General Policies & Evaluation

General Policies

• The Learning Agreement for the field placement is mutually agreed upon by the student, site supervisor and director/associate director of the program. Any changes in this contract must be communicated.
• New supervisors receive orientation and formation by the Pastoral Formation Team. New placements are visited and approved of before students are assigned.
• Meal and gas reimbursements are included in the agreement and are usually handled by the Field Education Office.
• Students honor the time given for field work and negotiate with their partner details of transportation and time.
• If a placement is found to be unsuitable, the student must report the concern to the Director/Associate of Field Education so that in a timely and respectful way the situation can be remedied or a change can be made. 
• The Field Education Office communicates with supervisors. However, the student is responsible to see that required documents come in on time and that assignments are submitted. Students will only receive academic credit when the requirements are fulfilled.

Evaluation

Every field education experience is evaluated by the on-site supervisor for both educational and formational competency. The evaluations are comprehensive in their assessment of the students’ knowledge, competency, pastoral motivations, and zeal. The student is required to respond in writing to each evaluation, and have the supervisor read the response and sign the document. If a student perceives that he has received an unfair evaluation, he is free to make this known in a respectful way to the supervisor and to discuss it with the director/ associate director.

Copies of the supervisors’ final evaluations for students are kept in the Field Education Office. Copies are given to the Formation Advisor of the student who shares it with the Annual Review team. All evaluations become part of the annual review packet and are forwarded to the student’s bishop. The original documentation is kept in the Rector’s office.

Assessment

For the continuous quality improvement of the Pastoral Formation Program, Supervisors are surveyed regarding the effectiveness of the program using the Pastoral Formation and Pastoral Studies learning outcomes. The Pastoral Formation Committee also serves as a means to give feedback to the office and to promote communication among students and the Pastoral Formation/Field Education staff and supervisors.