As NVC was chosen as a central theme for this QLC, much of the content surrounded exploring how to implement the key concepts of NVC into teachers’ practices. I will now explain the general structure of the QLCs in my study, followed by an outline of the key points covered during each meeting.
The QLCs were structured in a way that encouraged participants to create their own learning objectives and collaborate with each other to achieve these objectives. Each participant was asked to share their own experiences, desires, and challenges within a learning context in order to direct the focus of the group and own their personal learning agenda. The main focus for the group was to acknowledge and extend existing repertoires of managing challenging behaviours through exploring the potential of NVC and how they might use this within their classroom. Seven QLC sessions were held weekly during term two of the school year. The QLC sessions provided data on how the teachers had developed an understanding of NVC, trialled it in their respective schools, and come together as a group to share their experiences.
Each QLC session was focused on several different theoretical and practical applications of NVC, depending on the needs of the teachers at the time. The first session centred on introducing the key aspects of what constitutes a QLC, along with introductions, group
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boundaries, and going over several key concepts of NVC. The second session focused on sharing past experiences of NVC and deciding on how to run the group. This included discussing what aspects of NVC interested each member, as well as sharing their preferences on how they would like to learn about NVC. The remainder of the QLC sessions became more experiential in nature, with members trialling aspects of NVC, sharing their stories, and building on these experiences to co-construct new ideas. Within this process critical
reflection and experiential learning were encouraged. The content of the QLCs is illustrated below in Figure 8:
Figure 8: Format of QLC meetings
During the QLC, my role was that of facilitator and observer. The first role entailed
organising the initial QLC sessions, providing support, selected literature, and knowledge of NVC, as well as guiding and mediating the journey in an unobtrusive way as possible. As the power dynamics of the group shifted towards a more collaborative and equal approach, my role also shifted to becoming more of an observer. While this did not happen completely, my
QL C 1
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role as facilitator reduced as the QLC progressed. I noticed this started occuring during the third QLC meeting and progressively during each subsequent meeting.
In general, two core features of NVC guided teachers’ explorations during the QLCs. The first feature to highlight was the compassionate and honest expression of their feelings and needs. The second feature was empathetic listening to the feelings and needs of others.
Within this approach, emphasis was placed on Rosenberg’s (2003) four step model, namely:
observations, feelings, needs, and requests, with empathy and self-empathy playing an important role across all steps. In order to assist the participants in their theoretical understanding of NVC, I presented each teacher with a copy of the book ‘Life-enriching education’ (Rosenberg, 2003b) to read after their first interview. The teachers were asked to read the first two chapters, which pertained to the four step model mentioned above. I now present the core aspects of NVC as they manifested throughout each QLC.
QLC 1
The first QLC primarily focused on creating a comfortable and inclusive environment for the teachers. I began with introducing myself and reiterated the purpose of the group. I then explained the key concepts of a QLC and how these worked in practice (i.e., exploring and trialling new ideas). Next, we discussed group protocols and I presented some initial ideas, which were built on by the teachers. Following this, an icebreaker exercise was used in order to encourage the teachers to share a personal story (a positive experience). This was then related to step two and three of the NVC model (feelings and needs). The teachers were reminded that these concepts, as well as the proceedings ones, were outlined in Chapter Two of the book. Lastly, I had given them two exercises to be completed by the next meeting (Appendix Four). This meeting ran for 30 minutes.
QLC 2
The second QLC began with a ‘check-in’ to allow each teacher to express how they were feeling at that moment. The purpose of this was to gain information on each teacher's state of mind, to balance the teacher's participation (so that talkative and quiet members start the group equally), and to produce a sense of mutuality and group concern. I then addressed the fact that one participant had chosen to leave and how it would be the four of them from now on. After this, the teachers shared their experiences of trialling NVC through the exercises I had given them from the previous week. From there, I mentioned that one of the
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main features of the QLC was that they choose their own direction of learning about NVC.
Following this, a discussion ensued on the different key components of NVC, areas to which the approach could be applied, and how they might go about learning about it. The teachers agreed that focussing on the four main points of NVC (observations, feelings, needs, and requests) would be best, in order to gain a firm understanding on the model. In terms of how they wanted to learn – roleplaying, group discussions (both theoretical and practical), and sharing examples of real-life issues appealed to the teachers. Once this was decided on, we discussed step one (observations) and I presented the teachers with another exercise (Appendix Five). At the end of the meeting one of the teachers mentioned that 30 minutes was not long enough for this group, prompting the others to agree. It was decided that the future meetings would be scheduled for one hour.
QLC 3
This QLC was largely composed of teachers deciding in the moment what and how they would like to learn. After sharing their experiences from the exercises I had given them, the teachers openly talked about any challenges they were facing and how applying NVC might help them. Several situations were discussed and a role-play occurred regarding a student with a challenging behaviour. Afterwards, we discussed step four (requests versus demands). It was during this QLC I noticed my role in the group moving from a facilitator towards more of an observer. This occurred because the majority of this meeting was directed by the teachers structuring their own learning, rather than me explaining and demonstrating the key aspects of NVC.
QLC 4-6
The remaining meetings were guided by the teachers’ weekly experiences of teaching in their respective classes. They decided on how they wanted to trial NVC and which students they would target. The choice of student was usually determined by behavioural issues and aspects of teaching with which the teachers were either struggling or wished to improve.
Discussion on key NVC concepts involved all the teachers’ input and personal experiences of trialling NVC, which led to relevant and practical discussions. During this time I also
introduced the final key NVC concept of empathy.
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The final meeting followed a similar structure to the previous three meetings; namely, sharing of experiences and discussion on applying NVC in practice. An additional aspect of this meeting (introduced by the researcher) was time to express gratitude for what we had enjoyed about the group, what had worked well, and what, if any, future direction we might like to take with NVC. How I worked with the teachers to create a safe and conducive learning environment mattered. I now explain the ethical considerations.