Your Role: External Examiner

Your connection to the course: I was External Examiner for 4 academic years ending in August 2018

Some Reflections From Inside and Outside

Ros Draper As one of the external examiners (my four years ended in September 2018) I want first to say it was a ‘heart sink’ moment when I read that systemic training at the University of Derby is ending. So there is a poignancy in writing this – sadness at an ending and the loss of these courses to family therapy in Britain and the satisfaction of knowing that a good number of students will have experienced fine creative and collaborative teaching from course tutors committed to modelling systemic thinking and practice in all their interactions with students. While it is sometimes said of endings that ‘things are for a season’ for me in the 2021 climate of dwindling resources alongside the exponential growth in mental health needs of children and young people, the achievements of these courses over the last 20 years is even more significant. Each year I attended students’ presentations I was impressed as much by the warm collegiality between tutors and students as by the high standard of students’ imaginative work confirming the learning environment to be rich, caring and rewarding. I always felt welcome and typical for the person who parachutes in and out for a day there were not long enough conversations as I was caringly looked after and ferried between station and university. Writing these words I do celebrate all that has been achieved in over 20 Years and the hard work of course tutors and students. I like to imagine that some if not most of the family therapists who trained at Derby experience in their work how thinking systemically enables them to navigate with greater ease the complex and challenging territory of present day workplaces. Hopefully, the use of the patchwork metaphor will long be associated with systemic training at the University of Derby. I am glad I had the opportunity to play a part.