Universität Wien

490069 KU Social and Personal Competencies (2023S)

2.00 ECTS (1.00 SWS), SPL 49 - Lehrer*innenbildung
Continuous assessment of course work
REMOTE
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: German, English

Lecturers

Classes

DI 14.03.2023 14.00-18.30 Digital
DI 09.05.2023 14.00-20.00 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Title: Embodied Wellbeing. Personal and Social Competences for Teachers.

Personal and social competences are becoming more and more relevant in the teaching profession. Nowadays, teachers are not only required to transmit and evaluate pedagogical content; instead, they are also required to self-regulate their behavior, properly manage classrooms dynamics, and promote their own as well as students’ psychophysical wellbeing.

During this course, we will study the history of the concept of wellbeing and the main pedagogical traditions. Then, we will discuss three different but strictly interconnected dimensions of wellbeing: personal, social, and systemic wellbeing. We will also look at some of the main terminological and semantic variations of the concept of wellbeing, such as eudaimonia, hedonism, happiness, flourishing and quality of life. Finally, we will discuss relevant educational tools and strategies to promote psychophisical wellbeing within the school context.

We will adopt the embodied education and systems thinking approaches as theoretical frameworks. On the practical side, we will engage in experiential activities in the field of mind-body practices, in particular mindfulness meditation, which has received great attention in the last decade (‘contemplative turn’).

We will critically discuss these themes and their implementation in the educational field and in the professional training of teachers, and we will gain theoretical and practical knowledge about teachers’ personal and social wellbeing.

In particular, we will see:
- Main definitions of teachers’ social and personal competences.
- Main definitions of teachers and students’ wellbeing.
- Effects of contemplative practices (e.g. mindfulness meditation and yoga) on teachers’ wellbeing.
- Contemplative practices for teachers and students: why and how to use them in the educational setting.
- Critical analysis of the use of contemplative practices in education.

This course helps students to develop professional skills for the promotion of personal and social wellbeing. By the end of the course, students will acquire the following skills:
- Recognize and use technical terminology and concepts from the fields of wellbeing and contemplative practices.
- Evaluate and promote crucial aspects of personal and social wellbeing.
- Adopt basic elements of body-mind practices in educational settings to improve teachers and students’ wellbeing.
- Design and implement mindfulness activities in classroom.
- Develop critical and scientific attitude toward mindfulness meditation and the “contemplative turn” in education.

The course will include frontal teaching, interactive discussions, case studies, group’s work, and experiential training. Teaching method is highly interactive and participatory. Learning activities are:
- Lectures with media support on central theoretical concepts and empirical topics.
- Plenary discussions.
- Small groups' work.
- One short written report and one final written project.
- Final presentation and discussion of the research project in plenary.
- Guided mindfulness experience.

The main language of the course is English.

Assessment and permitted materials

Students are expected to attend lectures and actively participate to discussions, case studies, research tasks and exercises. Moreover, students will have to hand in few assignments during the course.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The students’ works will be evaluated on a scale from 0 to 100 points distributed as following:
- Attendance to the classes, class works and groupwork: 30 points.
- One short written report (assignment): 20 points.
- Final project: 50 points.

The final grading:
- 1 (sehr gut): 89-100 points
- 2 (gut): 76-88 points
- 3 (befriedigend): 63-75 Punkte
- 4 (genügend): 50-62 points
- (nicht genügend): 0-49 points

For the final project, students will have to apply and show proficiency with the terminology and concepts used during the course. Some options for the topic of the final project will be suggested during the course.

Examination topics

All of the content covered in the course. Supporting learning material will be available on Moodle, such as presentations, papers, documents, videos, slides, reference literature.

Reading list

- Albrecht, N. J., Albrecht, P. M., & Cohen, M. (2012). Mindfully teaching in the classroom: a literature review. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(12), n. 12.
- Brinkmann, M. (2015). Übungen der Aufmerksamkeit. In Aufmerksamkeit (pp. 199-220). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
- Ergas O. (2014). Mindfulness in education at the intersection of science, religion, and healing. Critical Studies in Education, 55:1, 58-72.
- Francesconi, D. (2018). Eudaimonic Wellbeing and Education. In Galvin, K. T. (Ed.). Routledge International Handbook of Wellbeing. London, UK: Taylor and Francis Books. DOI: 10.4324/9781315724966-30.
- Francesconi, D., & Tarozzi, M. (2019). Embodied Education and Education of the Body: The Phenomenological Perspective. In Leib–Leiblichkeit–Embodiment (pp. 229-247). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
- Francesconi, D., & Tarozzi, M. (2012). Embodied Education: A Convergence of Phenomenological Pedagogy and Embodiment. Studia Phaenomenologica, 12: 263-88. DOI: 10.7761/SP.12.263.
- Hirshberg, M. J., Flook, L., Enright, R. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2020). Integrating mindfulness and connection practices into preservice teacher education improves classroom practices. Learning and Instruction, 66, 101-298.
- Hyland, T. (2017). McDonaldizing spirituality: Mindfulness, education, and consumerism. Journal of Transformative Education, 15(4), 334-356.
- Hwan et al. (2017). A systematic review of mindfulness interventions for in-service teachers: A tool to enhance teacher wellbeing and performance. Teaching and Teacher Education, 64: 26-42.
- Kaltwasser, V. (2016). Praxisbuch Achtsamkeit in der Schule. Beltz.
- Meiklejohn, J., Phillips, C., Freedman, M.L. et al. (2012). Integrating Mindfulness Training into K-12 Education: Fostering the Resilience of Teachers and Students. Mindfulness, 3: 291-307.
- Roeser R. W. et al. (2012). Mindfulness Training and Teachers’ Professional Development: An emerging area of research and practice. Child Development Perspectives, 6, 2: 167-173.
- Sharp, J.E. & Jennings, P.A. (2016). Strengthening Teacher Presence Through Mindfulness: What Educators Say About the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) Program. Mindfulness. 7: 209.
- Soloway, G. B. (2016). Preparing teacher candidates for the present: Investigating the value of mindfulness-training in teacher education. In Handbook of mindfulness in education (pp. 191-205). Springer, New York, NY.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 13.03.2023 08:09