Prospectus for Teaching the Teachers Course (TtT)

This is a weekend course that the Central Council Education Committee runs in association with ringing societies. It is based on the successful open courses that the committee first ran in 1995.

We offer to run the course for local ringing societies because we know that many people find travelling to a remote residential venue too great a disruption to their family arrangements. We also run occasional open courses.

Objectives

The course aims are:

to give practical tuition in the skills required to teach other ringers
to give insight into the process of managing and sustaining a band of ringers
to encourage interaction and sharing of ideas
to give the impetus for further development

It is suitable for all ringers who have mastered the basics and wish, either now or in the future, to make a contribution towards running their tower. It is particularly suitable for those who find themselves in charge of a tower because no one else can be found to undertake the task, or anyone hoping to revive the ringing at an inactive tower.

The modular structure allows individual students to tailor the experience to their needs.

Format

A guide programme appears below. It can be varied to suit your needs and to take account of local conditions.

The course is modular, so we could run a one or two day course covering only some of the material, although this loses some of the benefits of interaction between students and tutors possible over a longer period.

All students take General Aspects of Tower Management (max 24) and any two of:

Teaching bell control (4)
Teaching raising & lowering in peal (4)
Teaching beyond rounds (4-5)
**Teaching method ringing (4-5)
Elementary conducting (4-5)

** This may be divided into separate modules for working with a learner band, or with a more experienced band, if required.

Numbers

The numbers in groups are kept small (figures in brackets) with a tutor and assistant tutor for each group. This allows us to give maximum attention to each student.

The number of groups run on each topic is matched to cater for the students' choices. Aim for a maximum number of 24 for the full course (fewer or more are OK, but have their problems). The minimum viable number will depend on your fixed costs (rooms, etc) and whether you have to pay for tutors' accommodation.

Responsibility

We will provide the main tutors and a set of photocopiable course material but you should provide all programmes (including, where necessary, maps and directions). We expect you the host society to handle administration, accommodation, arranging local towers and helpers. We would like to deal with one liaison person locally, as this simplifies organisation.

We will work with you during the planning period to ensure that you benefit from what has been learnt on previous courses. We can provide assistant tutors if required, but we would encourage you to consider suitably experienced people from within your society. They contribute directly to the course, and they can also use the experience they get in your future local training activities.

Helpers and guineapigs

You will need some helpers, but probably not more than about 6 per group, for modules 2 - 5 above.

Practical teaching requires someone to be taught, and we will ask you to try to find a few people who have not learnt but are willing to try, and a few people at an appropriate stage of learning to be taught in the other modules.

Facilities

You will need a small hall for the management sessions, with one or two side rooms to use during the exercise on running ringing sessions (although a single large hall with groups spread around may work just as well).

A whiteboard, flipchart or overhead projector can be useful, but are not essential.

Towers

Apart from tower management, all the groups are practical based with both sessions in towers. There is some theory, but we prefer to do this in situ, mixed in with the practicals.

We will supply details of the type and number of towers needed for the different groups. If the course is in winter, think about warmth in towers. You need towers near the hall in order to reduce travelling time to the minimum.

Meals and accommodation

You will need to organise meals during the course. Some of these will be conveniently in pubs or cafés near the towers used by the groups. Others will be together at the course base.

Whether you offer overnight accommodation to your students will depend on local circumstances, but we will expect you to arrange suitable accommodation for tutors.

Catchment

You may wish to join with a neighbouring society and advertise the course more widely in your part of the country to increase the numbers, but as mentioned elsewhere we would wish to have one point of contact.

Availability

We can run the course at any reasonable date, subject to adequate notice to ensure availability of tutors. We encourage you to contact us early, even if you are still not sure whether you wish to go ahead. That will allow us to plan in advance and arrange for the best geographical allocation of tutors for your course.

Cost

Tutors give their time free of charge, but they will have to travel and the committee will incur expenses in connection with the course. The charge is £40 per tutor, (£25 for the Bell Control module), excluding accommodation, within the UK mainland. We reimburse individuals for their actual costs. The flat charge avoids penalising outlying societies, or cases where the nearest tutor is not available. (Courses outside UK mainland are subject to agreement.)

Possible programme

Friday	7.30 - 9.30 pm	Introductory meeting and general discussion on tower management
Saturday	9.00 - 10.15	Exercise in running ringing sessions (all students)
	10.30 - 1.00	First option - 1st session
		Lunch
	2.30 - 5.00	First option - 2nd session
		Tea and bookstall
	6.45 - 9.00	Second option - 1st session
Sunday	am	Free
	2.00 - 4.30	Second option - 2nd session
	5.00 - 6.15	Closing discussion with cups of tea

This timetable is based on residential courses we have run, but we fully understand that you may need to modify timings to allow for meals and/or travelling arrangements.

More information

For more information, or specific arrangements, please contact either :

Peter Dale (Committee Chairman) on 01304 823217,
or: Geoff Horritt (Committee Secretary) on 01763 246018

the central council of church bell ringers