Re-energising Training for Transition

Transition Network has been helping to develop a new international Training Circle which plans to re-energise training and learning opportunities. In this first phase we’d like to gather your ideas by inviting you to respond to our survey.

01/05 UPDATE - We’re starting to hear from you - thank you! And we want to make an apology. Some people who are part of the Transition movement felt there wasn’t a survey that fitted them. Thanks for giving this feedback and we’re really sorry.

So, we’ve redesigned the ‘Hubsters’ survey as a Transitioners survey to make sure you can answer whether you're in an informal group, initiative, Hub or just starting out on your own. You can of course answer the survey for Trainers or for Training Participants if one of those fits best for you.

The surveys will now all stay open until 10th May to give you more time.

We are just setting out on this journey of finding out how to support training and learning for this growing, diverse movement and we definitely won't have asked all of the right questions! So, please use that question in the surveys, is there anything at all to do with training and learning for transition that you would like to add? We’re listening.

Why re-energise training for Transition?

Some of the earliest work of Transition Network was to develop and deliver a range of Transition trainings to support and engage the growing worldwide Transition movement.

Over the years Transition Hubs and a network of trainers have adapted, developed and delivered trainings across the world and online in different languages. This work has continued even though, in more recent times, there has been less visibility of training activity directly through the Transition Network.

In these times it feels more important than ever to put resources and energy into developing and amplifying learning opportunities relevant to the current global context.

How are we going about it?

A Training for Transition Support Circle was formed from volunteers within the movement late in 2019 and includes Ellen Bermann from Italy, Gesa Maschkowski from Germany, Suzie Cahn from Ireland and Deborah Benham from Transition Network.

The intention of this group was to facilitate a shift towards the wider movement holding responsibility for leading on training and empowering trainers and groups to take this work forward, with Transition Network providing support and resources to facilitate this.

In October 2019 they invited individuals, groups and Hubs to apply to take on the role of Training Coordination, and from this a resourced Training Circle was established. This circle is made up of international Transitioners and trainers with a range of diverse experiences – Monica from Brazil, Josué from Belgium, Anahí, Catalina and Silvana from Chile, and Rachel from the UK. You can read more about our intentions here.

Re-energising Training for Transition – Phase One

In the spring and early summer of 2020 the Training Circle is gathering the collective intelligence of trainers, transitioners, Hubs and other organisations providing learning opportunities for transition around the world.

From this we will map current training and learning opportunities and start to identify where support can be given to nurture, develop and share training and learning opportunities across the movement.

Practical recommendations and ideas for pilot projects will be drawn from this and developed in a second phase of the project, beginning in summer 2020.

Get Involved

Now we have an international Training Circle in place, we want to hear from you about your needs and ideas for training and learning about Transition.

Since this project began the global situation has changed rapidly. We are all feeling the impacts of Covid-19 personally and within our communities. We appreciate that it may not be possible for you to respond right now, but if you do have the capacity to do so we would really appreciate it. You might even have views to share on how the pandemic might affect or change the training landscape needed.

Whether you’re a trainer, someone who has taken part in a training or learning event for transition, or a member of a Transition group or Hub, we would benefit from all of your insights.

We’re asking for around 10-15 minutes of your time to read and answer this survey in Spanish, French, Portuguese or English. You can opt to complete the survey for trainers, training participants or Hubsters (those of you involved in Transition Hubs). The deadline for your responses is Sunday 10th May.

But I’m looking for training now – what can I do?

If you’re part of an existing Transition group, or thinking about starting one, and looking for training we know that our Training webpages are currently out of date. We will be working to update and refresh these once we have gathered your thoughts, ideas and responses to the surveys.

In the meantime, we will do our best to connect you with trainers who are currently active if you email trainingtransitionnetwork.org with your request.

We also have a wide variety of tried and tested free online resources to support Transition groups at various phases of development, and many of these are still relevant during this time of physical distancing. You may find these help you answer some of the questions or issues that you would be hoping to address with a training course, and you can find them here.

Next Steps

We will collate and share the findings of the surveys and interviews and make recommendations for re-energising training based on the collective intelligence of the movement. We hope to find creative ways of getting your input at every stage, and this includes how we might share data so that it is of use to everyone seeking to develop, attend or share learning opportunities for transition.

Help us, if you can, by completing this survey by Sunday 10th May!