership.
Because the training proposed is stringent, demanding, and competence-based, there is a distinct
potential it can serve to breath life into a stagnant FGNA membership and help assure the
autonomy of the Feldenkrais Method.

This proposal is designed to beta-test the CPP profile, and to see if we can develop higher quality
beginning practitioners. All of us, who are dedicated to the Feldenkrais Method fear the work
will be lost, splintered, and potentially subsumed by organizations that want us in their scope of

training Feldenkrais Teachers moving forward, given the average ages of 57.9 for Assistant Trainers and 62.2 for
Trainers.”
7 FGNA Excel File TR-TC-AT-All.xisx
An Umbrella Approach to Feldenkrais® Training
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practice. If we are to maintain our autonomy, we will have to grow, be resilient, and be very
effective. In our own profession there are those who want to develop a central theory on the basis
of the work. Some say we are just a collection of techniques with no central theme; descriptions
such as these serve to diminish the Feldenkrais Method. “Our work integrates the objective,
scientifically apprehended and subjective dimensions of human functioning and flourishing,
considered in relation to the primary freedom of action—movement. We cultivate subjective
experience and awareness of a kind that is informed by method and the science of human
morphology. This is a highly sophisticated and distinctive training. Other fields of practice may
borrow from it, but if the basis for this training weakens or begins to die out, it is not just our
practice that is imperiled but also its generative influence over other professional practices.”8

Training our practitioners is not a simple task. This proposal is one way of meeting the changing
demands our Guild and the wider world Feldenkrais practice faces. It is one way of teaching
dedicated students how to develop and mature so they can meet the ever-present change that is
continually before us. Our traditional training model has served us since Moshe died. The
training process needs to develop and mature with the old and the new combined to lead us into
new domains of expression, so we can thrive in the throes of uncertainty and provide immense
value for the people we help and serve.

Key Features

The training program outlined in this proposal has 13 key features that differentiate it from the
traditional training model:

1. Distributed Training: It operates on a distributed, networked, pods-based umbrella
model.

Students in the training are grouped into pods, each led by a Trainer or an Assistant
Trainer. Pods are small, i.e. 5-20 students, to allow for a great deal of close, one-on-one
interaction between the pod leader and the students.

Pods may be formed in several locations in a region. For example, in the Pacific
Northwest there might be a pod in Bend, OR, one in Eugene, OR, one in Tacoma, WA, a
few in the Seattle, WA region, and one in Bellingham, WA. Or, pods could form in
different regions and still be under one umbrella. The majority of the training would
occur in the local city, reducing the travel requirement and making the program more
accessible to more students. It allows us to reach out into local communities to train
people who don’t have the means to leave their homes for long periods of time, thus
spreading the Method farther. Pods of training students are developed in cities where no
training programs have been taught before. Taught by skilled local Assistant Trainers, the
training programs are accessible to more students.

2. Stringent Standards: It has stringent standards for participation and graduation.

8 Anna Yeatman, in a private letter
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This proposal significantly increases the requirements of the students to practice the skills
of the profession and to demonstrate those skills before they take their ATM and FI
practicums or before they can “graduate” from the program. For example, a graduate
must log a minimum of 150 FI lessons to graduate.

This proposed program is a rigorous opportunity for people who are highly qualified and
who enter the training process with the intention of working as a Feldenkrais Practitioner,
either as a private practitioner or within their own field of endeavor. The stringency and
the requirements of the program offered here require a high level of dedication and
commitment for those who enroll. It will be demanding, and offer students the continual
supervision, clinics, support, and practice to become practitioners who have the skills to
enter and open markets not yet reached by Feldenkrais practitioners.

3. Student Profiles:

Students maintain their own personal competency profile based on the CPP, in order to
help them assess their growth and development.

4. Payment while Students:

Following their ATM and FI practicums, students can receive payment for their work.
This will help them financially in their investment in the training process and give them
much needed supervised support as they begin their practices.

5. Competency-based Graduation:

Based on the CPP, students will have a clear understanding of their graduation
requirements.

6. More Training, Shorter Overall Duration, Extensive Clinical Experience:

The TAGs require a minimum of three years for completion of an 80-hour training
program. This proposed program is completed within three years with over 1,300 hours
of training time, including extensive clinical experience.

7. Graduation Separate from Certification:

The Guild assesses graduates for certification and membership. Through student profiles
and other forms of practice that demonstrate proficiency, graduates will demonstrate
beginner’s competency as specified in the CPP to become certified Guild members.

8. Enhances and Changes the Educational Leadership Role of a Trainer:

The Trainer oversees the entire program, and may teach their own pod, but is continually
working with the Assistant Trainers to help them with their pods. This process affords
Trainers who are interested in working in this way the opportunity to train and pass along
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their gifts, giving the next generation of students the means to become practitioners and
Assistant Trainers the means to become Trainers.

This training proposal also offers the opportunity for Trainers who do not have the means
to organize a “traditional” training the chance to develop a pod of students of their own to
teach. This proposal will afford them the ability to teach and share their own unique
intelligence in a personal way with a group of students with whom they are mutually
attracted. This process will allow them to develop their own lineage of students and
establish their own legacies. As a part of an umbrella group, all pod teachers, assistants
and Trainers will be working in community with each other, to reach the highest goals of
the training process: the transformation of new students into competent beginning
professional practitioners who can help people live more easily and comfortably.

This proposal is not in lieu of, but in addition to, traditional training programs. Those
who choose to teach in the traditional training process will continue to apply to the TAB
for their certification using the previous TAGs.

9. Significant Training for Assistant Trainers:

Assistant Trainer pod teachers attend in-person teacher-training programs and have
weekly web-based meetings with the Trainer to discuss their training process. There are
few young, adept practitioners in the pipeline to become Trainers who can help the
Feldenkrais Method to flourish. The training process proposed will make it possible for
practitioners with a viable practice, who meet the Guild qualifications, to become
Assistant Trainers and develop their skills so they can become a Trainer. They will learn
by doing, and will have the opportunity to find if they can make their dream of training
people to become Feldenkrais Practitioners a reality.

Skilled practitioners will have the potential to teach at a higher level and take the
initiative to become Assistant Trainers. Trainers will be given the opportunity to develop
their own teaching as well, by teaching highly qualified, motivated, skillful assistants.

10. Assistant Trainers Assume Significant Teaching and Student Monitoring
Responsibilities:

Assistant Trainers teach major aspects of the training curriculum, oversee student profile
development, and hold student practicums.

11. Exposure to More Populations:

Location-based training supports the exposure to and growth of the Feldenkrais Method
in more regions.

This process will benefit the Feldenkrais trademark by bringing new life into the training
process, increase the number of practitioners who enter the Guild, and bring out of the
background undiscovered talented who can further the development of our profession.
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12. Trainer Development:

Currently certified Trainers can develop their own teachings and have more autonomy in
teaching their own programs (via the pods).

13. Beta-test New Competency-based Training:

This competence-based training process serves as a means for preparing practitioners for
FGNA certification.

This alternative proposal will offer the FGNA a training program that is not time-based
but competency based. The FGNA will be able to use the outcomes of this process as a
basis for determining the efficacy of using the FGNA CPP as a basis for determining
Guild membership.

Training Format

There are potential practitioners and Assistant Trainers in locations all around North America.
Because of the current organization of trainings, it’s logistically difficult for people to commit to
participating.

This new training format is designed to meet the needs of those potential trainees, and produce
competent beginning certified practitioners. In effect, we propose to bring the training to the
potential trainees, by creating “pod” segments as well as utilizing the power of technology for
remote study.

The training is three years total; training segments include:

• Seven-day intensives three times per year, or one 10-day intensive mid-year, with the
whole group, Educational Director (ED) and Assistant Trainers.
• Eight four-day pod workshops (or the equivalent) throughout the year arranged and
taught by pod teachers under the ED’s direction.
• Three-hour supervised clinics, 30 times/year, every week not in the whole group training.
• One-hour online class, 30 times/year, Q&A with whole group led by the ED.

All intensive training days will be an average minimum of six hours. This can include time for
people to work individually or in groups on given class projects or their personal competency
profiles.

How geographically widespread the pods are will determine how often whole group training
sessions will be held (either three/year or one longer intensive). The seven-day whole group
intensive can be expanded to 10 days on an as-needed basis.

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The total minimum in-class hours of the training program ranges from 1,116-1,314 hours. The
total hours per year ranges from 372-438 hours.

# times # days
Total
What per or Teacher Details
Hours
year hours
3 @ 7 Whole group in-person
days or 7 or 10 Educational meetings at the beginning,
Intensives 60-126
1 @ 10 days Director middle, and end of each
days training year.
Trainer Attended in-person by pod
Workshops 8 4 days 192
Candidate students.
Supervised Trainer Attended in-person by pod
30 3 hours 90
Clinics Candidate students.
Q&A Educational
30 1 hour Whole group online meetings. 30
Webinar Director
372-
Total
438/year

The training is designed to also deal with the issue of interruptions in the flow of the teaching
and learning that often occurs when segments happen at various times/places during the year,
taught by different Assistant Trainers. In the proposed model, the pod teachers are consistent
presences in their respective groups; they are always in attendance.

Other certified Trainers may be asked to come as needed for their particular skills and teach part
or all of a seven-day segment.

Requirements for Graduation

• Students will sign an enrollment agreement that spells out their requirements for
graduation.

• Each student will meet class attendance requirements and make up all missed classes.

• Students will develop their own competence profile, based on the FGNA Certified
Practitioner Profile. Through mentoring, class participation, and critical self-observation
each will develop a written profile of their development as a student. This profile will be
a part of each student’s ongoing evaluation as they attend the training.

• Students will teach a minimum of 100 documented ATM lessons prior to graduation,
including a themed weekend workshop. Each ATM class given will be documented as to
attendance, theme, ATM or ATMs given, with critical self-evaluation of how lessons
were taught. All themed weekend workshops will be developed and submitted including
brochures, times, dates, venue, marketing plan, etc. to their pod teacher for feedback and
discussion prior to giving their workshop.
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• Students are expected to participate in ATM on a more than weekly basis when not in
training class. They will be apprised of the ATM resources they have available to them.
Documentation of their ongoing ATM experience is expected with analysis of live
teaching classes they attend so they will learn to discriminate styles of teaching as a part
of the process of developing their own teaching expression.

• Students will give a minimum of 150 documented FI lessons prior to graduation.
Documentation will include what their client came for, what they saw, what they did,
what their before and after references were, what homework was given, a critical
overview of what they noticed about their self and what they need to develop as they
continue in their practice.

• Students will know a minimum of 30 ATM lessons in various orientations with different
functional themes that they can teach.

• Students who maintain their class participation will be given an endorsement to teach
ATM and FI during the training process so they can be paid for their work, to support
their development and their training. These endorsements will be given after each student
has met a minimum standard.

o For ATM endorsement:
 Teach 50 documented ATM lessons plus a one-day themed intensive.
 Completed an ATM practicum with their pod teacher (to be developed
beyond current standard based on the CPP).
 ATM endorsement extends through the period between graduation and
Guild certification if the person graduates from the training in good
standing.

o For FI endorsement:
 Give 50 documented FI lessons.
 Completed a FI practicum with their pod teacher (to be developed beyond
current standard based on the CPP).
 FI endorsement extends through the period between graduation and Guild
certification if the person graduates from the training in good standing.

• Graduation from the training program is not complete until all documented ATM and FI
lessons have been given.

• Graduation from the training program will require students to complete their competence
profile with clear documentation of their preparedness to be a Feldenkrais Teacher and
meet the criteria to pass the Guild’s certification standards.

An Umbrella Approach to Feldenkrais® Training
Copyright © 2015 Jeff Haller. All Rights Reserved.
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