Emotional Literacy for Vocational Education and Training

The project EL4VET is conducted under the program Life Long Learning - Leonardo DaVinci – transfer of innovation. The continuity of the project is two years from 2010 until 2012. The partners working together on the project are Bulgaria, Portugal, Cyprus, Check Republic and Poland and the University of Wolverhampton is the coordinator.

The term “emotional literacy” comes from the idea for the emotional intelligence. This concept is mentioned for the first time in 1989 and after that goes trough many transformations.

To be emotional intelligent means to be able to observe our own emotions and those of others, to be able to discriminate between them and to use this information to be able to manage our thoughts and actions, or in other words to have self regulation, self awareness, motivation, empathy and social skills.

To be emotionally literate means to deepen these skills, so we can:

• Not only understand our feelings, but also to know how strong they are and why we are experiencing them.
• We are capable to recognize in a good natured way emotions of others, their strength and reasons.
• We develop our ability to decide correctly, which emotions are safe to show, with the aim of bettering our lives and the lives of others around us.
• Claude Steiner, the creator of the term emotional literacy claims, that love should be underlined and guiding emotion in human relationships.

Aims

The main aim of the project EL4VET is to increase the emotional literacy of teachers and trainers, working in the area of vocational training and education in Europe and to help them to be better at creating relationships and communicating with their students, trainees or colleagues. By using EL the teachers and trainers can manage the behavioral problems of their students in the class room, motivate them and to use soft skills and competences to keep up their attendance.

Results

The results will include:

• Adaptation and transfer of information trough workshops and seminars in six European countries aimed at increasing the emotional literacy of teachers and trainers working in the filed of vocational training and education.

• Creation of a website, which will demonstrate the success and new information in the field of the teaching profession in Europe.

• Dissemination of the tool, aimed at teachers and trainers in the field of the vocational training and education in other European countries.

Workshop in Bulgaria

The workshop led by Dr. Richard Majors and Rob Larkin, took place on 9^th and 10^th of June 2011.

The agenda of the workshop included: inroduction to facilitators (Dr Richard Majors/Mr Rob Larkin); Introduction to EU project; Ice breaker/Group activity; Introduction to Emotional Literacy; Teachers’ Emotional Literacy do’s and don’ts in the classroom (David Starkey’s short video/activity); Emotional Literacy presentation; Introduction to Product 1 & 2 (Semi-structured interview questionnaireTEC/Toolkit, Teacher Empathy Curriculum, Introduction to 11 key competenciesToolkit methodology); Feelings and behaviours exercise led by Rob Larkin; Introduction to Product 3 (TELS (Teachers Emotional Literacy Scale)); Introduction to product 4(The ELRIT (Emotional Literacy Reflective Interactive Tool)).

All 15 participants came from different institutions in the field of vocational training and teaching, and they had the great opportunity to familiarize themselves with emotional literacy, how it can be used in the particular filed, what are its implementations, positive outcomes and developed tools (“The Teacher Empathy/Emotional Literacy Training Curriculum” or TEC; “Teacher Emotional Literacy Scale” or TELS; Emotional Literacy Toolkit). The background of the participators was diverse and concentrated in the educational sector:  CI Bulgaria Ltd, 60K Bulgaria Ltd,University of National and World Economy, International University College, Samarians Association, Language Center “Busy”, Maria Curie Foundation,127 School “Ivan Nikolayevich Denkoglu”, Military Academy “G.S. Rakovski”and Ministry of Education, Bulgaria.

By the end of the workshop, 15 participants (teachers, trainers, managers) in the education filed took part in a roundtable discussion with the aim to reflect about the usefulness, importance and dissemination of Emotional Literacy methodology and tools.