%0 Generic
%A Herrmann, Lukas
%C Heidelberg
%D 2024
%F heidok:35557
%K Soziales Feld
%R 10.11588/heidok.00035557
%T Exploring Generative Social Fields in Education  During a Relational Competence Training
%U https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/35557/
%X The importance of the teacher-student relationship has been highlighted by a significant body of research. It impacts on student’s social emotional and academic learning and well-being but also on teachers’ well-being, stress, and job satisfaction. However, there is limited research on interventions that promote educators' capacity to build and maintain supportive relationships. This dissertation addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the perspectives of educators who participated in a longitudinal whole-school training program (‘Empathie macht Schule’, EMS) aimed at enhancing relational competence.  To better understand how educators cultivate and enact relational competences, the study adopts a social fields perspective, which allows for a nuanced exploration of relational competence within ongoing interactions. Social fields are shaped by their members and, in turn, shape their behaviors and interactions. Based on intercorporeality, which refers to the bodily resonance between actors, social fields present action possibilities or “affordances”, inviting certain behaviors while discouraging others and leading to self-reinforcing patterns of interactions.   The study had three main objectives: (1.1) to reconstruct shifts in the social fields between educators and students as well as parents (micro-level) and (1.2) among school faculty (meso level). Additionally, (2) the study aimed to identify factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of the training program.   Data was collected through interviews with schoolleaders (N = 7) before, during, and after the training program, and with educators (N = 7) after completing the training. The EMS intervention was carried out in three urban elementary schools to enhance educators' relational competence and well-being. The training program included six three-day modules, covering topics such as handling difficult interactions with students, addressing grief and trauma, and fostering parental collaboration. Various tools and practices, including guided dialogue formats, meditations, and role plays, were used during the program.  Findings from the field shifts reported by educators (1.1) reveal changes from de-generative interaction cycles, for instance characterized by mutual blaming, towards generative ones that promote collaboration and well-being. These shifts were facilitated by educators’ heightened relational awareness of their embodied resonance with students, colleagues, and parents. The thematic analysis identified subprocesses in educators’ cultivation of relational competences, emphasizing the significance of recognizing and suspending habitual reactions, attuning to the emotions and needs of others and oneself, and communicating clearly without devaluing others. Thus, the study highlighted the significance of both inter- and intra personal abilities in cultivating relational competence, including self-compassion, self-care, and relational awareness of the emotional responsivities that are evoked in relation to students.  Regarding longitudinal developments in the three schools’ faculty climates (1.2), the findings show a complex picture with both positive shifts and persisting challenges in social fields. Moreover, the implementation process (2) was facilitated by the program’s perceived alignment with schools’ enacted values and by program practices that fostered supportive relationships among colleagues. However, the implementation process was hindered by systemic factors like heavy workload, particularly during to the COVID-19 pandemic.  While it is important to approach these findings with caution due to the limitations of the study, the results nonetheless suggest that targeted interventions can indeed support educators’ relational competences. The social fields perspective provides a nuanced understanding of the intertwinement between intra-personal and inter-personal processes in cultivating relational competences. Notably, the findings highlighted the crucial contribution of intra-personal abilities, such as self-compassion, which might have been underestimated in some more recent conceptualizations of relational competence. Nurturing both intra personal and inter-personal aspects of relational competence is crucial. Integrating self compassion, self-care, and relational awareness into in-service educators' professional development can empower them to create more positive and supportive social fields.   Suggestions for future research are provided, emphasizing the need to consider multiple actors’ perspectives in the reconstruction of social field shifts. In particular, further investigation of the identified subprocesses and contextual forces that influence their enactment is recommended.  The longitudinal developments in faculty climate provide valuable insights into the complexities of transforming social fields in educational settings. The presence of positive shifts and persistent challenges underscores the need to address systemic barriers to change. This is further supported by findings related to the implementation of the program into educators' daily work contexts. To foster lasting change, programs fostering relational competence should be complemented by initiatives that address systemic challenges at a broader level. By creating systemic conditions that are favorable for improved relationship quality throughout the education system, and simultaneously promoting educators’ cultivation of their relational competences through targeted interventions, generative social fields can be created, benefitting all actors in the system.