The Idea of a Practitioner Academy

The 10th IFF Assembly was held in Kassel, Germany from May 24th to 27th. The theme of the Assembly was “Emerging into a professional field.” The Assembly began with opening remarks by President, Cliff Smyth: “From discussions in the IFF we already know some of things that we find in a professional field: ethics, standards of practice, effective and coordinated professional organisations. Research that supports our practice reflects on our theory and contributes to our credibility in the world. We also know that it will involve a process of learning continuously throughout our working lives(... ). (Possibly..) emerging into a professional field will involve things that we haven’t even imagined yet.

Standing in a doorway we know that we need to look inward, but also to move into the world. We know from Moshe Feldenkrais that Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration are not just about sensing ourselves better and nice internal feelings. They involve taking action in the world with awareness. Taking these principles from the Feldenkrais Method we need to integrate the Feldenkrais Method into the world in a way that is consistent with our self-image and our intentions” 

The IFF Assembly 2001 in Kassel decided nearly unanimously that an IFF Academy shall be developed as a tool for continuing investigation and development of Quality and Competency in the professional field of the Feldenkrais Method. The proposal was introduced by the “Special Committee on Quality and Competence” (comprised of Barbara Pieper, Rob Black and Daniel Clénin, with major support from Markus Riesen).. Their report to the 2001 Assembly included:

• a summary of how a competency profile could be developed (see Competency Profile Report enclosed)
• a set of principles of how quality and competency processes in the community could be developed “in a Feldenkrais way”
• workshops where representatives could experience some of the ideas of quality and competence in practice
• a new “tool” for developing quality and competence on an ongoing basis and bringing together all our work on that theme: the idea of an IFF practitioner “Academy”

With the Assembly’s decision to develop the Academy Model, the Committee has finished its task, handing its work over to the IFF Academy.

The idea of an Academy

The IFF practitioner Academy is not a bricks and mortar academic institution but is an old idea: the Academy as a place for a continuing dialogue between professionals, thinkers and artists. And this idea looks forward to new ideas of a virtual, international community – were we can think globally and act locally. If we can use the body as a metaphor, the body of Academy is you, the body of practitioners. Groups of practitioners will form "local feet" to this body by sharing ideas and information with the help of a "content group". Specialist “hands” – groups organized nationally and internationally-working on particular aspects of quality and competence, for example, research into the application of the Feldenkrais Method, supervision, further research toward developing a competency profile for practitioners. Communication will be at the heart of the Academy.

The IFF Academy will be run under the umbrella of the IFF. Formally there exists a committee of the Board of Directors, called the IFF Academy Committee. This Committee consists of Board members, including the Academy portfolio holder and experts from our community,  at the moment including Francesca White, Barbara Pieper, Cliff Smyth and Daniel Clénin (IFF Academy Portfolio Holder). This committee is in charge of the connections between the IFF Academy, the BOD and the IFF community in general. Linked to this committee shall be established a bigger group of practitioners, called “content group”, that is dealing mainly with aspects of contents of the Feldenkrais Method: developing further visionary ideas, discussing and evaluating projects etc.. Establishing the function of a Co-ordinator mainly for the logistics is planned for the near future.

Some purposes of the Academy are:

• Support and guide the development of the Feldenkrais Method towards a professional field.
• Co-ordinate the exchange of skills, knowledge and abilities amongst the Feldenkrais practitioners world wide. This allows more clearly develop the potential for both the single Feldenkrais practitioner and the community.
• Establish an ongoing process of further education and reflection based on the principles of the Feldenkrais Method.
• Continue the research about a Competency profile development and initiate it.
• Co-ordinate and support different forms of supervision
• Build up new tools for the transition of recently graduated practitioners into their professional life.
• Collect and support research about the Feldenkrais Method.(…)

Some of the benefits of the IFF Academy are:

a)     For practitioners:

• Get support and opportunities for further education and deepening the understanding of the professional use of the Method including practitioners’ specific wishes, demands and needs.
• Get a strong background in the Method through information, ideas and research.
• Participate in an ongoing dialogue about core questions of the Method.
• Work and develop in a more clearly defined and growing professional field.

b)     For Guilds/Associations:

• Gain results from a complex process focused on the content of the Method – thus helping to balance the often more organisational and political tasks, that guilds/associations have to manage and that in many cases would overtax the means of a national organisation. Therefore providing support for the guilds/associations to fulfil their roles in relation to their members and the public.

c)      For the IFF:

• Create a concrete tool to fulfil the IFF’s purpose of visionary leadership in emerging into a professional field.

The next steps

This is a list of next steps to further the development of the IFF Academy model. The model is still in formation and may change due to functional needs.

• The IFF Academy Committee will develop role descriptions for Local Academy Feet, task groups (“Hands”) and specific tools (including rights and responsibilities to Academy and responsibility to be in contact with local associations/guilds/practitioners).
• Develop a networking concept in co-ordination with the new IFF Information Bureau.
• Identify Local Academy Feet interested in participation in pilot projects.(…)
• Continue the research and elaborate processes for competency profile development, including publishing existing material on practitioner website.
• Continue the IFF research list and publish a journal on research.(…)

We believe this is a useful model that 1) draws on local initiative and interest, 2) draws on existing groups of practitioners and supports the creation of new ones, 3) attracts resources to the base among practitioners, while providing  4) the coordination and development of ideas and processes.

The 2001 IFF Assembly was one of the most successful in the history of the IFF. It provided the IFF with the tools to continue its role in visionary leadership in the community and supporting the development of the professional field of the application of the Feldenkrais Method.

For more information about the IFF Academy, visit the IFF website http://www.feldenkrais-method.org/iff/static-academy.html, where we will provide the latest available information about the project.

If you have further specific questions and/or interest in participation in pilot projects please send an e-mail to academy@feldenkrais-method.org.

You can also contact a member of the Academy Committee: Barbara Pieper (BarbPieper@gmx.de), Rob Black (rblack@somaticjourneys.com), or Daniel Clénin (danielclenin@access.ch).