Toastmasters rolls out first new education programme in 94 years
Melanie May | 29 June 2018 | News
Toastmasters International has launched a new education programme, Pathways: its first complete redesign since the organisation was founded in 1924.
Toastmasters helps individuals develop and improve their public speaking and leadership skills through local club meetings that offer practice, evaluation and mentoring. The new programme Pathways has been designed to help members develop the competencies they need to communicate and lead in a range of situations.
Pathways includes:
- 10 different learning paths
- More than 14 projects in each path
- 5 core competencies (Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, Management, Strategic Leadership, and Confidence)
- More than 300 unique competencies
- Content available online and in print materials
Since the Pathways rollout began last year, more than 100,000 unique users from 135 countries have participated in the programme, completing 64,000 projects with another 70,000 projects in progress. The programme’s three most popular paths are Innovative Planning, Presentation Mastery and Dynamic Leadership.
Balraj Arunasalam, Toastmasters 2017-2018 International President, said:
“Our Board of Directors recognised that it is critical to the organisation’s long-term sustainability to evolve our education programme and deliver an experience that is flexible, competency-rich and meets the demands of a contemporary workforce.”
“Pathways delivers this, and more; our members are able to apply the communication and leadership skills they are building in their personal as well as professional lives. Pathways is the most significant change initiative ever undertaken by Toastmasters International, the result is a major increase in the learning opportunities available to our current and future members.”Advertisement
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.