Training of Trainers
Training of Trainers
Gaia Education Training of Trainers (ToT) course is answering an international demand for more well-qualified educators and facilitators who are able to conduct our Face-to-Face and Project-Based Learning programmes taking place in 48 countries. Recently, Gaia Education joined forces with UNESCO Global Action Programme Priority Area 5 – Accelerating Change at Local Level. We are embarking on a path of expansion that calls for qualified trainers who can build capacity for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at local level.
Gaia Education certified facilitators and trainers will be equipped with the skills and methodologies to facilitate transformative learning environments and host multi-stakeholder conversations that enable collaborative action. The aim of the Training of Trainers is first and foremost, to help you deepen your experience in how to teach, facilitate and train people by enabling collaboration and participation among a community of learners. In addition, we hope to support and inspire you to know what you are most deeply called to teach, and most importantly, with why this kind of education is so critically important for the future of life on Earth.
Learning Outcomes
During the Training of Trainers, the participants will:
Course Content
Gaia Education Training of Trainers is built upon three pillars:
Sustainable Development Goals – Negotiating Tensions between Global and Local
The world is marked by a strong and creative tension. It is a tension between what is global and what is local. The global face is powerful, and seeking to be more so. But a tide is rising, steadily reinforcing the local, resulting in an increasing ‘Glocalisation’ as the global and local converge. This module will teach edge workers and facilitators how to navigate between the two spheres in language, ethics and implementation. It will support participants to decode relevant UN conventions into meaningful frameworks for transformative action at the local level. Topics include SDGs vertical integration, UNESCO Global Action Programme Priorities Areas, and how to translate Global Climate Agreements into action through behaviour and life style changes.
Facilitating Participatory Learning Journeys
The aim of this module is for facilitators to gain the necessary skills and confidence to teach the four dimensions of sustainability in ways that support participants to empower themselves both inwardly and outwardly. These future facilitators will be expected to have knowledge in the areas they plan to teach and this module will prepare them to teach this material in a way that builds a learning community and draws deeply from the group with which they are working. Participants will ride a dynamic balance of meditation practice, experimenting with facilitation and clarifying principles to navigate a holistic educational experience. There will also be ample time for facilitation practice where all participants will gain confidence in using participatory learning tools by taking the lead in assigned sessions.
Deepening the Edge Work
The edge is the meeting point between the known and the unknown, between something being too well known, which makes it boring to us, and too unknown, which makes it confusing. The edge is a zone of high intensity, instability, creativity and innovation. Just as it is possible, through the design of ecological sustainable systems, to increase diversity and life by maximising the edges between neighboring biological communities, so it is possible to create a larger edge effect in community development thereby maximising its benefit to the society as a whole. This module will position Gaia Trainers as maximisers of edges between different communities with differing modes of operation, power structures, cultures, physical environments and worldviews. It will equip trainers with the skilful means to adapt to multiple scenarios and situations and ultimately thrive and help others thrive through creativity and playing for collaborative advantage.
What You Will Receive
Application Process
There is no minimum requirement for anyone to participate in a Training of Trainers. However, the Gaia Education ToT is part of a learning journey to become a Gaia Education certified trainer. If you want to become a certified trainer, the journey consists of three steps, you can complete in any order:
- Participate in a face-to-Face EDE
- Take the GEDS e-learning course in the area you want to teach
- Take part in a Training of Trainers
You should have significant experience in the dimension in which you would like to teach. An interview during the Gaia Education ToT will ascertain suitability to be certified and included on the Gaia Education Roster of Trainers or specify additional steps required to fulfil this.
Setting & Investment
The prices for the programme are as follows:
- Full-board residential course at OUR Ecovillage House – $1,479 CAD.
This option includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. - Non-residential – $1,244 CAD.
This option includes lunch. - Sustainable Development Goals module, 14-15 April only – $260 CAD.
This is all-day, 9-5, with optional evening.
Facilitators
The Training of Trainers course is content rich, action-based, and led by our most experienced facilitators. The ToT in Canada will be facilitated by trainers that have decades of experience in their role as facilitators of positive change.
May East – Via Web
Upcoming Training of Trainers (ToTs)
