World Teachers Day
Find out why we're kicking off our online October conference with two special events marking World Teachers Day on 5 October.
Not only because we agree with the day’s purpose of improving the working conditions of educators, but also because we are launching our month-long October online conference on that day with two free events led by teachers.
We kick off our conference at noon with ‘Nurturing Positive Relationships’, a session about how well-being and positive relationships should be at the heart of all we do in work and in life. The event is led by Billy Burke, a Scottish head teacher with a particular interest in leadership of wellbeing, equality and inclusion and how we can nurture the conditions for sustainable development. You can learn more and reserve a free place for this online ever here.
Later that day, at 4pm, we’re delighted that we’ll be joined online by Gerry Diamond, a nurture lead, to discuss ‘How to Create More Trauma-Informed Responses in Schools’. Attendees will be provided with an insight into how prolonged patterns of trauma can impact the developing brain and body. The event will demonstrate an approach that brings certain core concepts on how the brain works within educational settings. You can learn more and reserve a free place for this online ever here.
The theme of 2023’s World Teachers Day is ‘The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage’, which spotlights efforts to reverse a decline in the number of teachers. Here in Scotland, teaching numbers have been rising since 2016, although there was a decrease last year.
One way we can maintain teacher numbers is by encouraging the nurturing of their wellbeing and resilience, and the two events we’re staging to mark World Teachers Day will promote healthier relationships for both teachers and students.
SCCR’s online conference runs across October, with two online events per week. The theme is ‘Ripples… The Power of You’: the conference includes talks, panel discussions and workshops which explore how the acts of individuals can ‘ripple’ outwards, causing others to make decisions whose consequences then ripple out further. The talks will not only look outwards, but also inwards; we are best placed to contribute to our community when our minds and relationships are in good health.
In addition to our two World Teachers Day events, we are running another on Wednesday, 11 October, at 1pm. Kevin Neary is the co-founder of Aid&Abet, who help and support people leaving prison over their first 72 hours. His event ‘Every Act of Kindness Leaves a Trace’ will explore the importance of relationships, connection and community. You can learn more and reserve a free place for this online ever here.
The following day Gill Harmon, a Senior Virtual Family Support Practitioner at Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD), will talk about ‘Ever Increasing Circles: How Family Support Ripples Out’. This event will discuss the help SFAD can offer as well as the impact of evidence-based approaches to family support. You can learn more and reserve a free place for this online ever here.
Our final confirmed event at the moment is ‘Mediation – A Success Story?’, which takes place on Thursday 19 October, 10am. Alan Jeffries, Senior Mediator at Cyrenians, explore what makes mediation successful. The event will focus on the situations that are most suited to mediation, the qualities of the mediator themselves, and the concept of procedural fairness, where mediation process heavily impacts parties perspective on success. Fancy coming along to this event (albeit virtually?). This link can help you with that!
We are still adding speakers to our line-up. Keep checking our conference page on our website or follow our social media posts for updates on the conference line-up.
UNESCO created International Teacher’s Day in 1994, which is marked on 5 October each year, with the aim of highlighting issues faced by teachers. More than 100 nations celebrate the World Teachers’ Day globally.
