Course Details
Coping with conflict
The aim of this course is to provide professional development for all school staff and governors who wish to improve their understanding of conflict and acquire the skills to deal with the inevitable conflicts that arise in day-to-day school life. It will help you to deal both with conflicts that involve you directly, and those that require your intervention as a manager (although the course is still useful even if you don't have management responsibilities in your job).
As you work through the course, you will:
- analyse the types and causes of conflicts you have had in the past
- learn techniques to help you face conflict situations and look for solutions
- learn about the skills for mediation
- develop strategies for behaving assertively and giving and receiving criticism The course will get you thinking about previous conflicts you've had, and ask you to implement strategies for resolving conflict in real situations in your school.
Author Biography
Meet the course author:
Jim Laing is a former teacher, headteacher and chief education adviser for a large local education authority.
He now runs Ridgeway Associates, which is a development consultancy focusing on management and leadership issues across the public, private and voluntary sectors. He is also accredited as a performance management consultant, threshold assessor and facilitator for the National Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers.
Jim has worked in the UK and internationally as an educational consultant and trainer in numerous primary, secondary and special schools.
He qualified as a professional mediator with the National Mediation Centre (Law Society Accredited) four years ago and he is also trained in Counselling Skills through the Central School of Counselling and Therapy (accredited by the Associated Examinations Board). As well as undertaking part-time mediation work through the National Mediation Centre he also delivers many seminars and training events on the subject of mediation and dispute resolution.
His mediation work has included work with: The London Borough of Hackney, The National Health Service, The Shaftesbury Society, The United Nations, The Colegio Anglo Colombiano (Bogota), The SEN Regional Coordination Project (South West) and Sakhalin International School (Russia).
Jim has written various articles about mediation and conflict resolution including: 'Handling Confrontation' for the pfp SEN Coordinator's File.