One of the greatest challenges facing educators today is how to cope with pupils who appear not to be able to control their anger impulses. Although small in number, this group of pupils and problems associated with their inappropriate expression of anger remain among the most serious concerns of parents, educators, schools and the mental health community. What could be done to help these pupils struggling with anger issues? Some schools are conducting Anger Management Program- the process of learning how to recognize signs of anger and take action to calm down and deal with the situation in a positive way. It is inevitable to have improvement if the program is systematic, planned and continuous. Our project was born with the idea of improving the experience of each partner with diversifying methods and effective approaches to deal with pupils’ behaviour problems resulting from lack of Anger Management. The 6 partner schools have detected the challenge of managing behavioral problems in the classrooms, having to deal with the use of threads, bullying among pupils, poor academic achievements due to discipline problems, some pupils’ persistent aggressive behaviors resulting in violent and non- violent offending, some pupils’ poor interpersonal skills and lack of self confidence in teamwork, etc. To find solutions to these problems in our environments with international partnership, we have designed our project: This project will design a simple, easy-to-implement Anger Management Program and it will let each partner school’s educators use more effective strategies for coping with aggressive behaviour of pupils and provide guidance to their 10-13 year old pupils to manage their aggressive behaviors. 6 countries will be involved in this project with approximately 120-directly, 1800-indirectly pupils aged between 10-13 and about 150 teachers and educators with different experience, knowledge, beliefs, but common educational ideals. The OBJECTIVES of our project are: For pupils: -to understand the reasons of their anger -to discover strategies to reduce their angry reactions -to develop problem solving skills -to improve interpersonal communication skills -to promote tolerance via building empathy -to develop strategies to release anger (e.g. breathing, relaxing, yoga, hobby, ability to forgive, etc.) -to control anger when they experience it (e.g. using rumor, calm down techniques, etc.) For our school and educators: -to equip teachers and educators with competence and knowledge to carry out the anger management program -to implement the project activities effectively to create peaceful school environment -to establish a school policy on Anger Management Programs -to increase the academic achievement of pupils -reduce the number of pupils with aggressive behaviour -to decrease the discipline problems and early school drop-out related to them -to reduce the potential risks for the school environment -to discover innovative and effective methods applied in partner schools by exchanging the best practices -to establish the international communication network -to understand the importance of European values -to strengthen the sense of being a European citizen -to establish intercultural ties and to overcome prejudices We will organize 4 short term staff training and 2 short term exchange of pupils’ mobility. Throughout short-term staff training, we will gain new insights, exchange best practices, and develop skills of communication, teamwork, English and ICT. We will be provided with new insights, case studies and practical tips for successful Anger Management Programs at schools. We will discover new approaches to reduce pupils’ aggressive reactions with skill training. We will get to know the reasons underneath the bullying at schools and ways of creating a more peaceful atmosphere to enhance more prosperous learning and teaching process. During short term pupils’ exchange, our students will experience working and enjoying in multicultural social settings with their international friends. They will develop their skills of creativity, critical thinking, collaborative problem solving, learning to learn. They will be equipped with effective relaxing techniques to cope with their aggressive behaviour. We plan to have regular assessment procedures to ensure that the project objectives and results are achieved: -Anger Management Survey, Monitoring Sheet, Pupils' anger Management Folders, Anger Log. Expected Results: Teachers and Educators will -be more qualified at the implementation of Anger Management Programs -obtain skills of collaboration, communication, problem solving and time management skills in international Pupils will -discover the reasons and results of their aggressive behaviour -develop strategies to release anger with coping skills -learn tolerance and empathy. Schools will -develop policy on Anger Management Program -have peaceful atmosphere -be more successful in decreasing early drop-out.
This project was born with the idea of improving the experience of each partner by diversifying anger management methods, taking the time to deal with students ’behavioral problems arising from a lack of motivation to learn. The six partner schools have students in their schools who are characterized by aggressive behavior, and there are also cases of bullying, conflict, lack of discipline, or other situations related to misconduct. As a result, poor academic achievement, some students do not establish and maintain contact with each other, do not trust themselves, do not engage in teamwork, and so on. To find solutions to these problems in our environment, we did not decide to create this project and share it in an international partnership. This project created a simple, easy-to-implement anger management program that allowed educators in each partner school to use more effective strategies. One of the biggest problems in our school is Bullying and Violence resulting from Angry and violent behaviors. Our counsellors often organize seminars and develop practical programs on ‘Keeping Our School Safe’. Through such interactive presentations, we-teachers, administrators and parents deal with emotional and social needs of students and determine what is missing and what is not working and what still needs to be done to promote Peace and Tolerance in our school community. Thanks to such programs, our school is getting more Anger-free year by year. Therefore, with such this project, we would like to exchange the best practices with our international partners (from Italy, Turkey, Ireland, Denmark, the Check Republic) and let our teachers and pupils engage directly with their international counterparts through mobility opportunities within the project. We had a team of dedicated and enthusiastic teachers and educators who were keen to participate in this project and promote all aspects of learning for our pupils. They were ambitious to participate both between staff of the international school partners but more importantly, between the pupils themselves. The key people in this project were a Counsellor who worked with pupils who have bad and violent behaviors and an English teacher who was experienced in coordinating EU projects. If these people had to step out the project, the other counsellor and an English teacher who have the similar qualifications was in charge of the project coordination. We believed that using physical activities and sports as a tool to promote peace and tolerance was our strong area. Also, we could contribute the project with our advanced skills in developing and analyzing data collection instruments. Finally, our ICT teachers were keen to design digital materials and/or the project website. Project goals for students: to understand the reasons for their anger; discover strategies to reduce the angry reaction; improve problem solving skills; to improve interpersonal communication skills; to promote tolerance by developing empathy; develop anger strategies (e.g., breathing, yoga, ability to forgive, etc.) Objectives for the school and teachers: to effectively implement the project activities in creating a peaceful school environment; to improve students' academic achievement; reduce the number of students with aggressive behavior; to discover innovative and effective methods in partner schools through the exchange of good practice; to create an international communication network; understand the importance of European values; to strengthen the sense of European citizenship; to establish intercultural links and overcome prejudices. There were 6 short-term joint staff training events, one of which was run remotely on Covid 19, with teachers and pupils from 6 partner schools. Host countries organized training events with specific objectives. Each training was attended by experts with extensive experience in Anger Management in Schools. During the training, participants were provided with the relevant knowledge and competencies needed to simultaneously lead / manage / implement project activities in their schools in the coming months. After the training, participants were given 1) a certificate of attendance; 2) a participant evaluation questionnaire to provide feedback on the training they participated in. The training consisted of 2 parts: formal and non-formal training (Seminar, Simulation, Role-playing games, etc.) and educational visits. As the results the teachers, students and parents became more qualified at the implementation of Anger Management Programs which raised the peace, tolerance and friendship in their schools, developed strategies to release anger with coping skills, learned tolerance and empathy .Schools and wider community had more teaching/counselling staff, parents, etc. with the increasing awareness of Anger Management Programs, and greater awareness on the importance of Anger Management Programs at schools for future’s peaceful societies.