Assistant Director for Innovative English for Transformative Learning Program

Introduction

The Institute for Transformative Learning of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB Institute) is seeking a person who can teach English, mentor students, and provide strong support to the director of an innovative English for transformative learning program. Please see a description of the program, entitled English for Engaged Social Service, below and at www.inebinstitute.org.

We Are Looking for Candidates Who Have the Following Qualities, Interests, and Skills:

• Excellent English language skills, either native or near-native.
• Ability to think about the overall growth and development of the students and the work team, and capable of providing thoughtful (but not necessarily professionally trained) attention to not only academic but also emotional, relationship, and broader life issues.
• Ability to engage in honest self-inquiry as well as to genuinely offer and receive support within the context of a community of learners.
• Teaching experience, and especially language teaching experience. Such experience is highly desirable, though in some cases a candidate’s very strong qualities as a leader and mentor might make up for the lack of such experience.
• Ability to create and implement lesson plans that engage students deeply in the learning process, and that empower the students to become self-directed learners.
• An interest in combining the teaching of English language skills with a variety of other life and intellectual skills, such as critical thinking, social analysis, understanding identities and oppression, responding to climate change, and others.
• Energetic and in good health, prepared for the demands of a rather intensive course.
• An interest in Buddhism and experience with meditation is desirable, but not essential.
• Experience and understanding of contemporary NGO and activist worlds would be beneficial but not essential.

Periods of Work Expected

• The period of full-time work extends from November 1, 2017 to April 30, 2018 (six months), and may be renewable.
• Must be available to start no later than: November 1 – 15 of 2017.
• The English for Engaged Social Service course itself runs from January 7 – April 5, 2018 for students, and January 5 – April 12 for trainees.
• The course is a residential course, which means that the Assistant Director must be able to live on site (one and a half hours from Bangkok) and travel on field trips with the group. Most but not all weekends are free; at the same time, the ability to be available for occasional mentoring and assistance on some weekends is desirable.
• It is possible (and desirable) that the Assistant Director for this course would be able to continue on a part-time or full-time basis as a contributor to other INEB Institute programs.

Compensation

Compensation for the position of Assistant Director for English for Engaged Social Service 2018 is negotiable and will depend on qualifications, perceived likelihood of making a significant contribution, experience, and degree. It is very likely that compensation will be far lower than would be expected for an academic position in North America, Europe, or Japan. However, while the course is in session, the Assistant Director will receive free room and board, and free work-related travel. In addition, it is expected that the experience will be profoundly gratifying in ways that a normal academic position might not be.

Submission of Applications

• Please send a statement of interest and CV to director@inebinstitute.org, along with three references.
• Deadline: October 15, 2017 or until the position is filled. Preference will be given to early applicants.

Key Features of the Program

The INEB Institute’s three-month English for Engaged Social Service course aims to develop the qualities necessary for compassionate leadership at a time of growing crisis and uncertainty. For leadership to be compassionate and clear-minded, we believe it must be grounded in a strong sense of connection with oneself, with the earth, with immediate others, and with local, regional, and international communities. The ability to think freely and develop confidence in one’s views and capacities are also essential. These qualities can be developed through training and the adoption of carefully selected personal disciplines and practices. The kind of student we ideally seek to reach is a young adult from Asia who has already shown some commitment to work for the common good through practices of personal and social transformation. Such commitments and practices have been at the core of INEB’s identity as an international network since its inception.

Working with a small group, we aim for depth of learning and experience in a number of areas. The most significant of these are:

• Self-awareness, self-confidence, and full access to one’s own learning potential.
• Awareness and sensitivity to others, and the skills and motivations needed for mutual support and cooperation.
• Skills of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing English.
• Self-directed, freely chosen, and mindful leadership.
• Interpretive, critical thinking, and social analytical skills.
• Awareness of global crises—climate change, social inequality, violence, and lack of voice—and their local manifestations, as well as the many signs of hope that are now emerging around the world.
• Awareness of the personal dimensions of efforts towards social change.

These areas are overlapping, and each has a subset of further skills or capacities that enable them. For example, the skills of awareness and sensitivity to others, mutual support, and cooperation, require a subset of skills that includes the ability to verbally appreciate others, the ability to listen with attention and respect as well as to keep confidentiality, the willingness to inquire into and accept cultural, ideological, and personal differences in an atmosphere of respect, and the willingness to trust and to share one’s personal thoughts and feelings in appropriate settings.

To accomplish these goals, the program uses a complex orchestration of:

• Regular and sequentially organized classroom work in English and other areas.
• Workshops by national and international level trainers in a number of areas (e.g. Power Analysis, Non-Violent Communication, Peer Counseling, and so on).
• Field trips to observe and interact with intellectuals and community leaders in Thailand as examples of leadership, creativity, and social service.
• Personal and small group tutoring.
• Time for reading, writing, and communal watching of films.
• Collective work to maintain the classroom and other areas.
• Sufficient rest.