Nirantar: Continuing Education Programmes (CEP) Admissions

Rationale: Masters' in Applied Psychology, with Specialisation in Counselling Psychology that provide in-depth inputs to work in school settings are few in number in India. Some school-based counselling and guidance courses at the Post-Masters' level exist and provide for the basic inputs in counselling and guidance. The main aim of this Short-Term Programme will be to support counsellors working in schools or candidates who have completed a Master’s in Psychology and would want practice inputs through the provision of supervised field work or “supervision of the practice”. More importantly, an agentic perspective, which will include a humanistic perspective and interventions that are child and family-based in a systemic perspective that have been the underlying base of the Master’s Programme will inform this Course as well.

The Course aims to enhance the professional skills and strengthen field practice of already existing professionals in the field by strengthening theory and by providing supervision. (There is also the Short-term Career Counselling, a Course that is under way in collaboration with Promise Foundation, Bengaluru. Students can get the Short-Term Certificate in Career Counselling on completion of this specific course).

Credits: 8 Credits as per the Credits for the Semester IV Elective – 4 Credits for Theory and 4 for Practice.

Objectives of the Course:

• To have knowledge and understanding of systems theory to analyze how community, environmental, and institutional opportunities and barriers influence children/adolescents academic, career, and personal/social success and overall development;
• To understand the context of the school, the wider relationship of the school to society, the school administration, the teachers and their roles and responsibilities (school as a developmental niche and the beliefs and practices of its members). To understand the home-school relationship and its dialectics across socio-economic settings.
• To understand the child as a learner and the learning problems and disabilities in the context of the school - Understand the nature of learning and cognition and the developmental problems of the stage, the social-cultural nature of learning, the role of affect in cognition. To develop holistic understanding of children and their development so as to address issues arising in the school settings and their lives, through varied assessment means and also through art and performance-based therapies.
• To be able to use coordination, collaboration, referral, and team-building with teachers, parents, and community resources to facilitate successful development of all children/adolescents. To implement group/therapeutic sessions and parenting workshops. To plan and implement comprehensive individual and school-based interventions to monitor and help assist in the change process at individual and systemic levels.
• To understand one’s own role as a counsellor in the context of the school and acquire skills to work with teachers, children and parents in the school system; including skills to undertake career counselling

Course Contents:

Developing a holistic understanding of the child in school setting and be able to address the needs for counseling children, adolescents and parents is the aim. Macro, as well as micro theoretical perspectives, in understanding children, systems and parenting strengthens the interventions undertaken at the individual, family and school level. Focus will be on providing agentic strength-based approach to problem-solving and to build on evidence-based interventions for children. Faculty from within and outside School, with adequate specialised knowledge will teach and provide supervision for this Course.

School Counselling has been conceptualised to address the needs for counseling children such as:

• academic lags,
• learning problems,
• fears and phobias largely elated to school life,
• bullying,
• fear of teachers and fear of failure,
• examination anxiety
• aspects related to family life
• and relationship issues.

And developmental support will come from:

• psycho-education and life-skills education namely:
• cognitive and problems solving skills,
• emotional and social skills,
• promoting play in children,
• assisting in their career guidance, etc.

Method of Teaching/Transaction of the Curriculum: Lectures, Demonstrations, Case Studies and some presentations and utilising modules created by students for interventions.

Credit Distribution for the Short-Term Course: Equal credits for theory and practice; 4 Credits for Theory, 4 Credits for Practice (including Concurrent Reports, Case Conceptualisation and Supervision Meetings).

Assessments: As per the Elective course – Examinations and/or assignments (e.g., preparation of modules for intervention, review of literature to look at modules and evidence-based interventions, etc) and presentations) 4 in number, and field practice assessment (utilisation of supervision inputs, concurrent field practice reports and practice skills).

Duration and Distribution of Course Time: One Semester; classes once a week; field practice (if not working or has not worked in school settings) for 2 full days a week with at weekly for supervision (Individual Conference), and also with regular group conferences.

No. of Seats: Maximum number of students to be admitted to the course: 10

Duration of the Course and Course Time: 1 Semester - 15 weeks (three and a half months):

classes once a week; field practice (if not working or has not worked in school settings) for 2 full days a week and one a hour a week for supervision (Individual Conference), and regular group conferences.

Course requirements: Once selected, participants need to fulfill all the requirements of course completion (including attendance for lectures – 75%, field work/practice 100%, supervision and course evaluation) in order to get the final certificate of completion. All matters related to the selection will be at the sole discretion of School of Human Ecology.

Number of hours required to be completed by the participants over 15 weeks: 100 Hours.

60 Hours of classroom teaching (an equal number of self study work, 168 hours of field work and 15 Hours of Supervision (i.e., attending 4 hours of classroom teaching every week, 1 hour of supervision per week and 12 hours of field practice per week (initiated by the participants in their respective field settings or placed in the settings by the School of Human Ecology during the course duration).

Eligibility for the Course:

• Completion of Masters in Psychology or Masters in Education from a recognized University
• Minimum three years of experience as a counsellor and with some background of working with children

Any enquiries for the Course can be sent at: mamatha.shetty@tiss.edu, rajanimk@tiss.edu and samruddhi@tiss.edu

Important Dates:

Last Date for Receipt of Completed Form by email: 16th Oct, 2017
Personal Interview: Second Week of November 2017
Announcement of selection Early November, 2017
Course orientation and commencement: 20th November 2017
Teaching and Field Work Completion: By 7th March 2018
Assessment completion By 31st March 2018
Announcement of results By 15 May 2018

Candidates will not be provided with accommodation facilities Selected candidates will be assisted to find accommodation close to the Institute.

Process of application: Download application form. Application submission will have a fee. Application forms along with Curriculum Vitae will be screened and suitable candidates will be called for a brief interview; interviews over the telephone or Skype will be conducted for candidates outside Mumbai. Selected candidates will be informed by email within 5 working days of the interview.

Candidates are requested to submit the hard copy of application form to  The Secretariat, School of Habitat studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, V.N. Purav Marg, Deonar, Mumbai 400088 OR
application forms can be sent by email to STP/S.H.E. Secretariat, jas@tiss.edu and samruddhi@tiss.edu, and to mamatha.shetty@tiss.edu and rajanimk@tiss.edu.

Fees payable: Rs 13,800/- per student. (If the student opts for detailed assessment in career counselling from another module, extra charges will be applicable; Caution Deposit and Library Deposit will be returned to the student on completion of the Course; actual cost of the Course will be Rs 11,800/-). Download Bank Details for Net Banking.Th DD has to be made in the name of TISS.

Candidates will not be provided with accommodation facilities Selected candidates will be assisted to find accommodation close to the Institute.