Under our current educational model, more than one-fourth of a student's education at Meadville Lombard involves the action and reflection of learning through practice. Currently, there are three basic field education components: Praxis, Clinical Pastoral Education, and Ministerial Internship.

First-year residential students matriculating into a Master's degree program in the Fall of 2008 will begin a component of "praxis" in their first weeks at school and throughout that first year, in our new Community Partnership Program. In this practicum, students will work in select social service agencies for eight-hours per week during the academic year. This real-life work is then fostered by a two-hour weekly seminar led by faculty members, providing an academic component to the real-world experiences in the field.

In each of Meadville Lombard's opportunities for field education, ministry is provided by the student and appreciated by the community served, but the primary purpose of the experience is one of learning. Each student's program, learning goals, and professional interests will call for careful choices about sites and supervisors. Meadville Lombard's Director of Contextual Ministry works with students to plan their placements and provides support during their field education experiences.

They have four elements in common:

• They take place at a site away from the school: a church, hospital, agency or other institution.
• They provide ministry to a community: church members, patients, clients, prisoners, etc.
• The student's work is supervised, generally, by an experienced minister. A well-qualified, skilled supervisor is the most important factor in a successful field education engagement.
• The student's experience is opened to ongoing reflection: student and supervisor join in a process of regular review, interpretation, and discussion to clarify the student's understanding of his or her identity, theology, responsibility, and skill as a minister.