Summer Program
The Pearson Seminar
on Youth Leadership is designed to strengthen the role that
young people play as future community and world leaders. PSYL
provides a unique learning environment in which students from
North America and from other nations around the world meet
for a three-week seminar. PSYL’s framework includes discussions,
presentations, guest speakers, workshops and interactive approaches
to leadership training. Students are encouraged to broaden
their perspectives on key world issues and are provided with
the leadership skills they need to become leaders on themes
of ecological sustainability, social justice and international
understanding.
The
Skills
The Seminar offers
a skills-based learning model and explores key social issues
and themes facing youth. Students learn, and apply, the leadership
skills they need to become community and world leaders. The
discussion and activities are monitored by professional teachers
and popular educators. Students will learn:
• project planning
and coordination
• ecological education in a temperate rainforest setting
• information on local and international social justice issues
• indigenous ideas and traditions
• public speaking and awareness-raising techniques
• people management skills (group management, conflict resolution,
mediation)
• cross-cultural and diversity training
• personal reflection
and self-awareness exploration
• critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making
• goal-setting
• ethics-based action
The Format
At PSYL we believe
that students require several elements to realize their leadership
ability. The first is confidence. The second is information
and skills. The final element is an opportunity to put these
skills into practice. We focus on leadership skills training;
we discuss themes of social, political, economic and ecological
justice; and we take time to put our ideas - and skills -
into action.
The teaching style of the seminar is a variety of discussion groups, skill sessions, outdoor activities, guest speakers, and workshops. We use innovative and creative methods of presenting information, and then divide into discussion groups and interactive activities to explore the issues that students feel are important. We stress the importance of critical learning, and bring all themes back to the central notion of “leadership” and making change. Participants are asked to think about a final project at the termination of the seminar – this provides an opportunity to take the skills and concepts learned throughout the three weeks and to translate these ideas into action as participants prepare for a return to their home communities.
The
foundation of the program is built upon:
- A belief in innovative
notions of democracy
- A commitment to equity,
social justice, and critical thinking
- Ways of knowing and
learning that incorporate conventional, traditional, and alternative
processes
- Exploring and developing
creative aspects of ourselves
- Enjoying and savouring
life, playing and having fun!
PSYL is based on
the belief that youth have the skills to change their worlds
and the capability to be leaders in their communities. The
seminar attempts to provide them with the tools they need
to enact change, and to engage new skills to address huge
themes of environmental degradation, globalization, social
justice and human rights.
PSYL is a program that
produces involved, active, educated citizens, whose attitudes
of understanding and service will be a force against social
injustice in the new century
This
summer - be the change!
Click
here to see the Summary Program Calendar from 2010
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