The Training Course is now closed

This is a three-year course, with three 11 to 13 week terms per year, making up a total of 1602 hours. The course will run over four half days per week, plus individual sessions and practice teaching. The tuition fee is £1850 per term. The term fee remains fixed for the duration of the training.

Intensive foundation course
We also offer the opportunity for anyone with interest in AT to attend this course for a term or part of a term on a full-time or part-time basis to gain intensive exposure and deepen their AT development.

This can be very useful for anyone who is thinking of AT teacher training and would like to find out more before committing themselves to the full three-year course. Time attended on the intensive foundation basis will count towards the training if they decide to train with us.

Postgraduate and CPD Opportunities
We are open for teachers to join us for Postgraduate training for a term or part of a term. This can be arranged on a regular or part-time basis to work around their other commitments. See also other short CPD courses and opportunities listed under the Classes page. Please contact Brita or Kamal to discuss options.

The terms dates are:

AUTUMN TERM 2022
13 September  – 9 December (12 weeks)
Midterm break will be week of 25 October – 28 October

SPRING TERM 2023
3 January – 31 March (12 weeks)
Midterm break will be week of 14 – 17 February

SUMMER TERM 2023
18 April – 14 July (12 weeks)
Midterm break will be week of 30 May – 2 June

AUTUMN TERM 2023
12 September  – 8 December (12 weeks)
Midterm break will be week of 24 October – 27 October

Prerequisites
Prospective students should have had a sufficient number of lessons to show that they have grasped the basic principles and have an interest in continued learning. They should be able to show that they are in good health and have financial plans in place to see them through the three years. There will be an interview and lesson(s) with Head of Training. People of all ages and backgrounds are welcome.Prospective trainees should contact us to arrange a free visit during the school week.

We are holding regular free workshops for all people at any level of experience with an interest in Alexander teacher training. You will get individual hands-on from both teachers as well as practical activities giving you an experience of what takes place on the teacher training course. You will get information on the requirements for training and what the 3-year training course entails. There will be time for all your questions. 

For next free Sunday OPEN DAY see the side bar. All welcome.

For further information and details about the venue and course please contact Brita or Kamal.

Curriculum
The curriculum follows STAT guidelines.

• Study is based on Alexander’s core principles as laid down in F.M. Alexander’s four books. The Alexander core principles include:

1. The importance of the coordination of the relationship of the head to the neck and the rest of the spine in coordination (‘Primary Control’)
2. The ability to suspend acting on a habitual impulse to allow a new response to a demand for action (‘Inhibition’)
3. The ability to direct one’s thinking in activity in accord with natural coordination
4. An understanding of the meaning of the following terms and the relationships between them:

• • • • Conscious guidance and control
      • Direction/giving consent
      • End-gaining/means-whereby
      • Inhibition/withholding consent
      • Nature of habit
      • Primary control
      • Psycho-physical unity
      • Re-education
      • Sensory appreciation
      • Use and functioning

• Study of Alexander’s writing and relevant basic anatomy and physiology form an essential part of the training. Teachers and students all study and prepare our weekly short presentations on anatomy, physiology and related topics.

Through a process of psychophysical re-education trainees learn to develop greater mind and body awareness, enabling them to apply the Technique in their own co-ordination for their daily activities.

By learning to integrate these principles for themselves, trainees acquire the necessary skills and competences to communicate them effectively and teach them to others in a professional capacity, i.e. in lessons taught to pupils/learners.

The time is divided between hands-on teaching to individual trainees and small groups, theory through lectures and demonstrations and procedures to put theoretical understanding into practical experience, consistent with an increased progression over the three years of training:

• Year 1:  Application and incorporation of core principles into own use. Guided teaching of own use in the classic Alexander procedures of chair work, ‘monkey’ position, lunge, and hands on the back of a chair.
• Year 2:  Attending to own use whilst being instructed in hands-on work with other trainee through supervised pair and small group sessions.
• Year 3:  Refinement of the delicate hands-on skills in teaching through continued supervised practice. Development of ability to convey understanding of core principles to the pupil, both manually and verbally, leading to the ability of the trainee to effect a change in the use of a pupil. Training on how to build up and run a practice, the importance of professionalism and ethics by being part of STAT and continued professional development and training. Trainees will have opportunity for teaching members of the public (individual and introductory groups), including assisting teaching at the City Lit – an adult further education college in Holborn.

There is an emphasis on the personal development of the trainees to prepare them for the interaction with pupils/learners. We look at many applications of the Technique in practical everyday living.

There is work with movement, voice, breathing, presentational skills, and applying the Technique to areas such as playing musical instruments, running, swimming, horse riding, dancing, singing and other activities. Where appropriate we also make use of information learning technologies.

Other areas of study include relevant aspects of psychology, child development, pedagogy and didactics, science-based studies into human well-being, etc.

We endeavour to search out and keep informed of scientific research and development in areas that touch on aspects of the Alexander Technique and its application of all aspects of human activity.

The three-year training provides trainees with all the information, support, mentoring and practical experience necessary to be able to deliver high quality Alexander Technique teaching.  Brita Forsstrom, Head of Training, has 33 years teaching experience and more than 17 years experience in teacher training.  In addition to Brita Forsstrom and Kamal Thapen (Assistant Head), the school have regular and visiting teachers with an international outlook and experience in a wide range of professional and creative fields contributing to the depth and quality of the training.

In addition to the basic teaching, we cover voice work, presentation skills, application to acting and playing musical instruments; plus application to Tai Chi, with a half hour weekly session. The half hour consists of Qi Gong and Tai Chi Yang Style Short Form with awareness of Alexander principles. We regularly invite teachers and specialists to cover areas beyond our own abilities and knowledge.

From time to time the school has outings to interesting and relevant events and exhibitions. For example in 2015 we attended The Anthropology of Hands conference at Canterbury University and in 2016 we visited the This is a Voice exhibition at The Wellcome Collection.

All trainees have one individual lesson per week alongside the course hours as part of the training. We hold regular one-to-one tutorials for the trainees as well as whole school meetings to discuss the school set-up and concerns they have.

This is a typical weekly schedule, which will develop and include variations as the course progresses with students of different stages of training. We encourage the students to keep a reflective journal throughout the course.

Postgraduate practice terms
After graduating new teachers are expected to attend the school for two post-graduate terms to practice their teaching skills by assisting the trainers with hands-on work. This helps them gain experience and confidence to teach professionally.

All graduates of the school are welcome to visit at any time to exchange and receive work, and to obtain advice and support from the trainers. From time to time the school holds post-graduate workshop and exchange drop-in sessions.

Reading list
Alexander, F.M.  Use of the Self, (Orion Publishing)
Alexander, F.M. Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, (Mouritz)
Alexander, F.M. Man’s Supreme Inheritance, (Mouritz)
Alexander, F.M. Universal Constance in Living, (Mouritz)
Articles, published letters and lectures on the F. M. Alexander Technique by F. Matthias Alexander. (Mouritz)
Carey, S. The Alexander Technique: The Ground Rules, Marjorie Barlow in conversation with Sean Carey, (HITE Books)
Carey, S. Alexander Technique in Everyday Living: Improve how you sit,stand, walk, work and run, (HITE Books)
Carey, S. Think More Do Less: Improving your teaching and learning of the Alexander Technique with Marjory Barlow, (HITE Books)
Carrington, W. and Carey, S. Explaining the Alexander Technique, (Sheildrake Press)
Carrington, W. Thinking Aloud, (Mornum Time Press)
Carrington, W. The Act of Living, (Mornum Time Press)
Forsstrom, B and Hampson, M. The Alexander Technique for Pregnancy and Childbirth, (Gollancz)
Gelb, M. Bodylearning, (Aurum Press)
Jones, F. P. Freedom to Change, (Mouritz)
MacDonald, P. The Alexander Technique Way As I see It, (Rahula Books)
Nicholls, J. and Carey, S. The Alexander Technique; in conversation, (publ. by the authors)

There is a range of other books of the Alexander Technique, as well as anatomy and physiology books and other relevant literature available and/or recommended as part of the studies.