Ecumenicon Fellowship School

Ecumenicon Fellowship is run on the continuing education model, one our interfaith seminary, and the other our oversight function for home-school students. Inquire as necessary for help.

ECUMENICON SCHOOL OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Ecumenicon School of Religious Education is the accrediting body which oversees the annual conference and all other classes offered during the year outside of home school. We offer certificates of continuing education and are working toward official accreditation for Continuing Education as we progress toward becoming an interfaith seminary. The School is overseen by the Trustees and has no independent incorporation beyond the Fellowship.

Tests Of Academic Development (TOADs)

Every class, including the crafts, had 5 questions selected by the teacher that one should be able to answer upon taking the class. Academic certificates are given only upon completion of both class hours and completing the appropriate tests. This is part of our upgrade to become an accredited Continuing Education provider.

Our Continuing Education Units require exams of a minimum of five questions for every class in order to get credit. If you choose to simply take the classes, then we put you down as “audit without credit.” The CEU process takes about 7 years and we have been tracking classes for 5 years. We are trying to meet all 22 points of the national requirement.

Tracking Classes …. now what did I take and why?

All classes are tracked by subject matter, teacher, and year arranged to enable a student to get a well-rounded certificate. We offer three Certificates with similar requirements.

Level I - Apprentice

General Certificate, 1 Intensive, 2 Majors, 4 Minors, 6 Rituals, 8 Electives. An Intensive is 7 classes (minimum 7 hours) in a single subject, a Major is 5 classes (minimum 5 hours) in a single subject, a Minor is 3 classes, a Ritual is 2 hours (usually an intro + a ritual), and 8 electives of any subject. We track the classes carefullly. For CEU we now require 5 questions per class. Patricia Taylor, Dudley Cutshaw, and three others have the Apprentice Certificate.

Level II - Journeyman

Focused Certificate, 1 Intensive, 2 Majors, 4 Minors, 6 Rituals, 8 Electives in a guided program choosing a combined subject area such as Norse Studies, Healing Arts, and Counseling. We are still developing curriculum guidelines for the Journeyman certificate. Patricia Taylor has audited a Journeyman certificate. Several of our other clergy are far more than Journeymen.

Level III - Adept

Teaching Certificate, 1 Intensive, 2 Majors, 4 Minors, 6 Rituals, and 8 electives in any subject for which one is qualified. Jane Sibley. Ph.D. has taught the full spread of classes over her years. Charles Butler, Larry Obern, and several others have taught sufficiently to have this level of CEUs.

Our aim is to match 1 hour of class time with about 3 hours of prep/exam, to be the equivalent of one CEU. Several of our teachers require ongoing opportunties for 30 CEUs per year in counseling, and other teaching, so this is a prime opportunity for them.

If we had followed this process in full, our hope was to be accredited in CEUs by 2010 so that our 120 hours of class requirements could be counted as somewhere between an AA and a BA in Interfaith Studies. The cost of such accreditation through affiliated bodies is much higher than anticipated so we are concentrating on our own requirements improvement. We realize that this will take much more work and concentrated effort by a number of people for us to be on board with our educational requirements. Currently we offer CEUs in Counseling with two sets of classes, one on Ethical Counseling, and the other on Grief Counseling. Each of these classes, between 3.0 and 6.0 CEUs form a part of our CEU annual requirement of all clergy in the Fellowship. We are developing more classes as needed to ensure all of our clergy are trained.

This information is in the process of transition. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. Write rosanna-108 @ comcast.net for details.

Ecumenicon Fellowship is approved to oversee home instruction in the State of Maryland and have worked with various groups as an umbrella until they became independent.

Childcare and Child Participation

Ecumenicon Fellowship is not a licensed childcare provider. All children under 13 must be accompanied by a parent/designated guardian adult in all field trips. Classes with children present will have two authorized adults facilitating at all times. All faculty have the right to designate a class “adult only” meaning no child under the age of 15 for any reason. Parents should abide by the teacher’s wishes. Childcare registration forms are available through the registrar and must be signed by parents bringing any children to the conference under the age of 15.

Ecumenicon Interfaith Conference is in a fundraising stage before we begin to plan the next conference. We hope you are able to give generously to support this effort.