Conference Agenda

Session
Workshop 5a: Building on evidence, experiences, and mutual reflections to develop Compassionate Schools: a practical workshop
Time:
Thursday, 24/Oct/2024:
2:00pm - 3:30pm

 Location: Hotel Kreuz - Room "Hodler"

Language: English

Presentations

Building on evidence, experiences, and mutual reflections to develop Compassionate Schools: a practical workshop

Sally Paul1, Bert Quintiens2,3, Joachim Cohen2, Sarah Dury2,4, Kate Owen5

1Department of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathlcyde, United Kingdom; 2Compassionate Communities Centre of Expertise (COCO), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.; 3End-of-Life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & Ghent University, Belgium; 4Society and Aging Research Lab, Educational Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.; 5Warick Medical School, University of Warick, United Kingdom

Target Audience: This workshop is for anyone involved or interested in developing Compassionate Schools, that is schools which address the educational and support needs of its community at times of serious illness, caregiving, death, and bereavement.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the workshop, participants will have:

  1. Heard about the development of Compassionate Schools, including engagement processes and possible actions, as generated via the Compassionate Schools European Learning Network.
  2. Reflected on how they would develop and facilitate their own Compassionate School, from their personal and professional perspectives.
  3. Engaged in critical discussion around the commonalities and essentialities in developing Compassionate Schools. This includes increasing awareness of and reflection on the availability and need for resources, readiness, inclusion of relevant partners, and the facilitation methods required to develop a Compassionate School.

Compassionate Schools are places which are attentive to and actively address the educational and support needs of its community (students, staff, and families) at times of serious illness, caregiving, death, and bereavement. They recognise that these events are universal experiences that have an individual and collective impact and, as such, warrant attention: which today is not always the case. Through a series of actions, preventive measures, and educational activities, Compassionate Schools aim to meaningfully integrate such experiences into school life. Furthermore, by providing school communities with the proficiency to respond to such events, valuable skills are gained that both students and staff can use throughout their lives. This interactive workshop will introduce participants to the variety of possible actions that can be facilitated in and with schools, sharing learning from the Compassionate Schools European Learning Network. Participants will then be supported to engage in an in-depth discussion on steps they can take to develop their own Compassionate School, drawing on their local context and own positioning. Finally, participants will be provided with an overview of the commonalities and essentialities in the development of Compassionate Schools, exploring key issues around resources, readiness, partnership working, leadership, and the range of facilitation methods required to develop a whole schools approach to caregiving, serious illness, death, and bereavement.