An Update on Assessments in 2022

Leslie Hogya, member of the IYAC/ACYI Professional Development Committee, provides an update below on the approach that will be taken for teacher assessments in 2022 in light of the new guidelines from RIMYI and given the current COVID-19 situation.

Zoom meetings and mock assessment times have brought us closer to being ready to hold the first Level One teacher assessment that follows all the new protocols from Pune.

For the February 2022 assessment, everyone will participate from their home or studio. This includes the assessors, the candidates, the student volunteers, and host community and technical support.

The three assessors, Krisna Zawaduk, Karen Major and Leslie Hogya, met with the host coordinator, Patricia Fernandes, to look at each aspect of the new guidelines. Two of the overriding principles from the new Pune document are that “Communication is the key to being a part of our community.”, and “Right kind of disposition by the assessors should build up a certain level of comfort in the candidates.” (p. 13). As assessors, we kept these ideas in mind during every discussion.

Day One of an assessment weekend will begin with practice, with the assessors and candidates practising together. We had a trial run of this recently, and the mood of assessment was transformed. The assessors were not standing with clipboards, they were on their own mats at home virtually alongside the candidates.This was a very strong message that reinforces the quote from Guruji in the preface of the new guidelines: “It is relatively easy to be a teacher of an academic subject, but to be a teacher in art is very difficult, and to be a yoga teacher is the hardest of all, because yoga teachers have to be their own critics and correct their own practice.”

After practising together, the candidates will do their own self-styled inversion practice. A break and time for reflection and discussion will follow. The first day will end with a called practice – without strict timings and minus the inversions.

The teaching segments will be more flexible than in the past. The candidate will be able to add an extra pose, to help make a harmonious practice.

The goal, of course, is to be able to hold assessments in studios and not online. But some aspects of the online scenario may continue for distant assessors. This is a practical consideration, with less expense both literally, and for the environment, if not so many flights are needed as in the past. We are all looking forward to putting into practice what Abhijata and Prashant have laid out, all of which is based on Guruji’s and Geetaji’s work.

Note: The new assessment guidelines can be found in the ‘Members’ Documents’ section of the IYAC/ACYI website under the ‘My Account’ tab (you must be logged in).