A journey in the world of soft skills and emotional intelligence

Kompetencje miękkie are nowadays becoming more and more important in the context of professional and daily life. Skills such as inteligencja emocjonalna oraz empatia, teamwork, conflict and stress management are essential inside and outside the classroom. By a combination of theoretical and practical activities, our participants learnt more about how to improve their communication skills.

Nowa edycja kursu “Umiejętności miękkie i inteligencja emocjonalna dla nauczycieli i personelu oświatowego​” took place in Palermo from 12/07/2026 to 18/07/2026. The participants came from all across Europe, with Gerardine from Jesus And Mary Secondary School Enniscrone Co Sligo in Ireland, Gundars and Ieva from Talsi State Gymnasium in Latvia, participants from two schools in Czech Republic: Katerina, Blanka and Tereza from Základní škola Vorlina Vlašim, příspěvková organizace and Marie and Karolina from Střední škola informatiky a cestovního ruchu SČMSD Humpolec, s.r.o. And finally participants coming from three different Spanish schools: Teresa and Laura from ÍES Valdespartera, Jesus from IES Castelar, and Manuela from IES CARRÚS. 

The first topic discussed in the course was Inteligencja emocjonalna. This term indicates the ability to recognise not only our own feelings but also other people’s emotions, in order to be aware of ourselves and our surroundings. Another skill that was tackled during this session was empathy. Through a series of exercises the participants were able to learn more about practising empathy, self-control, self-motivation and building a connection.

A good teacher is also a good leader of the classroom because they have to give motivation and guide their students to reach a specific goal. Leadership comes in different forms, but not all of them are effective in every situation. For this reason, participants were asked to think about the main characteristics of the leaders they admire and reflected on the different leadership styles.

One of the most important skills for working in a team is effective communication. The participants focused their attention on the different communication styles: aggressive, passive, passive-aggressive and assertive. Communication is essential when it comes to praca zespołowa. Being able to show pewność siebie can be tricky, however, by discussing this topic they saw that being assertive does not mean to be impolite, but it means to communicate what you want effectively.

In order to improve their communication skills they also had to prepare an exercise on wystąpienia publiczne. They learnt tips and tricks on how to present yourself, how to control your body language and your nonverbal communication. In order to gain confidence the participants were asked to prepare a short one-minute speech to perform in front of the class and to put at use the skills they had learned.

The last topic of this course was Conflict and stress management. Working with people can be difficult sometimes and we do not always know how to deal with conflicts. By sharing their own experiences they realised how these are common situations and that conflict doesn’t necessarily have to bring a negative outcome, but it is also a possibility for growth and development.

This course allowed participants to confront themselves with each other and learn from their shared experiences. Each participant had a different background that certainly contributed to the growth of the group as a whole. In addition, networking was also possible because of the planned cultural activities, showing that learning does not happen only inside a classroom! 

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