The Physis Scotland Foundation Year 2018 began with 19 new trainees in the last weekend of September. So exciting! We appreciate that this reflection is from the trainers’ frame of reference, but we did want to mark the excitement and the new beginnings for us all.
Over the last 18 months or so, we have been working hard to recruit a viable Foundation year group to launch Physis Scotland. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine we might have a group this size which brings with it both great opportunities and great responsibilities. A larger group can be daunting for both trainers and trainees, but we were delighted to observe how the group was able to talk about this and come up with ideas to encourage and support each other both within and out with the training sessions.
Below is a potted reflection of our first weekend:
Fabulous new group meeting, forming, sharing and learning together
Open Communication is being modelled from trainers and invited from all
Unexpected learning happening as we share together – learning what cannot be taught
New direction for many as we review the opportunities for our futures
Diversity within the group is vast with trainees from all over the world bringing richness and different frames of reference into the room
Admin session was necessary, but time consuming, to understand the key things we need to undertake and embrace training in all its fullness
Tuition from Matthew, Student Advisor, on how to write and structure an essay was informative and soothing
Identifying personal training goals for the year ahead was liberating and exciting
OK-we discovered we are all ok, we can all think and can make decisions about our futures
Negotiating our group contract helped us to co-create a safe environment within which we can learn, be ourselves and flourish
Year Handbooks are the necessary reference for us where we know what we are doing and what we need to work well together
Exciting curriculum ahead with experiential and creative techniques to help us learn
Autonomy is key for us all as we plan for the future
Ready now to journey together into the rest of our lives, personally and professionally
We are excited about the year ahead and look forward to meeting up later this month.