What to do

When to do it

Attend First-Year Formation’s “Introduction to Contextual Education” plenary

Each fall’s First-Year Formation class includes an “Introduction to Contextual Education” plenary workshop near the end of the semester, which gives all first-year students (including January matriculants) an overview of the options available for fulfilling the ConEd requirement of the MDiv and MTS curriculum, as well as an overview of the site/project selection process.

Complete the Initial ConEd Meeting Request Form

Once you are ready to talk through your options with the ConEd Office, you will complete the Initial Meeting Request Form online, which includes an upload of your most recent resume or CV. Once our office receives this form we will reach out to you to schedule a meeting with one of our Directors, which can be over Zoom or in-person, depending on your preference. During this meeting we will discuss your ConEd learning goals, your future vocational plans, and offer you insights into which of our partner sites might fit your interests.

September/October for Spring ConEd

Pursue an Option

Once you meet with our office, you’ll have a better sense of which ConEd option to pursue. If you are seeking an internship, you will review our STH Site Partner List to determine where you’d like to intern. If you are pursuing a ConEd Project, you will speak with an STH faculty member and begin to plan that project’s learning goals and tasks with them. If you are planning on Clinical Pastoral Education, you will complete that application process directly with a CPE site itself. If you are an MTS student, you may also choose to complete your ConEd requirement through an STH Travel Seminar and will need to follow those registration deadlines accordingly.

If you need suggestions of how to get started talking with a potential site supervisor or STH faculty project supervisor, please see these Initial Supervisor Conversation Talking Points

September through October 15th for Spring ConEd

Confirm Your Plan with the Contextual Education Office

Once you have a ConEd plan in place (ex. you’ve been invited to an internship by a site supervisor, or completed a ConEd Project proposal with an STH faculty member’s support, or been admitted into a CPE program or Travel Seminar), you will complete the ConEd Placement/Project Request Form. This form will outline your plan for our Directors to review and affirm. Once reviewed, our office will either email you with questions or with an approval of your plan, copying the Registrar’s Office.

If you are requesting an internship placement, you will need to submit a Viewpoint Screening Background Check as part of completing the ConEd Placement/Project Request Form. This requirement is necessary regardless of a student’s degree program.

This background check practice is similar to the background checks required by most institutions in their hiring practices and by most churches in their ordination processes. A background check is only necessary once, before the start of a student’s first internship placement, and will be good for 2 years. It is meant to protect all parties, including you, in that it provides a record that there are no undisclosed issues from your past that preclude you from entering your site in a professional leadership capacity. Go to the Viewpoint Screening website: https://www.viewpointscreening.com/busth. Click on “Start Your Order” and follow the online prompts to complete your background check.

And it is October 15th for Spring ConEd

Register for Your Contextual Education Course

All Contextual Education courses are “restricted” in terms of registration. This means that students cannot register themselves for those classes. Instead, the Contextual Education Office communicates to the Registrar’s Office at the start of each semester which students have moved through the Placement or Project process and have been approved to register for a Contextual Education course. If you have not yet completed all the steps above, you will not be on the Contextual Education Office’s list of approved students.

First-level internship placements will be registered for TC801 (fall) or TC802 (spring). Advanced internship placements will be registered for TC803 (fall) or TC804 (spring). And those pursuing ConEd Projects will be registered for TC891 K1 (fall) or TC892 K1 (spring). 

You do not need Contextual Education Office approval to register for Travel Seminars. And CPE credits are transferred in once complete, so do not require registration, either.

For International Students – Apply for Curricular Practical Training through ISSO

If you are an international student planning to do off-campus work as part of your ConEd internship placement or project, please follow this link to learn about Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization and how to apply for it through the University’s International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO).

Begin Your Contextual Education Placement or Project

Students who have completed their Background Check (& CPT authorization for international students) can begin their internship hours or project tasks as soon as the first day of classes each semester, and should do so no later than the second week of classes. The best first step of any internship or project is to meet with your supervisor to make sure you are both aligned as to the work ahead, to negotiate the times to meet for supervision throughout the semester, and to troubleshoot any questions either of you have. If you have a question you cannot answer, feel free to be in touch with the Contextual Education Office by email to sthope@bu.edu.

Develop your Learning Agreement

The first assignment you will be required to undertake is to outline the exact parameters of your placement tasks and learning objectives with your on-site supervisor. This is done by completing the Learning Agreement form. Once you and your on-site supervisor have negotiated the Learning Agreement contract it should be turned in to your ITP Leader for review. Once your ITP Leader approves of your Learning Agreement, they will sign your form, and you will get a signature from your on-site supervisor and, if a different person, your theological supervisor, as well. Once all signatures are completed, you can turn your final Learning Agreement draft in to your ITP Leader. They will then send it to the Contextual Education Office for review and final approval, where it will stay on-file.