The Hand in Hand: Empowering Teachers programme, the main outcome of the HAND:ET project is available now! After almost three years of hard work that included literature reviews, program development, Training of the Trainers, implementation of the program in five countries (Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden), impact study and a lot more activities, we are ready to share with you the Hand in Hand: Empowering Teachers - A training programme to develop social and emotional competencies and diversity awareness in teachers and other school staff.

This program is developed for the trainers committed to the continuous professional development of teachers and educators and it is tailored to foster the development of social and emotional competencies and diversity awareness (SEDA competencies).

Basis of the programme are mindfulness practices, dialogue exercises, active listening exercises, exercises developing personal language, diversity-targeted exercises, group and pair work as well as individual exercises. It also features the theory sections, providing context and connecting theoretical concepts to practical exercises.

Moreover, the programme recognizes the diverse contexts of training and empowers trainers to modify explanations based on their country's specific nuances. It encourages trainers to prioritize participant needs, allowing for deviations from suggested timelines.

It is important to emphasise that this programme targets the teachers, and the training is focused on developing social and emotional competencies, as well as the diversity awareness (SEDA) of the teachers. This in-service programme is to be seen as teacher professional development, meaning there will be no expectation that the teachers should take the exercises presented into their classroom. It is expected that the children will be indirectly affected by the teachers’ developing competencies that will enable them to act differently and give them more options for coping with the complexity and the challenges in their everyday life.

In summary, this programme is not a rigid prescription but a flexible tool, enabling trainers to tailor professional development experiences to their specific contexts. It reflects the understanding that effective teaching requires continuous adaptation and individualized approaches.

English version of the program is available here, and make sure to stay tuned for the versions in Croatian, German, Portuguese, Slovenian and Swedish as well!