A Short History of the PermaCulture Diploma System

linked to pages CiDiploma, DiplomaManual,

draft1 by Stella, 8jan10, please do edit (in diff colour)

Version 1 - by Tagari Publications

Designed by Bill Mollison (check?) - basically consisted of sending your work to Australia, paying the fee and having the work read  by an examiner.  If passed you got the diploma. 

Jan 2010 this was on the website at Tagari:

Thank you very much for your interest in applying for a Diploma of Permaculture Design with the Permaculture Institute. Since 2002 we have had a third party examiner assess each application and either recommend or discuss further improvement to the application. Recently this position has become vacant.

Please contact us through our contact section on this website if you are interested (Australian residents only please).

Additionally, while we search for a replacement examiner, we are re-writing the application guidelines. We therefore ask that you do not send in any applications until a new notice is posted informing of the successful completion of these new guidelines. Your patience is appreciated.

So maybe re-designs are happening. (some enteprising pre-diplomat wanting to add this collective design to their portafolio could write to them and suggest we look to join forces?)

Version 2 - The Convergence Method

Described here in full: Diploma Convergence.doc

extract from "Procedures", p.4:

• Permaculture Diploma is to be awarded for documented good permaculture work, within one or more of the 12 categories mentioned below, and at a quantity as described below – generally after a minimum of 2 years from having received the Permaculture Certificate.
• The application for Permaculture Diploma is to be published in the Nordic Permaculture Yearbook, prior to the presentation of the application.
• The application is to be presented for open discussion between the certificate- and diploma-holders convening at Nordic Meeting.
• In the process of preparing the application, three diploma-holders are to be involved: 1) One who is closely involved in the preparation process as personal adviser. 2) One who is less closely connected as adviser. 3) And one who is to adopt the role of external examiner, at the Nordic Meeting.
• After receiving the diploma, a diploma holder can work within all aspects of permaculture, with the rights of a diploma holder, regardless of which categories the application was based on.
• After receiving the diploma, a diploma holder has the right to perform professional counselling in relation to permaculture projects; to arrange courses in permaculture without the supervision of another diploma holder; and to represent the permaculture network externally in relation to the general public.
• As a diploma holder, one can use the title ‘Permaculture Designer’.

We find it to be important, that diploma applications are to be presented and discussed openly in a larger forum of permaculturists.

We find it to be important that the awarding of diploma is based solely on documented professionalism, and not made dependent on financial capacity or graduation from one or another specific educational institution.

We find it to be important that the awarding of diploma is rooted in a regional context, so that the application is published in a regional publication (e.g. the Nordic Yearbook), and presented for discussion and approval in a regional gathering with official status (e.g. the Nordic Meeting)."

Version 3 - European Diploma Work-Net

Designed by AndyLangford (mainly? check), this is a brilliant design by people deeply embedded in the 'us/we' paradigm.

Unlike the idea most people (still encrusted in the 'I/me' paradigm?) have of a diploma (of it being for their own benefit mainy / to get a piece of paper / move up the ladder, etc.), this permaculture diploma was actually a very multi-functional permaculture design, designed to:

• to collect and flush out (share) emergent permaculture knowledge as fast as possible peer-learning and assessment, encouraging people to document the work of other PC pioneers, not just their own
• accellerating permacultura action-learning, promoting community building and group-learning: not just for the person doing the diploma
• encourage and direct pre-diplomats to give back to the network (symmetry criteria) by helping to build the missing infrastructures and so improve the network for all
• (incidental but perhaps useful function: seems to filter out people not very in-tune with the values of cooperation, self-responsability, people-care and humble enough to believe they may learn something from people who've been doing permaculture for a long time)

Link to PC Uk site: http://www.permaculture.org.uk/education/diploma-applied-permaculture

Old Manual: Accreditation Criteria.doc

Action Learning.doc

Registration.doc

Version 4 - a new International Chaordic Diploma

a new Diploma Work-Net in the Chaordic Institute (International) 

* integrates the benefits of all other versions *

'Process kick-start' designed by Stella with the Nodo Espiral (Spain PC Academy) teachers in 2003,

- see initial proposal here

A very potted history:  the Chaordic PC Institute originated from an idea to re-design the DiplomaProcess, but some basic infrastructures (ie. this pilot and a credible number of initial profiles) was necessary in order to move on with that idea.

This is the result of the DiplomaGroup investigating and listing the various Diploma systems in existence (over the last few years) and asking lots of questions in the Diploma Lab (which all are still very welcome to participate in).

We have created initial groups in two languages (Spanish and English) for those interested in participating (whether as tutors, mentors or students) through the ning set up in order to facilitate more dialogues in the Chaordic Institute: http://permainst.ning.com

((Gaia University is also organising a new diploma version (with some US organisations), which we hope they will wanto integrate with the Chaordic Institute's design.   A good interview with Andy Langford about ActionLearning and the Earth Action Mentor diploma))

The idea is that it is COLLECTIVELY (chaordically) DESIGNED by the interested Chaordic Institute members. 

Some work on this was done in the DiplomaGroup of the Institute (mainly observation) and we hope that some enterprising pre-diplomats choose to incorporate this as a collective design into their portafolios.

See CiDiploma

.