Marina Orth Teachers Largest Group Trained For Social Emotional Skills Workshop

Ninety-six teachers from Marina Orth Foundation schools participated in the first social emotional skills training course led by Co School, a soft skills training group, and held at MOVA, the city of Medellìn’s teacher-focused innovation center. The workshop helped 250 teachers refine their emotional intelligence, listening and soft-skills, an effort that is hoped will not only help the teachers personally but will also lead to a more positive classroom environment.

The need for teachers to develop better classroom management and their own interpersonal skills and those of their students has become increasingly recognized. Many Colombian students face hardships in their homes and communities, which contribute to a high dropout rate and decreased motivation for classroom learning.

The 8 week course blended in-person workshops and online learning. Marina Orth Foundation teachers and staff made up 96 of the 250 Colombian educators who completed the course that ended with a certification ceremony. Eighty-five percent of the educators responded what they had learned would be very useful in creating more inspirational and welcoming classrooms.