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About the European Constructivist Training Network
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ECTN is a new network for European Schools of Psychology and Psychotherapy
devoted to Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) and to other
constructivist and constructionist approaches. The prime inspiration for
those who participate in the Network is to build connections and share ideas
and resources to enrich our work.
The network has been formed through collaboration between the Institute of Constructivist
Psychology (Italy)
and the Serbian Constructivist Association (Serbia)
and has been joined by the Personal Construct Psychology Association (United Kingdom)
Key contacts:
- Massimo Giliberto, Institute of Constructivist
Psychology, Padua, Italy
- Dusan Stojnov, Serbian Constructivist
Association, Belgrade,
Serbia
- Mary Frances, PCP
Association, UK
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| Massimo Giliberto, Mary Frances, Dušan Stojnov |
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| Background |
Over the last twenty years, a growing number of people and institutions in Europe have been working with a
constructivist/constructionist approach to psychology and psychotherapy.
Their work is based in PCP, radical constructivism, social constructionism,
systemic constructivism, narrative psychotherapy and other broadly
constructivist approaches.
The common denominator is the emphasis that they give to the
active construction of meaning by people. Constructivism/constructionism
claims that there is no given human nature waiting to be discovered, but
rather that we are actively constructing the meanings we give to the world,
to others, and to ourselves. Rather than absolute truth and objective
reality, our focus is the world that we create with each other. To live is to
create meaning.
Our efforts are aimed not only at challenging existing dominant approaches in
psychology and psychotherapy, but also at elaborating a common perspective
based on constructivist/constructionist principles.
We advocate reciprocal dialogue among all those hoping to situate
constructivist/constructionist practice in the context of empowering
conversation, emancipatory knowledge, challenging the obvious, entering the
unknown and transforming perspectives. We want to advocate a practice in
which we aim to understand without stigmatizing, offer assistance without
judging, help without prescribing, and facilitate without pathologizing.
Institutions offering training in constructivist/constructionist approaches can
be isolated and have few connections with each other. As a consequence we may
not be developing a strong voice to make a significant impact on the wider
psychological scene. And our relative isolation can disconnect us from the
most important constructivist principle of collaboration - participating in
the joint action of co-construing experience, so that we may fail to live up to the
principles we teach. We aim to become constructivist teachers rather than
just teachers of constructivism.
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| What we propose |
The European Constructivist Training Network aims to connect those across Europe involved in teaching
constructivist/constructionist psychology and psychotherapy, creating a
network of people, societies, and training centres with shared aims and
values who can help each other develop and thrive.
This network is not in competition with local or national associations, but
aims to construct a “pattern that connects” – to become a catalyst
organization which respects existing identities, promotes collaboration,
encourages the exchange of ideas and training opportunities, and helps
articulate and raise constructivist voices by joining forces. Rather than
determining specific goals for the network, we simply offer a framework for a
living network to evolve. |
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| Our network is based on the following principles
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Participation is based on mutual goodwill and shared interests, and all
institutions in the network have equal opportunities and rights. There are no
membership fees or regulations.
Members will be open to exploring the exchange of ideas, skills, and
resources and over time we hope to create opportunities for collaboration in
a variety of ways. This may include
- developing constructivist
theories and methods in our training practice,
- helping new courses
develop,
- offering teaching to each
others’ programmes
- facilitating exchanges of
students,
- offering joint modules and summer schools to enhance
our courses,
- sharing learning materials
and methods,
- critiquing our own practice
as teachers,
- developing constructivist
approaches to formal aspects of education such as syllabus
development and assessment procedures
Differences in view are welcomed as they help us create a more comprehensive
voice. We are aware of our differences and wish to respect and enjoy them
while encouraging constructive challenge and critique.
Although there are many technical and administrative issues to solve in
contemporary education (regulation, standards, competencies, academic
affiliation, shared recognition of qualifications etc), we do not want to
preempt them too quickly. Instead we want to explore these issues together,
respecting both our common needs and interests, and also the specific
difficulties of each member institution or association.
The shared language of the network is English.
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