Information for Teachers

Why are the young people on the AFC Programme?

All the Teachers described young people that were -

“disruptive of learning; disrespectful to staff; argumentative; distracting other students; being a focus for attention in the room and not allowing lessons to flow and continue”

They were concerned about antisocial behaviour inside school & evidence of antisocial behaviour outside of school including Gang / group culture.

There was a lack of empathy with this group of young people “don’t really think, ’what impact am I having on another person"

How did the AFC programme bring about change?

Groupwork : "it was “good to be able to speak and hear others”

"Session made me feel like I can talk to, like show my feelings and my thoughts and talk about my thoughts (what I think about myself) to other people."

It seemed really important, for most of the young people, that they had friends in the programme.

All the young people bar one agreed that their relationships with their peers and their teachers had improved because they had had a chance to talk and listen to each other

Confidentiality: anxiety wasn’t realised All of them agreed that being on the programme was “fun” because their friends were there too.
Respect : ‘He (the facilitator) respected me so I respected him back’ “He’s trying to help you, and I liked the way he talks to you, he would show you respect”
Treated equally: they didn’t treat one of us more better than the other. They made us like work to be more closer to each other, to talk to each other about things that we wouldn’t talk about, like how their feelings and that

What were the positive outcomes of the programme?

In terms of how they had changed themselves, most of the young people thought noticeable change had occurred in themselves and in their friends. These included

Behavioural change
Increased confidence
became more involved.
controlling their anger more.
Treating each other with more consideration.

In order to build on these positive changes we believe that the young people should be given opportunities to use these new skills. Suggestions such as

Giving them small responsibilities around the school for which they can be proud and get publicly acknowledged.
Sending a letter home for positive achievements
Positive feedback from parents and teachers are important to consolidate change

If you would like to discuss our programme and its possible implementation in your school please contact us at:

The Teachers Empowered programme was developed and tested by Lukas Hohler (Switzerland) nad Joe Good bread (US) in 2008 in close collaboration with teachers. The purpose of this programme is to help teachers strengthen their leadership skills and individual gifts.

The programme beings with an introductory workshop, followed by individual and peer group study of the programme handbook. These peer group meetings can be accompanied and facilitated by local trainers. The programme concludes with a day of integration and evalation, about 6 months after the introductory workshop.

Teachers Empowered is inspired by a vision that seeks to make a lasting contrbuion to the dignity and power of the teaching profession. We want to live in a world in which positions are clearly differentiated and occupied in order to provide stronger support for a diversity of cultural and individual life styles. Such a world needs strong personalities and strong teachers.

Using Process Work (also known as process-oriented psychology) as a methodological framework, the programme provides an introduction to specific attitiudes, techniques, and practical exercises that inspire and empower teachers to work with the tensions and demands they face on a daily basis.

Feedback from recent programme participants shows that Teachers Empowered makes a significant contribution to helping teachers gain a new perspective on their profession as well as on their day today challenges. The programme is supported by an international network and an interactive learning and support platfrom, whose purpose is to restore the appreciation and respect to theis profession that it deserves.

EXCERPTS FROM THE HANDBOOK

To access an excerpt from the Teachers Empowered handbook please go to:
www.teachersempowered.net

PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES

PARTICIPANTS WILL....
discover their personal strengths inherent in their basic directions and visions and how these can enrich and make their work easier.
develop an inner attitude that enables them to lead proactively from a position of strength and to deal with conflict and tension in constructive ways.
in their day to day work and be inspired to continue to develop as teachers.

THE PROGRAMME DEVELOPERS WILL...
continue to seek feedback about how to make both the programme and the handbook as effecTive as possible
continue to find local partners who will collaborate in the development of a global network for the empowerment of teachers and to help realize our vision.

PROGRAMME FORMAT

The programme begins with an introductory workshop to be lead by Lukas Hohler, Joe Goodbread or a certified local trainer. Participants will receive the handbook and an introduction on how to use it. During the introductory workshop study groups are formed. These groups will meet atleast four tmes for three hour sessions over a five month period. Six months after the introductory workshop an integraion and evaluation day takes place

Programme evaluations may be used by the Teachers Empowered network to further develop the programme and for programme documentation.
All participants will have access to a web based learning annd support platform that offers moderated discussion forums as well as additional resources and exercises. Interested partricipants have the opportunity for further study and may apply for enrolment in the Teachers Empowered trainer certification programme.

BACKGROUND
The initial development of the Teachers Empowered programme in 2008 started as a collaboration between Lukas Hohler and the Offeice for the prevention of violence in Zurich. It was informed by more than 1000 crisis interventions that this office has carried out in Zurich's pulic schools since its inception.

Based on their exchanges with teachers in Zurich, Luckas Hohler and Joe Goodbread wrote a handbook that addresses the most common problems encountered by teachers in schools today, with a special focus on the subjects of positioning, communication, classsroom leadership, teamwork, and organizational development.

The Teachers Empowered programme has been informed by several field tests of the handbook. After the handbook was pilot tested by a group of teachers from Zurich in 2008, the programme was offered for the first time to 20 participants from Zurich. We then ran the programme in the fall/winter of 2009 in Brandenburg Gernmany, under the auspices oth the local adminstrative body. In the Spring of 2010, a group of teachers started working wih the programme in Berlin. In the meantime, the City of Zurich (School and Sport Dept) has begun to offer this programme as part of its regular professional development curriculum for teachers.

TARGET GROUPS

The programme is intended for teachers who are interested in participating in a learning process that contrubutes to the development of their own strengths and leadership capacities.