Practical Ministry Field Education
Overview
This subject gives students the opportunity to spend a full year engaging with a chosen ministry at a deep level. Much more than placement, field education aims to develop reflective learning, self-awareness and a critical approach to ministry. Students not only learn from doing but learn how to be life-long learners.
Subject Details
| Mode |
Online |
| Workload |
Two semesters, 12 credit points |
| Status |
Elective |
| Subject code |
PC094 |
| Prerequisites |
48 credit points of core foundational subjects |
| Teacher |
Graham Stanton |
Content
This subject extends over two semesters and consists of two components: theoretical and practical. Students are required to organise for themselves a ministry supervisor who is able to meet with them regularly (roughly fortnightly, for about an hour each time).
As a subject that integrates theological knowledge with analysis of practical ministry experiences, this is best completed towards the end of your program of study after you have developed your biblical, historical, and theological understanding. Field Education is an appropriate subject to complete as a capstone experience for the Master of Divinity or Master of Ministry degrees.
Because of the requirement for mentoring and reflective journalling, only one Field Education subject can be taken at a time and should not be undertaken concurrently with the Guided Spiritual Formation subjects.
For the successful completion of this subject, students are required to complete both the theoretical and practical components.
Theoretical Component
The theoretical component of the subject is coordinated via the Ridley Online learning site and involves:
- An introduction to the ministry issues pertaining to the context in which the fieldwork will be undertaken in discussion with your ministry supervisor
- Directed reading of a book/books relevant to the ministry context
- Working through the learning materials provided for you on My.Ridley which include videos and resources on:
- Goal setting
- The supervisory relationship and action-reflection learning
- Methods of recording and analysing ministry experience: verbatim report, critical incident study, time and motion study
- Participation in an online discussion forum for each learning module throughout the year
Practical Component
The practical ministry component will be undertaken in a ministry setting chosen by you and negotiated with the Field Education Coordinator. You will be expected to engage in:
- 117 hours of actual ministry (e.g. 3-4 hours per week over 20-30 weeks)
- 13 hours of reflection meetings with ministry supervisor (12-15 meetings, fortnightly of roughly 60 minutes each)
- 17 hours of preparation and writing reflection reports for supervisory meetings including
- Journaling reflections on ministry experience (30 minutes per week)
- Preparation for supervisory meetings (60 minutes for each meeting)
At the end of the year you will be expected to collect feedback evaluations of your practical ministry work from your supervisor and at least two other people.
Students enrolling in this unit need to be in a position to organise and engage in supervised ministry experience in line with the expectations outlined above. The Field Education Coordinator, Graham Stanton, is available to assist and advise you regarding arrangements for your practical ministry experience.Contact Graham Stanton
