Continuing Professional Development

Development for member DLTs

The KLVC in Orkney, Scotland is dedicated to teaching, maintaining and developing the work known as FREEING THE NATURAL VOICE. Kristin’s workshops maintain the artistic character and integrity of the Linklater Voice Method and, at the same time, constitute a laboratory for continuing research. Advances in neuro-biology and the science of mind-body synergy regularly reveal new information and fresh vocabulary not only for the process of creative interaction between voice, body, emotion and intellect but in the physics of communication. Linklater’s work is constantly refined by new knowledge tested not only in her workshop-laboratory but in the field of DLT classrooms around the world.

It has become accepted practice in the fields of medicine, education, law, commerce etc. to require practitioners to sign up for Continuing Professional Development courses on a regular basis in order to maintain their efficacy.

Quoting from an online source:

"A CPD may be a requirement of membership of a professional body. It can help you to reflect, review and document your learning and to develop and update your professional knowledge and skills. It is also very useful to:

  • provide an overview of your professional development to date
  • remind you of your achievements and how far you‘ve progressed
  • direct your career and helps you keep your eye on your goals
  • uncover gaps in your skills and capabilities
  • open up further development needs
  • provide examples and scenarios for a CV or interview
  • demonstrate your professional standing to clients and employers
  • help you with your career development or a possible career change.

Meaningful learning is a slow and uncertain process for teachers as well as for students, with some elements that are more easily changed than others, according to the interplay with teachers’ deeply-rooted beliefs and attitudes."

"Among the sources of teacher efficacy, the key ones appear to be mastery experiences (i.e. direct teaching experiences that are challenging but successful), together with vicarious experiences (observations of peers of similar ability levels, teaching challenging ideas successfully) and social/verbal persuasion (receiving positive feedback from students, peers and superiors).

Among the key factors that seem to inspire teachers to develop their classroom practices, there are the following:

  • collaboration and joint work with other teachers on concrete tasks and problem-solving, supporting teachers’ mutual aid, responsibility, initiative and leadership;
  • observation and assessment/ feedback processes;
  • inquiry and reflection on own and others’ beliefs and behaviours;
  • teacher educators and mentors modelling the new teaching practices,
  • encouraging teachers to implement them, and constructing opportunities for teachers to share their learning and reflections;
  • practical courses connected to the reality of classroom activities."

While these criteria refer to education in general, the principles largely apply to the continuing professional development necessary for the Linklater voice work to maintain its high standards.

Kristin Linklater now requires all newly qualified DLTs to maintain their status as members of Linklater Voice by attending a Continuing Professional Development workshop within 5 years of their designation and encourages more experienced DLTs to include CPD in their professional lives.

Discovering new elements in exercises we are all familiar with, giving them a deepening of understanding and awareness and having the ablity to go more deeply into the work because of our mutual level of experience and continued curiosity.

 

- Danielle Meunier

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