WORKING WITH TEACHERS: INNOVATION IN TRAINING AND SUPPORT

8th International PATHS Conference - PATHS Curriculum DiffusionMIRANDA NOVAK, JOSIPA MIHIĆ, JOSIPA BAŠIĆ

HOW TEACHERS IN CROATIA FEEL

HOW TEACHERS IN CROATIA FEEL

• Overwhelmed with the changes in the school system and curricula made by government

• Frustrated with the salary reduction • Facing continuous worsening of working conditions• Getting more and more obligations for the same time frame• Meeting more complex needs of children and society• Loaded with the expectations of parents• Have to implement other programs• Finding their education outdated

SUPPORTING TEACHERS FOR SEL

• Diffusion of PATHS in Croatia in bigger scale made us realize that our teachers need additional and tailored support to implement prevention programs

SUPPORTING TEACHERS FOR SEL

• Implementation monitoring showed Croatian teachers need:

– More background on socio-emotional learning– More background on school prevention – Support for developing their own socio-emotional skills– Emotional support regarding the workload and climate in

schools– Suggestions for the classroom management – More creative and interactive ideas for working with

children

INNOVATION WITH TEACHER SUPPORT

• During the 2-year project PATHS-RASTEM financed by the World Bank i.e. Unity Through Knowledge Fund and Ministry of Science and Education implementation of PATHS was supported by engagement of school counselors

• Research team has supported teachers through monthly meetings with teachers:– Once a month in school – visiting classroom and analyzing the

lessons and teacher approach afterwards

– Once a month at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation – having a workshop/mini training

INNOVATION WITH TEACHER SUPPORT

Mini training once a month at the Faculty of Education andRehabilitation – held in a form of meeting – All teachers from PATHS classrooms were collected

together– Research team was in the same time the implementation

expert team and has the prepared agenda– 30 minutes of PATHS lesson analysis and exchange of

experiences + 30 minutes of SEL activities + analysis of bottlenecks

INNOVATION WITH TEACHER SUPPORT

Mini training themes covered during the 2 year period

– Personal SEL competencies of teachers – Communication with parents– Self-esteem of children as a milestone for development– Giving feedback to children– Classroom management – handling difficult situation– Generalization of PATHS curricula to other areas – Including parents in SEL activities– How to handle teacher stress and burnout

INNOVATION WITH TEACHER SUPPORT

• Those experiences were included in the training of teachers during last two years

• We are using the concept for the training provided by Elaine Berrena and Celene Domitrovich with the addition of forementioned themes

• We have realized that training has to prepare teachers to deliver PATHS – they needed some background – to understand why lessons are structured in the special way and what is the theory behind that

• Additionaly, we are still developing the themes covered during the mutual meetings with teachers – according to the needs of teachers and our development

INNOVATION WITH TEACHER SUPPORT

• Giving teachers smaller bits of knowledge reinforced with creative activities gave teachers the feeling they are appreciated and important, getting something in return for their effort

• That developed our relationship and mutual respect

• Has helped our teachers to be more motivated to implement PATHS

• Has given teachers ideas for the creative activities which could be used with children and led to improvement in their teacher skills generally