Field Education and Clinical Pastoral Education
Andover Newton has a long and proud heritage of including experiential learning in formation for ministry. A pioneer in both Clinical Pastoral Education and Field Education, Andover Newton has never fallen prey to assumptions that all learning takes place from the neck upwards. While at Andover Newton, students learn with hand, heart, and head, intentionally integrating classroom learning with the work of ministry within the context of each degree program.
In Field Education, students have an opportunity to have meaningful ministry experiences, reflect on them theologically, and integrate experience with intellectual growth from coursework. Students spend at least one academic year in a stipended position as a student minister in the vicinity. This experience is coupled with a classroom experience entitled "P3," or the Professor-Practitioner Program. All students in Field Education take at least one academic course that is co-taught by a ministry professional, and in addition they meet in small groups with that minister and their peers weekly. The purpose of P3 is to support students as they bring together the life of the classroom and the life of the church and ministry.
Andover Newton partners with the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education and expects that all students in formation for ministry will complete one unit of clinical training. They ordinarily do so in hospitals that have formal programs in chaplaincy internship, as well as deep inter- and intrapersonal exploration.
Through these ministry experiences during seminary, students receive far more than "on-the-job training." They become formed in their theology, ministerial identity, and spirit through engagement with God's church and world.