Introduction Article
We focus on: The importance of relationships and wellbeing; systematic relationship building between teacher and students; sharing of knowledge between teachers and the collaboration between teachers.
What is this course about?
This course is about the importance of relationship building between teachers and students and how to systematically work with this as a group of teachers around a class. We are sure that you already know a lot about this subject. However, it is our experience that many teachers work with relationship building and the students’ wellbeing but do not do this systematically.
What is a relationship between teacher and student?
The way in which two or more people feel and behave towards each other1.
The word relation comes from the latin word relatus which means to carry. The relationship between a teacher and a student is asymmetric because the teacher is an adult and has power over the student.
It is when the teacher is working on building rapport with the student(s). According to Scandinavian studies the relationship is when the student(s) experience self-determination, competence and cohesion, and when the student(s) feels trusted by the teacher2.
What is social competence
The ability to build strong relationships is very much dependent on the teacher’s social competence.
We believe that social competence can be seen as both a topic that one can have knowledge about and as a skill that can be developed and strengthened.
Social competence is the teacher’s ability to make social contacts and to handle social situations. It is also the ability to understand and feel the perspectives and opinions of students and colleagues. Social competence is knowledge of group dynamics and the interaction between people. It is the teacher’s ability to understand students’ desire to create a coherent social and personal identity.
Learning objectives
This course adds to your skills and knowledge as a teacher and we hope that you will:
- gain more research based knowledge about relationship building, students’ wellbeing and social competence
- learn five definitions of relationships between teachers and students
- form an overview over your own and your close colleagues relationships to to every student in your class
- make a plan of action for how to work with the students who need stronger relationships
The course has five steps:
- Introduction video (step 1)
- Introduction article (this article)
- Podcast about social competence (step 3)
- Relationship overview video (step 4)
- Documents for the tasks in the video (step 5)
Time: approximately 2 hrs
Tasks
In this course there are some tasks that we ask you to solve. They all revolve around your systematic relationship building to your students. The purpose is to work in depth with your social competence and hopefully provide some new insights on the subject.
You can take this course individually or with those of your colleagues who work in the same class or with the same group of students.
The creators
This online course is created by us, Kasper Myding and Casper Rongsted. Kasper is an educational consultant and speaker. He is also a writer and former school leader. Casper is also an educational consultant, speaker and writer of several books and articles. You will meet us in the videos and in the podcast included in the course.
Educational consultant and PhD Dr. Jim Rogers, our partner in the United Kingdom, has been a strong support in creating this course. Jim has helped us shape both content, language and composition to make the course meaningful for British and international school leaders and teachers.
Enjoy the work with social competence and have a great course.
Best regards,
Kasper Myding and Casper Rongsted
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1. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/relationship
2. Sven Erik Nordenbo, Michael Søgaard Larsen, Neriman Tiftikci, Rikke Eline Wendt, Susan Østergaard, Lærerkompetencer og elevers læring i førskole og skole: et systematisk review udført for Kunnskapsdepartementet, Oslo, s. 66, Dansk Clearinghouse for Uddannelsesforskning, Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsskole, 2008; Louise Klinge, Lærerens relationskompetence, s. 7-8, Københavns Universitet, 2016