EDUCATION STYLES – THEORY AND PRACTICE

The education consists of lectures, seminars and tutorials. The curriculum is made up of modules (subjects, education units or education components). With a module is meant a coherent programme of lectures, trainings, preparation time, study time, either a block or a training or (research) thesis. Each module has a certain number of credits granted. The descriptions of modules are given in the study guides. Each module has its own code and teaching style (form) and evaluation forms.

Lectures

During the lectures, a group of students listen to the lecturer, mostly for the theoretical subjects. With the subject of such a lecture, the students get to work. A lecture is a general, oral presentation of a subject through the speaker while the students listen, make notes and at the end of the lecture can ask questions. A lecture typically takes one hour and 30 minutes with one 15- minute break. Students are expected to actively participate in colleges.

Work-lectures /seminaries

A work-lecture or seminar is followed by a small group of students. During the seminars, the students do participate in conversations and discussions. There is an active contribution expected. A seminar is an interactive, in-depth discussion of the contents of a subject between a teacher (tutor) and a small group of students. Students are expected to have an active attitude because they must hand over a piece of homework.

Self-study and study material

The student prepares the material own by self. In addition, the guidance provided in the form of meetings (contact hours) and guidance remotely via telephone or e-mail.

For the study is often made use of different materials such as readers, dictates, text books, computers, and manuals. Each material is almost always in chapters divided into the following parts:

• A description of the module, the name of the lecturer, the objective, the skills, way of assessment, bibliographical references.
• A brief Introduction, which indicates where the subject is about and what knowledge they use, and where the learning goals of the course material explicitly formulated;
• The core topics in successive chapters with the actual material, from which the study guidelines are supported by references, tasks and instructions, concepts, examples, literature instructions for further study and summaries.

Research tasks

For some modules, the student has to write a piece of a research work (work piece, paper). A work piece is of limited size and includes a report of the works employed. However, a thesis usually consists of a larger text than that of a work piece. Depending on its content, the work piece and the thesis both can be written individually and in groups. In most cases, these are individual acts. Students are expected to be able to demonstrate that they have understood the subject of the module, that they have read the necessary literature, that they are able to analyze the key matters and that they themselves can express the matters on a clear and bright way.

Practical training and supervision

Some master programmes such as spiritual care and imam training obligate the students to do work experience in a relevant institution. The work experience is more of a practical training than scientific research training. This is why we call it a practical training. It consists of a short training of 2 x 40 work hours and a large training of 200 work hours. That can be both in mental health (care) institutions, peripheral hospitals and in prisons. An additional training of 140 hours is possible. The student is provided for a consultation by the training coordinator, who helps the student about the careful selection of the training institution. The training institution must be recognized as such by the coordinator of the traineeship. The content and the level of the training are approved by the training supervisors on the spot and the training coordinator of the university.

The student finishes the training with a report. The evaluation of the training takes place according to the learning goals and skills. In the regulation of the training, the objectives and assessment methods are recorded separately. Each student is provided for a training manual and official documents as such training contract, learning goals and training rules and regulations.

Before or after the training period there is also the possibility to make use of the supervision.