Saturday, November 19, 2005
They work on development of the whole person, the research consultant says.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Clergy education provided by seminaries in the United States provides a model for other forms of professional education, whether it be engineering, law or medicine.
That's one of the key results coming out of a national study of the performance of domestic seminaries conducted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
The study, released Friday, took a detailed look at 18 schools across the country (as well as doing surveys and other examinations), including the Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus.
The study looked only at accredited institutions, including Conservative and Reform Jewish and Catholic, Christian Orthodox and Protestant Christian programs.
The bottom line is that they are basically doing a good job and can serve as models for colleges and universities involved in training other professionals, according to "Educating Clergy: Teaching Practices and Pastoral Imagination."
Everyone else is looking at the clergy study to determine how to form professional and personal identities in the educational process, said Dr. Lawrence A. Golemon, research consultant on the project and director of the Sacred Visions and Social Good Program at Dominican University and the Graduate Theological Union.
Seminaries pay specific attention to the formation of the person as a whole, not just the education found in the classroom, and other professionals want to learn how they do that, Golemon said.
That doesn't mean seminaries are doing a perfect job.
Specific findings
The study found that 80 percent of some 120 seminary alumni surveyed felt they were unprepared for the leadership and management requirements of their jobs.
Some also said they had been given insufficient preparation for pastoral care and handling the difficult and painful situations for which people sought ministers for counsel.
The study didn't make specific recommendations for correcting that apparent oversight, said Dr. Charles L. Foster, study director.
Instead, it formulated a series of questions that seminary educators can use as a guide to sustain and renew the seminary as a community of teaching and learning practices, he said.
"Sustained and focused conversation among colleagues contributes an important 'something more' to the cultivation of good teaching," the study said.
Golemon said the study had three basic findings:
UClergy are being trained as leaders for today's society both for their congregation and the general public.
UEffective learning happens at the intersection of classroom and community when clergy-in-training learn by working alongside others.
UGood educators are not afraid to share themselves and their beliefs in the classroom.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center dedicated to encouraging and upholding the teacher and higher education.
gwin@vindy.com