In 2017, in Florence, based on the ideas of Andrea Bocconi, we organised a unique type of conference. Rather than presentations from experts, it was dedicated to the participants’ experiences and shared reflections on the theme of education and on training for educators.
There were more attendees than expected (around 70 participants representing 10 regions of Italy), which confirmed to us the need for discussion and pursuit of new educational models.
The participants were divided into collaborative groups where they could not only share their experiences, but also discuss and imagine an educational model for the present and future.
Verso (which at that time was still an association) also shared its own proposal (the essence and core of what would later become “Mindful Educators”), and presented Andrea Bocconi’s book, Educational Psychosynthesis (published by ZonaFranca).
After the conference, there followed three rounds of training for the teachers (January, May and November 2018) with the programme below:
Module 1 – “Training educators”
- How I live out my role
- Highlights and shadows
- How my role as an educator has been shaped
- Mentors and bad teachers: gallery of ancestors
- One role among many: a slice of the pie
- Roles and sub-personalities
Module 2 – “Educators in action”
- Within the relationship: active listening
- Who talks to whom
- The ovoid
- The star of functions
- Bifocal and bi-directional vision
- Intervision and supervision
Module 3 – The ideal educator model
- The seven steps of the ideal educator model
- Supervision