TMMC2077: Preparing for Public Ministry

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• L6-10 Preparing for Public Ministry

• To enable students to assess in what ways they have attained the relevant ministerial or vocational learning outcomes, and to identify areas for future formational, educational and professional development.
• To enable students to reflect on their vocation in the light of the ministry for which they are being prepared.
• To enable students to approach the next stage of their ministry with confidence, with a sound understanding of the ordination or welcome liturgies in which they will be participating.
• To enable students to demonstrate a theologically and psychologically informed grasp of such issues as authority, power, freedom and responsibility, including those of safeguarding and the protection of children and vulnerable adults, as these affect those entering public ministry.
• To give students time for prayer and reflection as they navigate a period of major change.

• Students will prepare for the transition to the next phase of their ministry by:
• Reviewing their current attainments in relation to nationally agreed standards, reviewing their vocational development and identifying their further developmental needs.
• Learning about relevant transitional liturgies for those moving into a new role in public ministry.
• Anticipating other practicalities associated with moving into a new ministerial role.
• Drawing on biblical and spiritual resources to enable them to anticipate these changes thoughtfully and prayerfully, with particular attention to the Bible readings and prayers used in ordination and welcoming services.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Offer a detailed account of relevant transitional liturgies, analysing theological, ecclesial and contextual understandings of them.
• Describe and analyse issues relating to authority, power, freedom and responsibility in the practice of public ministry, articulating questions raised by them.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Reflect theologically and contextually on understandings of vocation and ministry in specific contexts, recognising the importance of knowing the limits of their knowledge.

Key Skills:

• Take responsibility for a task that involves independent inquiry; the management of time, resources and use of IT; meeting deadlines, evaluating the task and learning from it.
• Plan their own personal and professional development.

• Teaching methods to be specified by each TEI, selecting from the following:
• Lectures provide content, a conceptual framework and a survey of approaches within a subject area that enable students to locate their learning in a wider context, to make connections with other disciplines, and to evaluate and apply their learning to different contexts.
• Seminars offer students an opportunity to present, evaluate and apply their knowledge to specific contexts, and to engage with teaching staff and peers in debate and reflection.
• Guided reading in conjunction with lectures encourages independent learning and underpins the knowledge and understanding gained in lectures and seminars.
• Small group learning creates an environment where students learn to articulate their knowledge and understanding effectively and in a way that is relevant to the group and its context.
• Tutorials enhance learning by offering feedback and encouraging students to reflect on their own response to the knowledge and skills they have acquired.
• Visits enable students to encounter the subject matter in a way that provokes formational as well as cognitive learning that demands critical reflection on the subject area and its implications.
• Placements and/or work-based learning ensures that students make habitual connections between knowledge, understanding, skills, professional practice and the reality of a specific context, under the supervision of an experienced practitioner.
• Programmed online learning materials guide students through knowledge content, its wider framework and different approaches to its application. Virtual discussion forums offer students the opportunity to articulate the knowledge and understanding they have acquired to others and to engage in informed debate.

Students will be expected to demonstrate engagement with the subject matter and the learning outcomes throughout the module by suitable formative assessments that encourage integrative and reflective skills.

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