NEW Certificate of Catholic Social Emotional Learning
Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2022
To assist educators in meeting the social-emotional needs of students, Aquinas College is launching a new Graduate Certificate of Catholic Social Emotional Learning in the fall of 2022. The program aims to form teachers, counselors and other educators deeply in the Catholic Christian understanding of the human person and better enable them to meet the varied needs of their students.
Nashville, TN – For the past three years, faculty at Aquinas College have been studying ways to better prepare educators to meet today’s challenges. The effects of COVID-19 have added an additional motivation for this effort. Flowing directly from its mission, vision and core principles, Aquinas College has developed a unique program which is now integrated across its courses: Education in Communion (EiC): A Catholic Christian Model for Preparing Educators to Foster Social and Emotional Learning. The Aquinas model is based on several different SEL frameworks of interrelated cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies. However, EiC is unique in that it insists that the ultimate truth of the human person is understood only through a dialogue of faith and reason, nature and grace. Applicable courses have been revised to integrate educational and psychosocial sciences with the Catholic understanding of the human person set forth by the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
In order to provide this formation to a wider audience of educators beyond the students in its traditional degree programs, this fall Aquinas will launch the Certificate of Catholic Social Emotional Learning. With seven program learning outcomes, educators will receive formation that prepares them to build trusting relationships, foster self-reflection, foster potential for growth, cultivate perseverance, create community, promote collaborative learning, and create unity without uniformity and diversity without division.
The Certificate consists of four in-person courses which will prepare educators to meet these needs of their students. The program may be completed in as little as eighteen months and courses are typically held in the evenings in an accelerated format designed for working adults. The Certificate courses may also serve as the first twelve credits towards the Master of Arts of Teaching (MAT) or Masters of Education (M.Ed) from Aquinas College. Courses may be taken individually or audited as well. The Certificate is ideal for current teachers, counselors, administrators and parents. Sister Elena Marie Piteo, O.P., PhD., assistant professor of psychology at Aquinas College and director of EiC explains, “This program seeks to give educators a deeper understanding of the essence of what it means to be a human person. It embodies a teaching experience that has the potential to have a transformational effect on many lives.”
Additional information including course descriptions and registration can be found HERE.
Aquinas College is a private, Catholic, four-year liberal arts college founded in 1961, owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, Tennessee. Offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in education and the arts and sciences, Aquinas College is a leader in the formation of educators who are sent forth to teach, preach, and witness to Truth and Charity for the salvation of souls and the transformation of culture.
