As part of our project “EQUITY – Equal Opportunities and Inclusion in Vocational Education and Training”, our colleague Gesa Schaffrath and colleagues from a vocational college in Troisdorf near Bonn continued learning together in practice. Together with three teachers and a class of twelve students, materials on non-violent communication (NVC) were tested. The question was how to learn this method and attitude in a playful way and bring it to life. The participants devoted one teaching day to this.
First, the individual steps of NVC were presented and it was discussed when it was difficult to apply them and what had already been learned. Then all the steps were practised one after the other: conflicts were acted out, possible conflict situations were sketched out and it was observed how their perception can change if, for example, feelings are not taken into account.
It turned out that there was still something to learn for everyone: every conflict situation is different and using NVC ‘correctly’ can be difficult. But it was visible that the students gained self-confidence in the theatre play.
With a lot of fun and creativity, a long school day quickly came to an end. Above all, NVC opened up new perspectives on how to deal with conflicts. The various roles and conflicts experienced were linked to the needs and feelings of the participants. An encouraging experience.