The Community Educator-· A Call for a New Profession

Abstract

Modern life often prevents the mastery of the social skills needed to respond to diversity constructively, without destructive behavior. To identify those social skills, the first author conducted an intergenerational summer camp program 12 times over a 4-year period, using J. L. Moreno's sociometry to discover what was critical to the creation of bonding and love within a diverse group. She concluded that people in family or group leadership positions need to know facilitation, many forms of conflict resolution, and companionship skills, including the social value of solitude. These skills also have many professional work applications. A safe setting for people of all ages, where these advanced interpersonal skills can be practiced, is the I-week "village" experience. The community educator profession is better described in spiritual/ psychological language than in the language of conventional professional training.
It is part of a life-long learning process. The design for developing community educators is based on the facilitation model of the Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP). Susanna Eveson, an international AVP lead facilitator, introduced the program in Hungary where she and her colleagues developed and expanded the design described in this article.