R.E.C - RELATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL COMPETENCES AT SCHOOL

"The main objective of Project R.E.C. was to facilitate the implementation of teachers' relational and emotional skills (REC), in order to improve teaching and learning quality of students. The project referred to, on the one hand, teachers' needs, and on the other, the needs of today's European society, that aims to offer its young citizens a high quality education. Objectives pursued: - develop an innovative methodological approach to vocational teachers incoming and/or in-service training; -strengthen the teachers emotional and relational skills; -offer teachers space for reflection, physical and virtual (e-learning), where to share, even with foreign colleagues, difficulties related to the profession and to develop functional strategies to overcome; - identify a ""best practice kit"", thanks also to the use of technology, through the European comparison in order to verify, in different social and cultural realities, the validity of the proposed intervention. Each organization was involved in professional training and education development (Italy, Norway,Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria), in research (Italy, Slovenia, Norway), and in new technologies development (Italy, Slovenia).All partners worked together in order to define a new methodological REC approach. It wants to offer teachers the instruments to achieve and develop their transversal competences (emotional, relational, etc.), so called “soft skills”, in order to make them upgrade the necessary self-knowledge and improve their own ability to motivate students to learning and to reduce the risk of burnout. In fact, current research suggesting a relationship between R.E.C and teacher burnout and reviews intervention efforts to support teachers’ REC through stress reduction and mindfulness programs. Specifically, an action research was carried out, to fulfill a methodological approach for teacher training enriched by the contribution of the Modello di Articolazione Intersistemica (Baldascini, 1993) and the exchange between the European partners. The aspiration was to enhance the Relational and Emotional Competences (REC) through a methodological approach that placed the teaching relationship at the centre, understood as a unit of observation of the intra and interpersonal worlds of teacher and student.All partners have experienced directly this approach in their own country thanks to their work with schools, teachers and managers they have become promoters of best practices. The project it consisted in REC groups composed by teachers and trainers involved in: • construction of the web-training, interactive platform (ICT, E-learning); • research activities about teachers' and students' REC;• sharing of emotions and experiences with multidisciplinary equipe. The project involved at European level 625 teachers (beneficiaries/target group) and 6250 students / pupils (indirect beneficiaries an average of 10 students per teacher) and 625 teachers NO REC (control group).The targhet group (European teachers involved) was divided as follows:-in Italy, I.P.R. and University Parthenope have formed 18 groups-in Bulgaria, Regional Department of education – Pazardzhik has formed 11 groups-in Norway Lenden Skole has formed 5 groups-in Romania Bacau County School Inspectorate County Center for Resource and Educational Assistance Bacau has formed 11 groups-in Slovenia University of Primorska Faculty of Education has formed 10 groupsAll the teachers involved in the project and their students have completed the “Schoolkit: questionnaires and observational grilles regarding R.E.C.” (Output ID:01) . The project has had a positive impact as regards the school context in all the European countries involved. The new model contributed to creating a classroom climate that is more conducive to learning and has promoted positive developmental outcomes among students. This is also demonstrated by the levels of satisfaction of all the teachers who participated in the project, measured by The Training Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire for teachers in the last meeting of training. Moreover all the project's outputs have been uploaded on the web: Schoolkit, Web-based interactive multimedia web platform training, Training and rec guidelines, E-book R.E.C. methodology guidelines, promoting not only the dissemination of project results, but also providing a kit for good practices and guidelines for teacher training on emotional and relational skills. These tools can be downloaded and used by all those interested in this topic and teacher training.A REC trained teacher will be able to better manage REC competences, with positive effects on students and inevitably they will transmit these skills to them. Through the publication and dissemination of intellectual outputs, the project would to promote, as longer-term benefits, social changes through creating quality European teaching in REC's topic."