2 Day Foundation Course: Solution Focused Practice in Education

This is an Introductory Course designed specifically for professionals in education. You will probably know of colleagues who have trained with BRIEF and will therefore know that this is one of the most useful courses you are likely to attend. Solution Focused thinking is already having a massive impact on all aspects of education and is making a difference behaviour, attendance, school achievement, leadership and staff morale. If any of these issues are of concern to you this course will be of great benefit.

You will learn lots and, paradoxically, much of it you will already know. But you will know it in a much more usable way. You will know that focusing on resources and possibilities is more productive than examining deficits and blocks and you will know that conversations can influence thoughts, feelings and behaviour. A Solution Focused approach provides a simple framework for managing these influential conversations which have the capacity to improve

• attendance
• classroom behaviour
• learning
• well-being
• parental support and cooperation
• relationships with colleagues
• enthusiasm and job satisfaction.

This 2-day Introductory Course will be geared specifically towards teachers, psychologists, learning support staff, mentors and any other professionals in the field of education. Just as in our other Introductory Courses you will learn all the essential skills of Solution Focused practice and be able to start putting them into practice as soon as you return to work. The programme will include:

1. How to tap into the resources of students, parents and colleagues.
2. How to negotiate a realistic mutually acceptable outcomes or goals.
3. How to turn descriptions of problems into descriptions of possibilities.
4. How to create pathways to a better future.
5. How to discover potential solutions buried within the problem behaviours.
6. How to identify the foundations for further progress.
7. How to help students integrate the cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects of life.
8. How to identify progress towards the agreed outcomes.
9. How to promote change between meetings.
10. How to resolve conflict and build cooperation.

Solution Focused practice is like a new language – it has to be practiced to be learned. The course will therefore be very practice focused with participants working in pairs and small groups completing a number of well-managed exercises. There will also be a chance to see recordings of Solution Focused work in schools and with children, young people and with parents.

All participants will receive a pdf copy of BRIEFER: A Solution Focused Practice Manual.