Let down

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The “professional development” event I was looking forward to has just been cancelled. Such a let down. The trainers needed 15 paying participants. Just 15! MELTA has about 300 members, and non-members were also invited, yet 275 Euros for three days was too much for them. Isn’t that sad?

Why won’t freelance English teachers invest in their development? This is what needs to happen:

Step 1: “tend your garden”. We don’t even have the option of being a part of “landreform”, to pick up on Tessa Woodward’s image. Now that is in fact a fine option, since (as she said) tending your own garden has more payoff.

Step 2: Share. But it doesn’t end in your own garden, see. It’s an intrinsic need, you extend your gardening network, so you have lots of active gardeners exchanging ideas on organic gardening versus great spring displays, dealing with long, cold winters and getting rid of bugs. So if private gardens have good payoff, well, sharing takes it up a level.

Step 3: Integrate. Now, I don’t think simply sharing is the end of the story, though. A freelancer needs to do quite a bit of integration and reflection, plot a course, apply and test, check back on what she’s done and how it’s gone. That’s the only way to the top of the gardening pyramid.

Comments

3 Responses

  1. Hi Anne,
    Ooh, oh, I’m guilty …
    You see I really wanted to do that business (personal development) too. I’m always 1000% behind personal improvement / development. However, I wasn’t satisfied with the description we were getting of the event. I asked on a few occasions for a more defined picture of what it was all about – but somehow it never emerged to my satisfaction.
    Maybe I felt it was a bit like buying a pig in a bag. After all it did seem like a lot of time and money in these hard times – if you don’t know what you might be letting yourself in for!!
    but I’ml certainly on board for the next round – if it takes off, we could do some canvassing for customers. How about that?

  2. Anne, I’m afraid I have to agree with Joan here. I wasn’t sure what I would be getting out of it for my money, and since I’m unfamiliar with the trainers and their organisation I was reluctant to embark on this and find out too late that it wasn’t what I was looking for.

    Like Joan, I’m also all for professional development and am willing to spend a lot of time, money and energy on CPD, but I have to be sure beforehand of what I’m getting. Perhaps if the trainers were to offer a taster session, this might encourage more people to sign up for the full course. Accreditation by a professional body is also a selling factor.

  3. Dear Joan and Helen,

    Well, I don’t know anything about them, I’d only seen their website http://www.die-coaching-akademie.de/index.php and trusted Rod to have checked their credientials. They spent time together, he said. Coaches are generally self-employed, that simply comes with the terrain.

    I’ve had personal coaching before, and it helped me reduce my workload, which got me started writing. So my experience so far has been positive.

    Money is a definite issue. But so is time and getting yourself organized. I just bet on the wrong horse.

    PS: Never mind. There’s be other horse races 😉 Thanks for writing.

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