Thoughtful policy on courses that are missed, cancelled, transferred or rescheduled
Rationale
Thoughtful is committed to helping all trainees, at all levels, to complete their training and assessment so that they can progress with their P4C practice, benefit their students, and advance our mission. On occasion, we are contacted by delegates who wish to cancel their place on a course in advance of the start date. And after a course ends, we are occasionally contacted by delegates who have missed part, or all, of their training. In these cases, individuals may seek a refund or to transfer their place to a new course. This document sets out our policy on how to deal with such requests. This policy also recognises that when trainees miss, cancel or transfer courses, this can create burdens for operational staff who take care of the admin, trainers who must adapt their plans, and fellow delegates whose experience of the course content and sense of community may be disrupted. For this reason, we try to avoid these kinds of burdens. We do this by consistently applying the following policy:
Awarding certificates
Thoughtful awards three kinds of certificates: The Certificate of Attendance, The Certificate of Achievement and the Certificate of Equivalence. Please request to see our Policy on Certificates for more detail.
The Certificate of Attendance is issued automatically at the end of the course for all delegates who have 100% attendance e.g., who have attended all six core modules in person or online. This certificate is necessary for delegates wishing to obtain a Certificate of Achievement and is the minimum requirement for delegates to progress with their P4C training.
Thoughtful does not certify attendance for individual modules but may keep a record of this achievement to allow course completion at a later date.
Course completion
Those who have not attended all modules but wish to obtain certification and be eligible to progress to higher courses in the future, have the following options:
- If they have attended four or more modules, they can contact Thoughtful about obtaining a licensed recording of the modules they have missed (where available). Note that they will be required to watch the missing modules, answer the associated reflection questions and submit their answers to their Thoughtful Trainer for approval. Note that as of March 2026, there is a £25 fee to receive one module recording and £50 to receive two module recordings. (Note that two is the maximum number of recordings we share).
- If they have attended three or fewer modules, they can contact Thoughtful to discuss booking a place on a new Level One course for the admin fee of £150 plus the cost of catering if applicable.
Delegates are responsible for catching up. Thoughtful will not chase individuals who do not achieve 100% attendance.
This policy applies for twelve months after the missed session. If the candidate cannot catch up within twelve months, we require them to book on to a new course and pay for that in full.
Policy on transfers
Delegates who do wish to transfer their place should contact us as soon as possible to arrange this and no later than 30 days before the course begins. Subject to the availability of alternative courses and the agreement of the trainer, Thoughtful will offer to transfer delegates to a new course—or a new module—upon receipt of a £50 admin charge. The format of course options will be like-for-like, e.g., either online, hybrid or in-person. Where an in-person option incurs a catering charge, the delegate will be liable for paying that cost in addition to the £50 admin charge. There will be no further charge, even for those who re-sit the whole course. However, if the delegate cannot accept any of the transfer options offered within one year of the missed material, then they must book on to a new course at their own convenience. They must incur the full cost of this paid in cash or by tokens. A refund cannot be offered.
Occasionally Thoughtful may waive a transfer fee for a school that informs us in advance of known absences. In this instance, we will only charge the £12 marking fee.
Policy on courses rescheduled by Thoughtful
Very occasionally Thoughtful may need to cancel or reschedule a course. In such circumstances Thoughtful will try to transfer the booking to another convenient date. There will be no charge for this. If another convenient date cannot be found within one year, a full refund will be issued.
Exceptions to this policy at possible only in exceptional circumstances and only at the discretion of a Director.
Policy on refunds
Delegates who wish to a cancel a course booking will be offered the option to transfer to a different course in the first instance.
If this option is not practical, Thoughtful will refund course bookings if a request is made to cancel a place 30 days—or more— before the course begins. Requests made with less than 30 days to go will not usually be accepted, other than in exceptional circumstances.
Thoughtful does not offer refunds to delegates who miss a course (or parts of a course) and request a refund retrospectively.
If delegates have any concerns about the quality of a course or the competence or a trainer and believe this warrants a refund, they could contact the Director of Philosophy and Education as soon as possible in writing, ideally on the same day (gracelockrobin@Thoughtful.org.uk).
As stated above, Thoughtful will refund delegates when a course has been cancelled by Thoughtful or the venue and no suitable alternative can be offered. We regret that we cannot reimburse any expenses incurred such as travel and accommodation and so we encourage delegates making long journeys to take out travel insurance.
