September is a time for investing in pens and new blank notebooks.

September is a time we for investing in pens and new blank notebooks. It is a time for commencing new journeys in learning and enhancing skills. It a time for giving yourself time to think about your intellectual growth.
Enrolment for the Cultural Anthropology and Diversity Skills Programme is open until the end of September. It is a fascinating course and the programme is designed for those who already have a background in social science or for students with a Bachelors or Master�۪s Degree in other areas and and whose professions include working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Previous students ARLT students will be able to participate for a special alumni fee. The programme is based on a dynamic andragogy and includes tutor supported tuition, audio lectures and full transcripts/ videos, text books and all study material, help line and access to the ARLT resource site with engaging features.

The programme will provide an opportunity for personalised learning without restrictions from an over-prescriptive curriculum or assessment. The programme is based on reflective learning and involves contemplation and development of self. For this reason you will be required to keep a portfolio/leaerning logs to comment on your experiences of learning and to detail areas that challenge your values, views or beliefs.

In recent years educators and employers are turning to reflective inquiry and education for reflective teaching. Reflective learning has proved to be of immense success within medical colleges and many universities are now applying it across the disciplines. With unprecedented change globally, many professions value skills developed through a reflective process such as awareness of the limitation of certain types of thinking, being able to verbalise not only what is known but how one came to know it, the ability to frame questions that enables analysis at many levels, being able to unite sporadic thoughts to illuminate issues and to avoid clich̩ responses or inaccurate language use that limits thinking.

Our communities have become socially and culturally diverse and it is essential in order to have effective relationships and to live in harmony to have a deep appreciation of culture. In this programme, we will be studying humanity in a way to create in our professions a more reflective view of diversity. By journeying inwards within our ourselves and by journeying outwards to other cultures we will be uncovering culture not as a means to categorise or impose labels or stereotypes on individuals or groups but to gain an awareness of humanity and its incredible and intriguing diversity.