Contextual Education Internship Placement Sites Through the BTI

Contextual Education Placement Sites Through the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium (BTI)

Students at the School of Theology have a wide variety of sites from which to choose for a Contextual Education internship placement. We invite students to begin their search by perusing STH’s own site partners list, which have all gone through the process of being vetted by the School of Theology as good sites of contextual learning. But if a student is unable to find a site that interests them among our STH site partners, they are able to pursue sites around the region that are associated in partnership with other schools of the BTI, such as Harvard Divinity or Boston College.

The following procedure has been worked out and agreed upon by the Contextual Education Directors of the member schools of the Boston Theological Institute for securing cross-school placements:

1. If an STH student is interested in a site affiliated with a different BTI school, they should talk to one of the STH Directors of Contextual Education first to express their interest in that site. During that meeting the Director will either confirm that the BTI site is a good option for the student or will direct them toward other possibilities.
2.  If approved to pursue the BTI site, the student would then reach out to the site itself to see whether they are open to taking a student from STH.
3. If both the student and site agree to the site becoming the student’s Contextual Education placement, the student would then reach out to the Contextual Education Office of the site’s affiliated BTI member school to request permission to have an internship at their site. (Please note, depending on the school, it may also be called the Field Education or Field Placement Office.) Please copy our Contextual Education Office on that email of request (sthope@bu.edu).
4. If approved by the BTI school to have an internship at the site, the student would then use the forms and procedures of that BTI school to secure the site, rather than the School of Theology’s paperwork. For example, if you pursue a Harvard Divinity site, you would reach out to HDS’s Field Education Office for their approval and use the HDS forms to secure your internship at their site.
5. Once that paperwork is approved by the BTI school’s Contextual Education/Field Education Office, the student uploads copies of that approved paperwork to the School of Theology’s Contextual Education Office via the Placement/Project Request Form.
6. The STH Contextual Education Office will then formally approve your site and approve you for registration in STH’s Integrating Theology & Practice course. Students at BTI sites still must participate in the School of Theology’s ITP course each week throughout their placement internship.
7. Each student at a BTI site is responsible for managing the differences in semester schedules and structures between STH and the Contextual Education/Field Education Office of the BTI school.

For more information on BTI schools and their field education offerings, please see the BTI website.