Team

Brief Summary

Our first weekend will be

Saturday 14th October (9am – 6pm)
Sunday 15th October (9.30am – 2pm)

The subsequent weekend dates are

Saturday 2nd December (10am – 6pm)
Sunday 3rd December (9.30am – 2pm)

Saturday 27th January (10am – 6pm)
Sunday 28th January (9.30am – 2pm)

Saturday 9th March (10am – 6pm)
Sunday 10th March (9.30am – 2pm)

Saturday 18th May (10am – 6pm)
Sunday 19th May (9.30am – 2pm)

Please note that weekend 1 Saturday is a 9am start and all others start at 10am

Digital Literacy & Study Check

As part of this course relies on access to resources, teaching content and live sessions over the internet we would like to find out how confident you are about your own digital literacy.

Your answers will help both you and us to navigate your way through the course.

To start the questionnaire, please click here.

Course Pattern

Before each weekend you will be expected to have engaged in the content and activities on Moodle (Newman’s Virtual Learning Environment), available to you after enrolment.

Therefore, you need to make time before each weekend to watch the videos and complete the activities. During the weekend we hope that you will be able to attend face-to-face sessions on the Saturday & Sunday at Newman.

At the end of the teaching there will be a mandatory individual tutorial which you can either chose to have on the Sunday or at some point over the following five days. There will also be optional individual tutorial opportunities with the teaching team in between weekends.

Chaplaincy Practice and Supervision

As you will know from your interview all students will need to be working or volunteering as a Chaplain (or equivalent post), in order to be able to fulfil the course requirements. In offering you a place we are confident that you meet this criteria.

A key driver for the course is the development of your reflective practice. One of the mechanisms, you and all our students, will use to assist you with this is by having regular supervision. You will need, in due course, to have a Supervisor that meets the course requirements.

This should be someone that you feel at ease with and is comfortable in listening to you and by asking the ‘right’ questions can support you in deepening and increasing your awareness of how you inhabit your chaplaincy role.

For now all we suggest is that you begin to consider who might be a suitable supervisor for you, you do not need to organise this beforehand as we will talk through the process with you in our early sessions.

Once we have identified the right supervisor with you we will also arrange to meet with you and them to make sure everything is clear. Further details, course criteria and the role of the Supervisor will be explored with you once you start.

Preparing for Postgraduate Study

Time Management

Being successful on the course will require you to manage your time well. Here we give you some tips on your own time management, as you will already be a busy person! We haven’t met a chaplain that isn’t busy or needs to know when to stop!

During this course we will be asking you to study and make time in between the weekends to complete activities and assignments and also attend additional tutorials.

The video will get you to think about how, when and where you will carve out this time.

Succeeding in Postgraduate Study

Whilst returning to study is exciting it can also be a shock to the system, especially for busy people, like Chaplains. This Postgraduate course has been created to offer support along the way which includes individual tutorial sessions, input and sessions from Library colleagues and also from Learning Development.

The Open University have a free online course entitled ‘Succeeding in postgraduate study’ it begins to help you understand what is required studying at this level and begins to help you consider helpful ways to

• Research and work out what are reliable sources
• Develop your critical thinking
• Read and Write critically
• Reflect

Over the next few weeks, we advise you dip in and out of this course (the full course takes 24 hours and all of it is useful). To access the course click here.

Check list

• Completed your online enrolment by the end of September
• Attended the Online session on Tuesday 27th September
• Received your ID card before the first weekend
• Filled in the Digital Literacy questionnaire,
• Considered how you will manage your time,
• If appropriate looked at aspects of the Open University Succeeding in Postgraduate Study course,
• Familiarise yourself with the Chaplaincy Programme Page on the Newman Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Moodle.
• Take time to read, watch and reflect on the work we would you like to do on CHM701 Chaplaincy: Principles and Practices Moodle Page. (available after the zoom meeting on 27th September) You will need to have successfully enrolled to access this

Pre-Course Reading

Pre-reading for Weekend 1

There will be some reading that we will need you to complete before the weekend and you will be able to access it after the Welcome session on the 27th as long as you have completed your online enrolment.

Recommended Reading

In the meantime these two books are good starting points. Both are available in our Library in hardcopy and as ebooks, which you will be able to access once you are enrolled. Should you wish to purchase them then the prices* are indicated below.

Threlfall-Holmes, M. & Newitt, M (2011) Being a Chaplain London: SPCK £9.29

Cobb, M.; Swift, C. & Todd, A. (2015) A Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places Farnham: Ashgate £35.99

* prices for purchasing new taken from Amazon, correct on 14th June 2023.

Planned Online Meetings

Wednesday 27th September 7pm – 8pm

Welcome Meeting: Log in to meet the course team, fellow participants and find out more about the coming year.

Join this meeting