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  • From: Andrew Millison <amillison@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] official certification
  • Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 14:43:21 -0800

Kelly,
I co-teach a teacher training course with Jude Hobbs. I've done 3 with her,
and she has taught about 15 or so. The course is open to anyone who has
taken a PDC, and the students receive a certificate of completion, but are
by no means told they are ready to go out and teach a PDC and give out a
certificate. What we strongly recommend is to have worked in the field for
at least 2 years, and then co-instruct at least 6 full PDCs with an
experienced teacher before going out and holding your own course.

Now that is a very general rule of thumb recommendation. Everyone is
different, with different levels of prior experience, as well as their
temperament: there are natural teachers and those who will struggle no
matter how much training they have. There are people who are teachers or
have a very deep understanding of design or some part of the curriculum
before they ever take their PDC. I hear there are teacher trainings that say
to go ahead and teach a PDC upon completion of the course. We definitely do
not say that.

Many people who take a teacher training do not aspire to ever teach a PDC.
They want to improve their communication and presentation skills, they work
with kids and want to have more of a Permaculture focus, they already give
workshops in some aspect of Permaculture and want to improve or round out
their curriculum. There is no harm done in taking a teacher training course
right after you take a PDC. It is where you go from there there that is the
issue.

I had 5 years of Permaculture work between when I took my PDC and taught my
first course, and that seems pretty light when I look back at it today. Do
we ever stop learning? It is a continual process of evolution for each one
of us.

Thanks,
Andrew Millison
www.beaverstatepermaculture.com

On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Jason,
> I strongly agree with you that these things are important - fully executed
> permaculture design projects of many types to demonstrate the principles
> actually working; working with communities, making the connections, etc. I
> do lots of community organizing (have put together groups of hundreds of
> active gardeners, put together "sustainable network" databases, bioregional
> work, public permaculture projects, etc) and work with governments and
> policy makers but I've never figured out a way to get paid for that or get
> some sort of energy from it that would allow me to meet my needs. It appears
> that governments and communities are willing to take anything I give them
> without returning the flow. This could be my personal aberration, maybe
> other people are doing this and getting paid or supported in some way, but
> my solution has been to teach for money and fund my community/bioregional
> project work with that. I could design for money but would prefer to focus
> on volunteer community design projects that will set an example for many -
> like multifunction community gardens, etc.
> Do you have any ideas of how permaculturists could do the type of work you
> propose and make a living at it or somehow meet their needs while doing it?
> I think a lot more of us might do that full time if we could solve that
> problem. I would work 60-80 hours a week doing that type of work if I didn't
> still have to pay some money for rent, etc. I'm not totally off the grid yet
> and have chosen to stay in urban areas and places that are working to get
> off, and to travel, for strategical and ethical reasons - they need me worse
> than an off-grid intentional community does right now. But that means I
> still need money or something that allows me to eat, have shelter, etc. I'm
> a single mom supporting two kids who are full time students as well.
> Cory
>
> --- On Sat, 11/6/10, Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] official certification
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Saturday, November 6, 2010, 9:01 PM
>
> Kelly,
> I couldn't agree more with what you wrote in your post! I see some local
> frustration in your writing and resonate with that as well. Personal note:
> Having been part of a Teacher Training course in early 2008 that 95%
> consisted of very recent PDC grads I was dismayed and disappointed
> initially
> feeling like all the years previous that I put in with multiple PDC's,
> Advanced Design Course, internships, mentorships, design projects, etc, was
> not required of all participants. It felt odd to follow the traditional
> recommendations and see others get by without putting in the time.
> However,
> it became apparent that those without the practice time and experience
> would
> not excel at teaching a subject they had only been introduced to through a
> PDC. Since then I have observed most of those trainees taking the time to
> put the experience under their feet as they have realized on their own that
> they were not prepared to teach. The observations from that experience
> prove to me that there is inherent value in being strict about a structured
> course of action for Permaculture training. My preferred sequence would be
> for students to start with a PDC, practice for 2+ years, take advanced
> design course, more practice for a couple years prior to taking the Teacher
> Training, then apprenticing for many, many years before going out on ones
> own. Of course, as you say, there needs to be a way of valuing the
> previous
> experience of students in other fields like restoration ecology, landscape
> design, alternative education, etc.
>
> Alternatively, it is part of my vision to have Teacher Trainings focus more
> on community organizing than occupational permaculture teaching. More than
> ever we need to teach people how to work in their communities and institute
> design projects. Such a course would focus on working with
> neighbors/HOAs/Governments/NGOs/schools, etc. Perhaps a more fruitful
> setting for permaculture teachers is along fence lines, in alleyways, and
> across streets instead of in classrooms, with the goal of actually putting
> permaculture systems on the ground. I believe we have a dire lack of
> active
> well-developed permaculture sites across the country, and I'll continue to
> believe this until we have multiple sites in every neighborhood.
> Therefore,
> it is my goal to contribute as much as I can to that end. From this
> perspective teaching becomes a focus on supporting the development of very
> competent Permaculture Designers who can effectively speak about
> permaculture and create openings for the demonstration of the principles
> and
> concepts and go on to guide the implementation of such projects.
>
> Thanks for sharing and listening,
> Jason
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