ASPIRE Foundation Program: Education, Design and Leadership 2013

“I feel that I can apply this to my life/work” – 2012 participant

“I feel with the ASPIRE model – the potential for personal and social change is clear.” – 2012 participant

“Another successful, transformative, empowering experience with the Tatamagouche Centre!” – 2012 participant

Here’s what people say they like about this program: 
• Its experiential nature; learning by doing and reflecting 
• The diversity of approaches and techniques used and learned
• The openness and generosity of the facilitators
• Working in teams, brainstorming, feeding off each other to develop something
• Taking the unknown to the known
• Group work. Small group work – learning from each other 
• Team work and co-facilitation opportunities
• Practicing while learning
• Respecting the learner’s abilities
• Pace, variety, wonderful people to be with
• The balance of theory and practice
• Congeniality – tone of program environment  
• Food, fun, friendship, learning, approach, especially the “building block effect”

Our program:

This is a foundational program at the heart of Tatamagouche Centre. It allows you to learn effective facilitation skills and creative program design, leading to transformational community learning and development. Using an experiential approach participants are afforded in-depth practice, discussion, and reflection. Whether you organize meetings, workshops or design complex projects or programs, this is an opportunity for you to gain skills, clarify leadership styles and deepen insights. Designed for both experienced and novice facilitators, participants will learn and practice this popular education methodology developed and honed by Tatamagouche Centre for over 30 years.

Drawing from a number of sources including human relations training, popular adult education, participatory development, spiritual growth, and organizational planning, the ASPIRE model of the Tatamagouche Centre combines theory and practice in “action-reflection” cycles through which participants learn from their own experience and efforts. It is this participatory, “hands-on” learning process, combined with inputs from contemporary adult education, human development and social change theory, which constitute the heart of the model.

The ASPIRE Model is now foundational for many community education programs throughout the Maritime region in Canada. Educators trained in this model apply it within community, organizational, faith-based, small business, and social change settings. In addition, program resource people linked with the Centre have contextualized the model for use in Africa and Latin America.  As well, it is basis for various adult education and training of trainers programs within the Coady International Institute, Antigonish. 

Program Cost: $775 ($377.50 tuition + $397.50 meals/accommodations)   

Please register at least 2 weeks in advance to secure your place in this program. 

Jackie McVicar

 

Jackie McVicar is an adult educator who works part of the year in Guatemala, as Coordinator of the Tatamagouche Centre Guatemala Internship Program. This program supports International Human Rights Accompaniers and Canadian Interns, and works with Indigenous community-based groups in Guatemala. She is interested in emancipatory transformational learning and how healing is a tool for political empowerment. She is inspired by the world-wide struggle of indigenous peoples and all peoples working for autonomy and life. She has studied adult education and community development and worked with youth and young adults.

Mohamed Yaffa

 

Mohamed Yaffa uses the ASPIRE model in educating staff in his role with the Diversity and Social Inclusion Program with the Capital Health District Authority – whose focus is on reducing health inequities for marginalized populations in the district. He coordinated cultural and family violence prevention programs for Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services (ISIS) for six years, facilitating the bridging of cultural gaps for new comers to Canada, awareness raising and skill development for private and public sector service providers. Mohamed has been part of the Tatamagouche Centre Program Resource Group since 2002 and has applied the ASPIRE model for educational programming for over 10 years. Mohamed has been involved in many social justice, bridge-building and inter-faith initiatives in Nova Scotia, bringing a multi-cultural perspective to the work.