Workshop 3, 27/5 12:45-14:00

David Herpoelaert – Belgium

Attachment in the classroom: obstacles and opportunities

In schools there is a growing concern about coping violent and nonviolent conflicts in the classroom. The outcome of a conflict is a result of the interaction between the pupils provocative behavior and the reaction of the teacher. Furthermore the reaction of the teacher is rooted in the attachment style that he or she embodies.

In this presentation we’ll investigate attachment styles of teachers and their effect on student behavior. Because the attachment style of a teacher not only tells us something about the teaching style. It also correlates with self-esteem, self-regulation and the internal image a teacher has about his/her relationship with the pupil. These factors evoke expectations about pupil behavior, provoking some typical pupil behavior.

In order to obtain a secure classroom atmosphere, teachers must be trained in dealing with conflict and crisis situations. But before one can cope crises on a proximate, emotional supportive and protective way, one has to feel secure and supported.

After describing the different attachment interactions, we explore the possibilities and pitfalls that involves implementing NVR en New Authority in the classroom. We’ll discuss the positive effects of teacher physical en psychological availability, persistent support and emotional readiness on the own behavior, reflecting and resulting in pupil feelings and actions of autonomy and connectedness. On the other hand we’ll examine the obstacles evoking resistance due to attachment styles. Finally we’ll give some concrete interventions implementing NVR in the classroom, increasing the safety of both teachers and pupils.

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Workshop 4, 26/5 16:30-17:45

Ziv Gilead, psychologist Israel, Community

Constructive Struggle of Police in Conflicts with Citizens

A group of policemen who participated in a one-day workshop in constructive struggle was compared with a control group in a simulation involving intervention in a conflict between neighbors. Results showed a larger change in the ability to implement steps of constructive rather than destructive struggle in the simulation.

Conflicts in Police Work

Police activity involves daily conflicts with high potential for violence, such as arresting citizens, dealing with demonstrations and quarrels between neighbors . The violence may cause physical and emotional harm and damage public trust in the police. The aim of this workshop was to investigate the potential effect of police training in constructive struggle on the attitudes and behavior of police in conflicts with citizens

The workshop was preceded by a study investigating whether the concept of constructive and destructive struggle captured coherent and measurable police attitudes. A questionnaire measuring constructive and destructive attitudes was developed (the CDAQ), showing good reliability and convergent validity with other questionnaires in similar areas. The CDAQ was found to predict violence as reported by peers during police training.

Workshop. The workshop on constructive struggle was developed and administered by organizational consultants and police officers from the academy. The workshop lasted for one day. It opened with a discussion of routine conflicts between policemen and citizens. The focus is on the policeman’s experience during the conflict and the difficulty in combining law enforcement with a humane and respectful approach towards the citizen who is resisting the policeman. Following the discussion, the constructive and destructive struggle approaches are presented and combined to police work. The assumptions of each approach are presented and illustrated by films showing policemen behavior which had been prepared especially for the workshop.

The participants then engaged in role-playing exercises of conflicts with citizens. The situations are as close as possible to the realities that they have to face in their daily work. Five different exercises are used in the workshop. After each exercise, there is a discussion analyzing the behaviors of the policeman towards the citizens, according to the principles of constructive and destructive struggles.

In the workshop we intend to show and explain the questionnaire measuring constructive and destructive attitudes and let participants experience simulations. We will also show films of policemen who undertook the workshop dealing with conflict simulations and compare them to control group dealing with the same simulations.

Ziv Gilad, PhD, is an organizational psychologist specializing in police organizational development. He is currently in charge of training police officers at Israel Police Academy in Haim Omer’s Constructive Struggle approach for non-violent conflict resolutions vis-a-vis citizens. He also teaches a seminar at Haifa Universityon psychological characteristics of police work. Having served at Israel Police in the years 1995-2015, Dr. Gilad's responsibilities included organizational consulting for Israel Police Academy and the Community Police division. In 2005 he was extensively involved in training the joint police/army unit responsible for the non-violent forced evacuation of 21 Jewish communities around Gaza, following Israeli Government's decision of disengagement from Gaza Strip. His PhD dissertation was titled Adjusting the Constructive Struggle Approach to the Work of Israel Police.