A teacher’s primary responsibility is to provide knowledge and help students develop various skills and abilities. In contrast, a coach's role is to support and motivate their pupils through active listening, probing questions and challenging exercises. Despite these different roles, imagine if teachers used coaching techniques in the classroom to become motivators as well. This idea was the starting point for the new edition of the course “Emotional intelligence and coaching inside the school and educational context” that took place in Palermo from 26/05/2024 to 01/06/2024. The participants came from across Europe, with participants from two different institutions in the Netherlands: Mirjam, Doortje, Bram and Kasper from Mendelcollage and Stephan, David and Bert from Christelijke Hogeschool Ede. Then, Hanna and Eva from the Östervåla skola in Sweden, Diego from IES Mariano Jose de Larra in Spain and Judith and Jessica from Wangari Maathai International School in Germany took part. Both Sanni from Omnia and Silva from Mikkelin kaupungin liikelaitos Otavia came from Finland to the south of Italy as well as Urška from Ljudska univerza Radovljica in Slovenia. We started the course with a conversation about Emotional Intelligence. This term refers to the ability to recognise not only our own feelings but also the feelings of others to be aware of ourselves and our surroundings. A teacher who is emotionally intelligent is able to understand the emotions of his or her students and therefore connect with them and help them manage their feelings. The concept of Coaching means motivating and influencing someone else to be the best version of themselves. In order to improve our skills, it is necessary to learn how to set a goal, specifically a SMART goal. Participants were asked to set SMART goals for themselves, following the guidelines of them being specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bounded. A coaching skill that is essential in any workplace, including a classroom, is the ability to manage conflicts. In this case self-awareness and control of one’s own emotions are fundamental to preventing a conflictual situation from escalating. A conflict doesn’t have to be necessarily negative, on the contrary, it can also lead to growth and positive outcomes. A coach needs to help his or her students to create a dialogue and support them in finding a solution to the problem. It is important to remember however that the role of the coach is not to suggest a solution, but to be a guide in analyzing the conflict, making decisions and evaluating their behavior. The power of questions was another topic covered in this course. Questions have the ability to stimulate thinking and self-reflection, to generate constructive responses and to motivate action and the development of ideas. Therefore, in this course participants explored the concept of building learning-focussed questions by starting with an invitation to engage, suggesting content to think about and emphasizing a cognitive focus for thinking and elaboration. The Solution Focused Brief Coaching Model was also explored to promote a solution-focused mindset in their students. This packed week of training allowed the participants to share their common experiences and to learn from their different cultural backgrounds, while also improving their coaching skills and learning how to apply them in their classrooms.
Discover more about this course here. |
Welcome to the ELA Blog. Here you will find articles and photos of our courses and have a look at the topics addressed during the week in Bologna, Palermo and Tenerife. You will also have the chance to take a peek at our projects and check out what we have been up to.
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