IAL developed a certification process to promote the highest quality Accelerated Learning facilitation and design. It promotes the development of teachers, trainers, and facilitators who can transform learning to make it joyful, meaningful, and effective for everyone.
IAL has been involved in promoting the highest quality of Accelerated Learning design and facilitation for over 30 years. In January 2004 at the international conference, IAL presented their three level certification guidelines and process to support teachers and facilitators in using Accelerated Learning to create learning environments in which each person thrives, in creating a learning process that is fun, meaningful and transformational. Based on the German model implemented in 1991 by the DGSL and the results of a Delphi Project led by Dr. Charlotte LeHecka involving ten AL experts and eliciting input from many more practitioners around the world, IAL has determined the key skills and competencies necessary to successfully design and teach using Accelerated Learning.
IAL’s three levels of certification are based on best practices from around the world. The recommended program of development not only trains people in the Accelerated Learning skills they need to be successful, it focuses on the experiences, attitudes and abilities an effective AL teacher or facilitator needs to create and maintain the ideal learning environment to support learner success.
Importance of Standards, Processes and Recognized Training and Development
In 1978, UNESCO announced that Suggestopedia, the roots of AL as we know it today, had the potential to rid the world of illiteracy and raise the standards of education around the world. They advised the thorough training of teachers and the highest standards of development. Up until Germany’s pioneer work in 1991, there was no model, there were no standards or recognized processes to develop AL teachers and trainers. There were individuals and organizations doing excellent work, and there were some who simply called what they were doing Accelerated Learning without any real knowledge and skill.
A rigorous and widely accepted certification process enables teachers and facilitators to achieve the amazing results possible for learners and ensures that high standards are maintained. It also builds trust and supports the public in knowing what Accelerated Learning is and what it is not. When people experience excellent AL teaching and facilitating, word will spread and it will become more widely available to school children, corporate learners and others. The certification process can become the catalyst for a learning revolution.
The Three Certification Levels
Level I – The Practitioner Level
The practitioner level consists of 120 hours and offers a developmental program to enable participants to master all the elements of Accelerated Learning design and facilitation at a basic level. IAL does not offer Level I training. Instead the organization certifies and recommends Level III trainers and their work. Level I training is the most beneficial when experienced in a program with one group over time. Each module in the training builds on the one previous. The facilitator, the design of the modules, and the group itself all contribute to each person’s individual learning and development.
Level II – The Master Level
Twenty days of indepth training, ten in the area of personal leadership and mastery and the theories and tools of Accelerated Learning, and ten in the various methods and tools that enhance facilitation make up the bulk of the requirement for the Master’s Level. In addition, candidates attend three workshops and experience AL as a learner in three different subject areas.
The Master’s Level recognizes indepth training and experience in the key areas of AL and time spent on personal development. The certification committee also reviews a video of the candidate’s work.
IAL offers workshops that count toward Level II certification at the international conference and around the country in chapter events.
Level III – The Trainer Level
To be a trainer of other Accelerated Learning facilitators, to design and facilitate the 120 hour Level I programs, requires a high level of mastery of all the dimensions of Accelerated Learning as well as well developed people skills. The AL trainer of others needs the ability to support each person on their learning journey with sensitivity. Trainers require both flexibility and creativity in their approach and process to help each person tap into their potential and develop the skills they need and desire.
Two years of experience using AL after Level I certification, 200 hours of personal growth work and observed teaching, and training at the equivalent of the practitioner level in an area of humanistic psychology are a few of the requirements for IAL trainer certification.
For more information on the content and the requirements of each level, download IAL’s pdf.file.
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