Contributing to a Conflict Management Workshop and Developing Conflict Management Skills Among Teachers

Abstract

This qualitative article presents the contribution of a conflict management workshop to the development of conflict management skills among teachers. The main point of the article is the analysis of the main themes raised by the participants during the sessions concerning Team strategies: group dynamics, teamwork, and asking questions and Oral language strategies: use of therapeutic cards and intuitive writing.

In addition, the presentations of the article will emerge from the open questions in the interview conducted with the participants at the end of the process.

This article presents the qualitative part of the study. The study was attended by 100 teachers who participated in a conflict management workshop of 10 sessions lasting two hours each. In the workshop, the participants experienced different artistic tools and strategies for conflict management, different from those used in the workplace.

The workshop is based on the ABC model developed by psychologist Albert Ellis. At the end of the workshop, a personal interview was conducted with half of the participants to check the extent of the impact of the use of the tools to which the participants were exposed in the workshop. Some of the questions that were asked were open questions and in some of them, they had to mark the degree of influence of the tool or their satisfaction from using it from 1-10.

From the transcripts written by the group leader at the end of each session and the interviews conducted with the participants at the end of the workshop, several key themes were collected: Empathy and identification, change in response following the workshop, the tools received from the workshop, A different morning routine, use of music and videos as part of the lesson, blurring the boundaries between home and work, the ability to help In colleagues for joint thinking, counseling and social support, the ability to manage conflicts as improving the teacher's professionalism, minimizing burnout and anxiety at work, increasing motivation and job satisfaction.

Referring to the transcripts of the meetings, it appears that there has been a change in the way the teachers work, who have chosen to include in their work routine the use of tools and strategies to which they were exposed in the workshop. From the transcripts, it appears that there has been an improvement in the way the participants relate to conflict management in their immediate social and educational environment. The participants showed more openness, listening, and empathy for others.

The article presents a relationship between the way conflict managed and the use of social-emotional learning in reference to the degree of influence of the emotional intelligence level of the participants.

The use of a variety of practical tools that combine different arts and therapy, and therapeutic approaches allows each person, from all visitors to the educational institution (educational staff, students and parents) to look from a distance and from a new and different perspective. On the difficulties to reach creative and innovative solutions and even create them themselves.