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Training mediators’ brains:
what is worth doing in the name of continuing education
About the session New information, entertainingly structured, but serious in intent, capturing some of the extraordinary alliances being forged in Europe between science, psychology and mediation.
Continuing education, now a requirement of accreditation for mediators the world over, must address the question of what is worth teaching and learning, why, and above all, how. Advances in the understanding of adult learning are one source of information, studies of neuroplasticity quite another. New developments in brain science are profoundly influencing other fields; mediators in Europe are hooking up with institutes for the study of the brain to get a grip on the nature of conflict, decision-making and human emotions. So are there areas of practice which could be dramatically improved by new approaches? This session presents some of the answers, and will invite participants to reflect on the links between (enforced) professional development and actual learning, regardless of the field in which mediators practice. Podcast: Listen to Joanna talking about this session (4 mins) >> In the podcast, Joanna recommends reading The brain that changes itself by Norman Doidge. His website is www.normandoidge.com |
Audio recording of this session (25 mins) >> 
Provide opportunities for participants to understand current thinking among mediators here and overseas; link academic and theoretical material with the search for better practice; encourage analysis of what constitues learning /development to make us more discerning both as providers and consumers of continuing education in mediation.Joanne Kalowski
Joanna now works across Australia with courts and tribunals, corporates, non-Government organisations and government as a mediator, workshop leader and judicial educator. In addition,
She lives and works part of each year in Europe (Paris), where she is a member of the Centre de Mediation et d’Arbitrage de Paris (CMAP) and the International Mediation Institute.
Together with three UK colleagues, she runs an annual advanced mediator retreat in Italy for MATA, and there meets remarkable practitioners and thinkers, and is exposed to all kinds of new ways – literally – of seeing the world.
This year, Joanna accepted an appointment by the ANZ Bank as their Diversity Advocate, and is beginning to understand more about the ways in which Culture can affect culture. This is possibly the area she is most passionate about. As she says,"No doubt for its potential to promote understanding both of oneself and others, without which I fear we have little except conflict to look forward to."
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