Life enriching Education Lab (LEEL) - International Training

This NVC Lab is created for everybody interested in Life-Enriching Education, including school and kindergarten teachers, child care staff, administrators, counsellors, educators in youth programs, parents, NVC trainers, certification candidates, and practitioners who share the intent to explore and apply NVC values in education.

As a participant, you will join a dynamic team of experienced CNVC Certified trainers and educators dedicated to cultivating the field of Life-Enriching Education. We will share best practices, explore ways to implement NVC in learning environments, and through a powerful visioning process, we will help you create or clarify your vision and plan of action for your own life-enriching education project.

Topics

Concretely and very practically we will work on how to:

• Co-create a safe and supportive learning and working environment including pupils, teachers, parents and administration staff.
• Role model partnership and inclusion in cooperation in - cultivate emotional intelligence, respect, and compassion.
• Resolve conflicts and prevent or de-escalate violence.
• Support pupils to know their potential and are motivated by their eagerness to learn.
• Build communication skills which support standing up for own needs while also taking in the perspective of others and the community as a whole.

Our Lab will focus on the key features of life-enriching learning communities described in Marshall Rosenberg´s book Life- Enriching Education.

The Life Enriching Education lab is uniquely designed to offer educators both a structured and open learning environment. We will emphasize the opportunity to share, explore and learn together so that in these 6 days you can make the experience of co-creating a life-enriching learning community and living the values of NVC in an educational setting.

Vision for NVC in Education: to support youth in developing the understanding and skills necessary to be wise members of a global community and co-creators of a peaceful, just and sustainable world.
Registration and Information

Trainer Team

Trainer Marianne Göthlin - Sweden

My deep engagement in education was awakened very early. I remember reflecting at the age of 7 on why schoolwork was often so boring, when learning was such fun! I left school with good grades, a lack of confidence and a sense of wasted time and potential.  After university I decided to become a schoolteacher and to explore alternative ways of teaching. In the course of my search I found NVC, which has guided my approach to education ever since.
I spent 20 years learning how to integrate NVC into the education system – in state schools and kindergartens as well as in an independent school founded on the basis of NVC.  The challenge was to promote values such as inclusion, cooperation and empathy in a school setting, whilst also reaching the learning goals set by the national curriculum. I gained a lot of experience of what works and what doesn't work, and also developed a deep interest in how to make sustainable changes in an organisational structure – something I am now applying in long-term projects in education around Europe. Learning is fun!

The LEE LAB is for me an exciting next opportunity to nurture the seed planted by Marshall Rosenberg in his book 'Life enriching education' and work together to see it grow to its full potential. Working with experienced trainers and co-creating this training also with educators from all over Europe seem like a very fun and productive way to practically move on and strengthen our work in education together.

Trainer - Gabriele Grunt - Austria

In my 25 years of work in the field of education it appeared to me, that very often everything is there except a certain quality of connection between the adults and children living and working together. As a Certified Trainer with the CNVC I am passionate about sharing this experience of consciously choosing ways towards understanding, cooperation and partnership in lectures, workshops and long-term projects in private and public schools, kindergartens, universities and in yearly programs where parents and professionals learn together.

With my own children growing up with NVC I became aware that each of the small every day reactions of people around them forms their world view they will act upon as adults. Therefore, I try to raise awareness about what we chose to pass on to the next generation, and that we do so not by our teaching, but by our living example.

Supporting the co-creation of smaller private "dream schools" with different "alternative" approaches I've collected lots of experiences with facing real human beings in real imperfect everyday life conditions. Here I've learned a lot about creating rules and structures that support partnership, mutual empowerment and inclusion and about the role, small steps and dialogues play in (re-)creating the educational environment in families and institutions.
From this experience my focus is now on step by step transforming the public school system, existing public schools, university education and school administration in long term projects mainly in Slovenia and Austria.

My dream for this LEE is to co-create a learning space where we can exchange and learn from each other across national borders; and to strengthen a European network of mutual support for our work in the field of Life Enriching Education.

http://www.echt.info

Towe Widstrand- Sweden

BA, (originally a teacher) is a graduate of the University of Stockholm in business and psychology. After meeting and studying with Marshall in 1987, she devoted her professional life to sharing NVC in various ways. Towe has conducted trainings in more than 20 countries, working in a wide variety of settings, including public organisations, private companies, public groups and with individuals. She assisted Marshall Rosenberg as a trainer in many IITs. Currently Towe is part of the assessor team for English Speaking Europe.

As Towe sees it, there is nothing more important than support skill building in dialogue in the educational system, based on NVC values. This to foster future citizens to live in a democratic society where everyone´s needs matter. To be able to participate in a fruitful dialogue - including listening and expressing needs - is fundamental to avoid escalating violence.
People working in the educational system are partly responsible for next generation grown-ups and often work under hard conditions, dealing with complex situations, time pressure, conflicting interests. I want to contribute to how the NVC attitude and skills can support qualities as respect, understanding, mutuality, joy, clarity, care and self-care in everyday life. These are basic skills in a democratic society and can be applied in any internal or external situation.

Towe have done trainings, supported certification candidates and assessments for certification in Poland for many years now. She celebrates the growth of interest of NVC and welcome this opportunity to contribute to even more progress, particularly in my role as assessor.

Trainer - Shona Cameron - UK

I was working as an Educational Psychologist in the UK in 2003 when I first started exploring NVC and since that time I have explored how to support teachers, head teachers and school leaders to integrate NVC in to all their interactions with each other and with students. I want to create a culture in our schools where everyone is excited on a Sunday night to go back to school the next day.
What will we learn?
How will we learn?
And how can we have fun while we do this together?

I am also particularly interested in exploring how we bring NVC to people who identify as being on the Autistic Spectrum and for those who have other additional support needs in schools. On top of this I am passionate about honouring the amount of self care for all adults working in schools and I have learnt along the way the levels and variety of support needed to bring NVC to a school system. I am blessed to be able to support whatever project you have in mind in your schools.
I see the LEELAB as an empowering and exciting fulfillment of Marshall’s dream to bring NVC to schools. Sharing learning and growing together as we bring all the ways in which NVC is being used together in one place and we celebrate and mourn our wonders and blunders. There is always something to learn from no matter whether we call it a success or failure.
I have been a Certified Trainer of NVC since 2006 and in 2016 became an Assessor for the current certification process. I work in the English Speaking European Assessor Team and we are exploring ways in which we can build assessment in line with the New Future Process.

Trainer - Corrylaura Van Bladel - Belgium

As a child I felt so frustrated by times, not finding connection with my ‘educators’. I wanted to learn, but more than only those things ‘the adult ones’ found so important for me to learn.
In my Training to become a teacher I was most interested in how NOT to spoil the natural desire of people to learn, how to support them and create a safe environment and educational system where we can support our younger ones to develop their skills, their passions and desires. To support them in their authenticity and surround them with tons of empathy … To walk our talk and inspire them from that experience. Where teachers become students and students can also be teachers …

In 1997 NVC crossed my path which till now has been my huge inspiration.
After being graduated, I started to work with teachers, schools, child care, special youth care, … The past 15 years we (in centrum Blabla)) worked in a lot of settings, but always I kept a strong connection with education and healthcare.
After being part of the first European LEElab in Poland last spring, I feel overexcited to recreate a similar experience in Belgium. I look forward meeting you all and together with you and my colleagues create an unforgettable experience!

Trainer - Giacomo Poleschi - Italy

The parent-child journey is what most fascinates me as we grow and learn together, both. A journey so full of discovery, inner growth, life, love.

"How can I say no to my daughter, respecting her and my values and trying to communicate what I really want to take care of?"
"How do I want to behave when we do not agree, when we are in a conflict?"
"How can I be present and bring empathy and understanding in front of my daughter's pain?"
"How can I make room and take care of myself when I'm exhausted?"

Endless questions, endless possibilities to discover and to learn from each other.

I am so grateful I met NVC while with my wife we were waiting for Celeste, our first daughter. It was so empowering for me. I got so much support, and the awareness to see and to be in this journey in a different way. That being a parent with young children, it is something different from trying to make someone to do something. To find out that I can choose to be in a sincere, open dialogue and to learn from a 2-year-old child.

I am honoured and deeply grateful to be part of the second LEE LAB in Europe to share, to grow and learn together.

As a Certified trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication. I love sharing NVC by facilitating workshops and practice groups.

In family contexts, education or corporate, I deal with training, parenting support, coaching and personal growth, NVC mediation, facilitation of groups. In Italy, I collaborate with the Center Esserci promoting NVC in various contexts, and with a parental school (www.parlarepace.it) inspired by NVC and Montessori education.

I graduated in Computer Engineering at the University of Pisa and I worked in the past in the field of Supply Chain. In 2012, waiting to becoming a father, I met Nonviolent Communication. Since then I started a journey of personal growth also attending seminars and retreats in Italy and abroad. In 2014 I quit my job to spend one year and a half with my daughter as a "full-time" dad. Today I live with my wife and our two children in Tuscany, Italy.

Organizer Team

Organizer: - Nic Burnand - Belgium (Blabla - House for Connection)

The more time that I spend in Empathic villages (NVC related gatherings), the more that I learn, grow and get closer to my truth. With this as my inspiration, I have decided to dedicate much of my time to offering workshops, relationship therapy, coaching, mediation and to organising NVC related events. Doing what I can to create, co-create and recreate spaces of growth, learning and authentic connection.

Organizer: Ola Bagińska - Poland

My dream was to create space where people could share experiences of implementing NVC in the so called ‘’education field’’. A Place where people could inspire each other, and learn from one another. My dream came true in Poland, with the first LEE Lab in April 2017 and now I hope it will come true in Belgium. I have shared NVC in many forms for many years - in trainings, coaching, as an organizer, and as a co-publisher. Organizing NVC trainings is something I really enjoy doing and I’m happy to be part of the organizing team in this special and close to my heart LAB. I hope to meet you in Belgium!

The Venue - See map.

The Promenada Conference and Recreation Centre is situated right on the shore of the picturesque Lake Zegrze, only 30 km (18.6 miles) outside Warsaw.

FEES:

Total Lab Fees consists of a tuition fee of $1250 plus accommodation fee - as outlined in the tables below.

Tuition Fee:

Discounts apply to tuition only and cannot be combined.

Accommodation Fee:

Total LEE Lab Fees consists of a tuition fee of $1250 plus an accommodation fee - as outlined in the table above - both payable to CNVC.

Vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices are available at each meal and are included in the accommodation fees. 

How to register:

1. Click here to fill out the online Lab Application Form, please follow the instructions in the form to make payment:
2. Applications sent before March 7, 2017 need to include full or partial payment, with a minimum of $100 non-refundable tuition fee. The balance is due on March 7, 2017 . For applications sent on or after March 7, 2017, please include full tuition fees.
3. CNVC usually acknowledges your application within 5 business days; please contact the IIT department if you did not receive an acknowledgment within this time

For questions please contact the Lab Department at +1 505-244-4041 or email at lab@cnvc.org or
contact the organizers of the Belgium LEE Lab
Ola Bagińska and Nic Burnand leelab@blabla-blabla.be or mobile +32 489 77 36 75.